2014-2015 Academic Catalog

Jun 17, 2024

2014-2015 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ID 182 - Are We Modern Yet?

This seminar asks what it means for places and peoples to be modern. We begin by exploring when and where the imperative toward modernity began. The class examines the economic, political and cultural dimensions of modernity. We question the Eurocentric ideas that claim that modernity was a western enterprise exported to the rest of the world. Next colonialism, nationalism and Third World development are examined as specific projects of modernity. Examples from Latin America and the Caribbean will help focus the discussions for this section. Finally, we engage current debates about the projects of modernity and ask: Have modern forms of knowledge and institutions borne out their promise? Or is modernity in crisis? Are we moving toward a postmodern era? Throughout the seminar we will highlight how certain notions of race and gender shaped ideas about modernity.