Us and Them in Literature and Politics

Catalog description

Contains POL 114 and LIT 211D . This class introduces students to the disciplines of international relations and literary criticism. It focuses on how the concepts of self and other and us and them are shaped by aesthetic representations and by political, economic, social currents. As in introduction to international relations, this course explores how political leaders, intellectuals, military officials, diplomats, and policymakers have conceived of the interaction between those people considered Us and those considered Them. As an introduction to literary criticism, this course explores the crucial role the aesthetic imagination plays in these global conversations about self and other and us and them.