| Course Name | Political Thought and Literature |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSIR 675 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7.5 |
| Prerequisites | None | |||||
| Course Language | English | |||||
| Course Type | Elective | |||||
| Course Level | Third Cycle | |||||
| Mode of Delivery | - | |||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||
| Course Coordinator | ||||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||
| Assistant(s) | ||||||
| Course Objectives | This course has two main objectives: (1) to explore the political implications of literary texts with a view to shedding new light on the politics of memory and coming to terms with the past with particular reference to the catastrophes of the twentieth century; (2) to reexamine core ideas and concepts of political theory in light of literary texts dealing with collective memory and responsibility. |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | Selected texts from contemporary world literature will be examined with a view to shedding new light on contemporary questions of politics such as coming to terms with the genocidal pasts and the Holocaust, processes of forgetting and remembrance, politics of public memory, colonialism and post-colonialism. These themes will be explored through a close reading of literary and political/philosophical texts. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals | |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | ||
| Supportive Courses | ||
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | Literature as Testimony: On Holocaust Memory | 1)Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved, (Simon & Schuster, 1986), 1-75. 2)Elia Wiesel, Night (Hill and Wang, 2006). |
| 3 | Testimony, History, Memory | 1)Dominick LaCapra, Writing History, Writing Trauma (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), 1-43. 2)Marc Nichanian, The Historiographic Perversion (Columbia University Press, 2009). |
| 4 | Concentration Camps | 1)Arendt, “Total Domination” The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harvest, 1951), 437-459. 2)Agamben, Remnants of Auschwitz (Zone Books, 1999), 1-85 |
| 5 | Understanding the Holocaust | 1)Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, (Penguin, 1991), 253-298. 2)Yehuda Bauer, Rethinking the Holocaust (Yale University Press, 2002), 1-67. |
| 6 | Paper submission I | |
| 7 | A Novel: Shame, Guilt, Responsibility | Bernhard Schlink, The Reader |
| 8 | Guilt or Responsibility? | 1)Bernhard Schlink, Guilt about the Past (Anansi, 2010) 2)Arendt, “Collective Responsibility”, Responsibility and Judgment |
| 9 | Politics of Memory | 1)Toni Morrison, The Origin of Others (Harvard University Press, 2017). 2)Ernst Renan, What is A Nation? 3)Thomas McCarthy, “Verganheitsbewältigung in the USA: On the Politics of Memory of Slavery”, Political Theory 30 (5), 2002: 623-648. |
| 10 | Paper Submission II | |
| 11 | Imperialism in Africa | Arendt, “Race and Bureaucracy”, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Imperialism, 185-220. |
| 12 | A Novel: Dark Pasts | J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace |
| 13 | What is Apartheid? | Nadine Gordimer, Living in Hope and History: Notes from Our Century (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999), 105-215. |
| 14 | Paper Submission III | |
| 15 | A Novel: Forgetting and Remembrance | Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant |
| 16 | Memory and Hope | Tzvetan Todorov, Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Princeton University Press, 2003), 113-210. |
| Course Notes/Textbooks | Books and articles listed above. All course readings are available at the University Library and as open sources. |
| Suggested Readings/Materials |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weigthing |
| Participation | 1 | 20 |
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | ||
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | 3 | 30 |
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 30 |
| Project | ||
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | ||
| Final Exam | 1 | 20 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 5 | 80 |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 1 | 20 |
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 10 | 8 | 80 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | |||
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | 3 | 18 | |
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 20 | |
| Project | |||
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | |||
| Final Exams | 1 | 23 | |
| Total | 225 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To be able to improve and deepen the theoretical and conceptual proficiencies on Political Science and International Relations. | X | ||||
| 2 | To be able to evaluate critically and analytically the relationships between various factors in the discipline of Political Science and International Relations such as structures, actors, institutions and culture at an advanced level. | |||||
| 3 | To be able to determine the theoretical and empirical gaps in Political Science and International Relations literature and gain the ability of questioning at an advanced level. | X | ||||
| 4 | To be able to gain the ability to develop innovative, leading and original arguments in order to fill the gaps in Political Science and International Relations literature. | X | ||||
| 5 | To be able to gather, analyze, and interpret the data by using advanced qualitative or quantitative research methods in Political Science and International Relations. | |||||
| 6 | To be able to develop original academic works and publish scientific articles in refereed national or international indexed journals in the field of Political Science and International Relations. | X | ||||
| 7 | To be able to describe individual research and contemporary developments in Political Science and International Relations in written, oral, and visual forms. | X | ||||
| 8 | To be able to take responsibility in an individual capacity and/or as part of a team in generating innovative and analytical solutions to the problems that arise in relation to the politics in daily life. | X | ||||
| 9 | To be able to develop projects in determining the institutional and political instruments for conflict resolution in national and international politics. | |||||
| 10 | To be able to prepare an original thesis in Political Science and International Relations based on scientific criteria. | X | ||||
| 11 | To be able to follow new research and developments, publish scientific articles and participate the debates in academic meetings in Political Science and International Relations through a foreign language. | X | ||||
| 12 | To be able to have ethical, social and scientific values in the stages throughout the processes of gathering, interpreting, disseminating and implementing data relevant to Political Science and International Relations. | X | ||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
