First-Year Seminar (101-6-20)
Topic
Identity and Identification
Instructors
Steven G Epstein
Steven Epstein is Professor of Sociology and John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities. His research and teaching focus on the sociology of science, medicine, and sexuality.
Meeting Info
University Hall 218: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
"Identity and Identification"
Who are we and who gets to say? This seminar explores the tension between the social emphasis on identity (naming who we are and claiming where we belong) and the technological processes of identification (distinguishing people for administrative purposes). Using texts primarily from the social and historical sciences, we will pivot back and forth between considering the many kinds of identity currently in circulation (racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities; illnesses identities; political identities; etc.) and the rise of techniques and technologies that seek to identify people and fix them in place (from the invention of surnames, to the rise of forensic techniques such as fingerprinting, to the creation of the "average" person in opinion research, to the role of DNA testing in telling us who we are). The object of the course is to better understand the historical and social circumstances that determine where people fit—how they know themselves and are known—and to trace the diverse cultural and political implications of identity and identification.
Learning Objectives
To understand why identity is such a complex concept, and to understand how new technologies have transformed how people are known and know themselves.
Teaching Method
Seminar-style discussion
Evaluation Method
To be announced
Class Materials (Required)
This course will have two required books. All other readings will be provided on Canvas.
Abigail Saguy, Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are (Oxford University Press, 2020). ISBN 9780190931667.
Stein, Arlene. Unbound: Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity (Penguin Random House, 2019). ISBN 9781101972496.
Class Attributes
WCAS First-Year Seminar
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for First Year & Sophomore only