Thinking Difference in the 21st Century

Catalog description

This course adopts an interdisciplinary lens to reflect on how we can think difference productively in our current global condition, through examining some of the challenges that traditionally normative legislative systems (French secularism, shari'a laws in Francophone muslim countries) come up against when faced with increasingly multi-ethnic and pluralistic societies. We will examine a wide array of contemporary issues in the French metropole and the Francophone sphere, as well as their particular histories. Combining an interdisciplinary approach, we will look at a set of current events, legislations, and public debates, such as the burqa ban, terrorism, the same-sex marriage debate (marriage pour tous), and immigration 'queston'.