UBC students are invited to apply to the 3-credit Phil Lind Initiative Seminar on the topic of the 2024 Phil Lind Initiative series, What It Means to Be “American”: Navigating Identity in a Changing Nation, taking place in the Winter Term-2 semester of 2025.
WHAT: A 3-credit course
WHEN: Thursdays, 3:30 – 5:30 PM, Winter Term 2, January – April, 2025.
WHERE: Liu Institute for Global Issues – Boardroom (316)
WHO CAN APPLY: This is a competitive entry graduate course for UBC students from any faculty. Graduate students and fourth-year undergraduates are encouraged to apply.
INSTRUCTOR: Hugh Gusterson, Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the Department of Anthropology
DEADLINE: Apply by November 8, 2024 (11:59 PM).
Course Title: What It Means to Be “American”: Navigating Identity in a Changing Nation
This course explores the evolving concept of American identity, focusing on the role of national myth-making, cultural narratives, and community-driven identity formation. It will examine how different communities within the United States grapple with their sense of belonging and how this ultimately shapes our collective understanding of what it means to be American. Key themes will include the creation and perpetuation of national myths, U.S. exceptionalism; adhesion to, and subversion of, dominant narratives of American identity; the role of political polarization; and the ways in which these identities impact political engagement and policy decisions.
This course will examine historical narratives and their role in shaping American identity, while also being attuned to the implications of the 2024 election and its impact on how we understand and navigate political and cultural identities in the present. It will draw on a diverse array of knowledge sources, incorporating perspectives from history, politics, culture, and the arts, and will feature guest speakers ranging from policymakers and academics to artists and other thought leaders. Students will have the opportunity to interact with these speakers in the seminar and are asked to attend the public talks held in the evenings following the class.
The 2024 Phil Lind Initiative series is hosted at the UBC Vancouver campus located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
Subscribe to our Phil Lind Initiative Newsletter for updates on our next series.
Contact info: lind.initiative@ubc.ca
