Beyond State Power: Margins, Borders, and Frontiers

Undergraduate / Graduate

What are the fringes that erupt, resist, and reconfigure established power structures? How do they shift, befuddle and defy the authority of the State? Often, our focus is centered on the how those in power practice statecraft. This course shifts the lens to the margins, exploring how communities on the periphery engage in alternative "world-makings" that transcend the constraints of the nation-state. Through this course, we will interrogate global and imperial designs through the lives of those inhabiting wastelands, occupied/contested territories, and war-torn regions. Starting with the rise of the modern nation-state as inheritors of colonial legacies, and tracing its evolution under the neoliberal regime, this course will reveal the various frailties woven into the state structure that are exposed through these contestations. Students will engage with the revolutionary vocabularies and vernacular politics of marginalized groups as they assert their claims to land, rights, and community. By engaging with the transformative actions and narratives from the peripheries, students will gain a deeper understanding of how these communities navigate and reconfigure power dynamics beyond the reach of the state.