HMKK03625U Cultural History: Part 2: After Migration: Re-imagining Identities, Histories and Belonging
Modern Culture and Comparative Literature
In the 20th and 21st centuries, a growing number of people have left their homes to cross state borders and settle in another country. No matter whether they have moved in search of a better life or been forcibly displaced by war, destitution, persecution or environmental disaster, they have contributed to the pluralisation and hybridisation of cultures and identities in receiving countries. Adopting migrant, postcolonial and feminist perspectives, this course examines how contemporary artists have grappled with these transformations and the conflicts and issues they have brought to the fore, particularly in the wake of the 2015 refugee crisis that spurred a wealth of artistic and activist responses to European border policies and the predicament of refugees and irregular migrants.
Furthermore, a postmigrant perspective will be introduced as a means of situating artistic work within a more encompassing societal and historical process of transformation. The concept of postmigration does not refer to a societal state of affairs in which migration has ended, but to a set of problematics and struggles over identity, history and belonging – as well as racialisation, marginalisation and inequality – originating in the obsession with migration, migrants and migrantisising discourses which permeates contemporary European societies. ‘Postmigration’ thus provides a frame for understanding how these struggles tie in with current pluralisation and (re-)nationalisation processes in society at large.
The course aims to deepen insight into the effects of migration and postmigration as well as honing students’ methodological competencies in analysing artistic and cultural phenomena that can be viewed as the result of the confluence of different cultures blending together, and as spotlighting the fault lines of ‘multicultural’ societies or issues of refugeedom. To this end, we will engage with some key concepts and theories relevant to the study of a broad range of cultural and artistic phenomena: migration and postmigration, (trans-)cultural identity and belonging, collective memory and (imagined) community, racialisation and whiteness, gender and sexual nationalism, hybridisation and cultural translation. We will read texts by scholars such as Sara Ahmed, Parvati Nair, Ann Phoenix, Stuart Hall, T.J. Demos and Kobena Mercer. Indicative artists/projects include Ai Weiwei, Isaac Julien, Jeannette Ehlers, Superflex and Zadie Smith.
The purpose of the course is to give students the necessary skills to carry out an independent, in-depth contextual analysis of cultural-historical phenomena related to the course topic. The course starts out by introducing a historical frame for understanding the interrelations between migration and culture, along with some significant methodological discussions relevant to this topic. The remainder of the course revolves around two contemporary sub-topics and the students’ analytical work on source material selected by themselves in relation to these topics (texts, artworks, cultural phenomena). The first sub-topic concerns issues of community, identity and new narratives of belonging in ‘the postmigrant condition’; the second centres upon cultural and artistic responses to the 2015 refugee crisis and on questions of borders, citizenship, agency and othering. Through their active participation in the course, students are also trained in organising, structuring and implementing a collaboration process, as collections of source material are prepared in groups.
The mandatory reading list for the first course is comprised of 300-400 standard pages (of 2,400 characters). The second course comprises 600 standard pages, of which 300 pages are chosen by the candidate. The total is 900-1,000 standard pages.
Sten Pultz Moslund, Anne Ring Petersen and Moritz Schramm, eds, The Culture of Migration: Politics, Aesthetics and Histories, London: I.B. Tauris 2015 (at IKK’s library).
Anne Ring Petersen, Migration into art: Transcultural identities and art-making in a globalised world, Manchester: Manchester University Press 2017 (at IKK’s library).
The courses will run in English to enable international students to participate and to provide non-native English speakers with an opportunity to develop their English language proficiency (including their professional domain-specific vocabulary) to prepare for common work tasks in today’s cultural sectors, such as international knowledge dissemination and collaboration. Candidates can choose whether to hand in their concluding exam project in Danish or in English.
To enhance learning, the courses combine different modes of teaching and learning. They alternate between lectures with plenary discussions, student-led analytical work (both individual and in groups), and teacher- and student-driven peer feedback. Moreover, the preparation of the collections of source material in the second course offers students possibilities to try out and experiment with different approaches to contextual and comparative cultural analysis.
The module Cultural History consists of two courses. The first part runs for four weeks. It builds a general foundation for the second course by introducing students to recent historiographical and methodological debates in the field of cultural history. The subsequent course focuses on a specific cultural historical topic and topic-specific methodologies.
The course will run in English to enable international students to participate and to provide non-native English speakers with an opportunity to develop their English language proficiency (including their professional domain-specific vocabulary) to prepare for common work tasks in today’s cultural sectors, such as international knowledge dissemination and collaboration. Candidates can choose whether to hand in their concluding exam project in Danish or in English.
- Class Instruction
- 15 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- OtherThe mandatory reading list for the first course is comprised of 300-400 standard pages (of 2,400 keystrokes). The second course comprises 600 standard pages, of which 300 pages are chosen by the candidate. The sum total is 900-1,000 standard pages.
- Censorship form
- External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
KA-tilvalg - Frit emne (HLVK13001E): https://hum.ku.dk/uddannelser/aktuelle_studieordninger/kunsthistorie/ikk_enkeltst_katv
BA-tilvalg - Frit emne 1 (HLVB10351E): https://hum.ku.dk/uddannelser/aktuelle_studieordninger/kunsthistorie/ikk_enkeltst_batv/