| Overall Educational Objective |
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to master the core principles of the politics of multiculturalism, as well as its main criticisms, and acquire the theoretical skills needed to make an informed judgment on these issues and be aware of the various ethical challenges and policy dilemmas surrounding the management of cultural diversity in our contemporary societies.
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| Course Description |
The course seeks to offer contextualized analytical and empirical insights into diversity and multiculturalism today. This course examines the theoretical and practical implications of diversity, focusing on the core principles of the politics of multiculturalism and how political institutions at various levels have responded to it as well as the main criticisms levied against it. The course takes a comparative and transnational perspective, aiming to explain how and why policies related to identity and group rights vary across countries and issue areas. Politics in pluralist democracies has increasingly become dominated by claims for recognition on the part of minority groups, divided along the axes of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. The experiences of liberal democracies with diversity will be one of the main focuses of the course. However, we will also discuss how states and societies beyond pluralist democracies cope with multiculturalism. This is a reading-intensive course. We will read the key texts by leading scholars who put forward different perspectives to develop critical thinking. We will seek to go back and forth between theoretical approaches to multiculturalism, and empirical analyses of what works and what does not. We will draw upon different social sciences, from political science, political theory, anthropology, sociology, and economics. Significant attention will be given to the question of immigration and its impact on modern societies, as migrants’ transnational activism, claims-making and participation pose challenges to migrant-receiving societies.
The study of multiculturalism and diversity does not just entail the study of difference, but also inequality, discrimination, and exploitation. This course by focusing on recent normative orientations to diversity, like multiculturalism, impartiality, intersectionality, recognition, redistribution, and feminism, will be making a case for the primacy of rights, irrespective of cultural, religious, racial, gender-based, socio-economic, or any other discerning variables.
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| Course Description in Turkish |
Ders, günümüzün çeşitlilik ve çok kültürlülüğüne ilişkin bağlamsal analitik ve ampirik anlayışlar sunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu ders, çokkültürlülük siyasetinin temel ilkelerine ve çeşitli düzeylerdeki siyasi kurumların buna nasıl tepki verdiğine ve ona karşı getirilen temel eleştirilere odaklanarak çeşitliliğin teorik ve pratik sonuçlarını inceliyor. Ders, kimlik ve grup haklarına ilişkin politikaların ülkeler ve sorun alanları arasında nasıl ve neden farklılık gösterdiğini açıklamayı amaçlayan karşılaştırmalı ve ulusötesi bir bakış açısına sahiptir. Çoğulcu demokrasilerde siyaset, ırk, etnik köken, cinsiyet ve cinsellik eksenlerinde bölünmüş azınlık gruplarının tanınma iddialarının giderek daha fazla hakimiyeti altına giriyor. Liberal demokrasilerin çeşitlilik konusundaki deneyimleri dersin ana odak noktalarından biridir. Ancak çoğulcu demokrasilerin ötesindeki devlet ve toplumların çokkültürlülükle nasıl başa çıktıklarını da derste tartışılmaktadır. Bu, yoğun okuma gerektiren bir derstir. Bu derste eleştirel düşünceyi geliştirmek için farklı bakış açıları ortaya koyan önde gelen akademisyenlerin önemli metinlerini okuyacağız. Çokkültürlülüğe yönelik teorik yaklaşımlar ile neyin işe yarayıp neyin yaramadığına dair ampirik analizleri dikkate alarak tartışmalar yapacağız. Siyaset bilimi, siyaset teorisi, antropoloji, sosyoloji ve ekonomi gibi farklı sosyal bilimlerden yararlanacağız. Göçmenlerin ulusötesi aktivizmi, talepte bulunma ve katılımı göçmen alan toplumlar için zorluklar oluşturduğundan, göç sorununa ve bunun modern toplumlar üzerindeki etkisine büyük önem verileceğiz.
Çokkültürlülük ve çeşitlilik üzerine yapılan çalışmalar sadece farklılıkların incelenmesini değil aynı zamanda eşitsizliğin, ayrımcılığın ve sömürünün de incelenmesini gerektirir. Çokkültürlülük, tarafsızlık, kesişimsellik, tanınma, yeniden dağıtım ve feminizm gibi çeşitliliğe yönelik son normatif yönelimlere odaklanan bu ders, kültürel, dinsel, ırksal, toplumsal cinsiyet temelli, sosyo-ekonomik ayrımlardan bağımsız olarak hakların önceliğini savunacaktır. |
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Program Outcomes and Competences |
Level |
Assessed by |
| 1) |
Adequate knowledge of political history necessary to comprehend and effectively evaluate contemporary Political Science and International Relations issues. |
H |
Participation
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| 2) |
Understanding of the fundamental concepts that exist in the fields of social and behavioral sciences as well as the correlation between these concepts |
S |
Participation
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| 3) |
Ability to analyze the fundamental theories in the field Political Science and International Relations and to assess their reflections into practice |
H |
Presentation
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| 4) |
Ability to critically discuss different aspects of theories and developments in Political Science and International Relations both individually and in the course of group work during classroom discussions. |
H |
Participation
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| 5) |
Ability to conduct research independently, or with a team, about the developments taking place in the international arena, make foreign policy analyses, develop research-based conflict resolution models, and prepare comprehensive reports using computers and relevant software |
S |
Participation
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| 6) |
Ability to take decisions as well as to implement these decisions by using the knowledge about the field and the skills that have been acquired during the undergraduate studies |
S |
Participation
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| 7) |
Ability to recognize the relations between scientific thought and ethical behavior; pay attention to being tolerant and properly defend different ideas, ideologies and belief systems |
H |
Participation
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| 8) |
Ability to work in international institutions and multicultural environments, with the help of the knowledge on different cultures, societies, political systems as well as linguistic skills acquired during the undergraduate studies |
H |
Presentation
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| 9) |
Ability to display language skills in English at minimum B2 level enough for debating with colleagues on issues of Political Science and International Relations, and also display language skills in a second foreign language at minimum A2 level enough for communicating in daily life |
S |
Presentation
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| 10) |
Ability to pursue lifelong learning as well as perform advanced/graduate studies in the field Political Science and International Relations and other social sciences disciplines in academic institutions at home and abroad |
N |
Participation
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| Week |
Subject |
| 1) |
Week I. A Brief Introduction to the Course
Scope, purpose, and relevance of material and discussion topics |
| 2) |
Week II. Multiculturalism as a Public Policy Philosophy
What is multiculturalism? How did it emerge as a public philosophy? What is the politics of multiculturalism? Where and how does it deviate from a classical liberal approach to managing diversity? What is its relation to cultural tolerance, anti-racism, multi-nationalism, and the rights of indigenous and other minorities? Which groups are these policies intended to accommodate?
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| 3) |
Week III – The Politics of Recognition
What is group identity? Should identity be relevant to politics and policy? Does justice require granting group-differentiated rights? Do group-differentiated rights conflict with liberal and democratic commitments to equality and justice for all citizens? What are the different approaches to group identity in public life across societies?
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| 4) |
Week IV – Multiculturalism, Postcolonial Legacies, and Race
What are the residual political, socio-economic, and psychological effects of colonial history? What is the complex relationship between postcolonial theory and multiculturalism? Do postcolonial studies provide us with the necessary tools to understand power relations in the age of globalization? Does multiculturalism when seeking to value differences reinforce race essentialism? What is the relationship between race, ethnicity, sense of self, and the development of an individual, and group identity? What can multiculturalism offer in the fight against racism?
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| 5) |
Week V – Multiculturalism and Gender Equality
What are the conflicts that arise between multiculturalism and gender equality? Are minority groups gendered like the societies in which they exist? Are group rights potentially anti-feminist? Does multiculturalism threaten LGBTQ+ rights? Does the politics of multiculturalism include LGBTQ+ rights?
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| 6) |
Week VI – Globalization, Transnational Migration, and Diversity
Has the world become more migratory and diverse? What are the key global migratory trends? What are the issues that are likely to shape human mobility in the period ahead? Could transnational migration studies provide us with new ways of understanding diversity? What are the opportunities that diverse and thick transnational social fields offer to migrants?
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| 7) |
Week VII – Complex Citizenships
What does citizenship mean in this era of global mobility? How is it related to belonging? Can one “belong” to a country without being a citizen of that country? Or, can one have citizenship of a certain country but still feel that they do not belong there? How does multiculturalism factor into this relationship?
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| 8) |
Week VIII – Models of Immigrant Integration
What is migrant integration? How do we define it and whom does it concern? What are the main differences between assimilationist and multicultural integration models? What are the policy implications of the transnationality of culture for the integration of migrants? Are multicultural integration models adequate? How should we evaluate a turn away from multicultural and post-national perspectives, toward a renewed emphasis on assimilation and citizenship?
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| 9) |
Week IX - Governing Religious Diversity
How do new forms of mobilizing and advancing claims and participation emerge beyond the frame of national citizenship? What are the changing parameters of religious claims-making? How do liberal democracies accommodate cultural and religious differences? What are the tensions between multiculturalism, civility, and freedom of expression? What concepts could be used to interpret and describe multicultural conflicts such as the Rushdie affair, the French foulard affair, the cartoon controversy, the murder of the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and the Charlie Hebdo attack?
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| 10) |
Week X – Multiculturalism in Non-Western Contexts
What is the legacy and challenge of cultural pluralism in the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia? How do these countries respond to new questions concerning justice and participation in the face of growing ethnic and religious diversity?
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| 11) |
Week XI. Diver-cities
How do migrants practice citizenship across borders as they negotiate relations of belonging at different geographical scales? Do cities and urban neighbourhoods provide migrants opportunities for inclusion? How cities and neighbourhoods are positioned in local/global relations? How has the pandemic led to an increase in social inequality and racism in multicultural and global cities?
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| 12) |
Week XII. Multiculturalism in Turkey
How did the Ottoman Empire govern ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity? What was the Ottoman millet system? How did the transition from the empire to the nation-state affect diversity management in Turkey? How did the state manage ethnocultural and religious diversity in Turkey from the early Republican era until today? What are the main minority groups in Turkey? How does Turkey respond to new challenges posed by growing diversity due to processes of globalization, transnationalization, and migration?
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| 13) |
Week XIII. Multiculturalism in Crisis?
Has multiculturalism failed? What are the main criticisms of multicultural politics? What are the several challenges to the paradigm particularly in the post-Cold War and post-9/11 era? How do neo-assimilationist citizenship and belonging policies affect migrants? Would multiculturalism stand the challenge of growing exclusionary narratives of nationhood?
What are the limits and possibilities of multiculturalism? What are the new narratives that could work to energize pro-diversity forces and undercut support for populism?
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| 14) |
Week XIV. Beyond Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism and multicultural models have been challenged in several ways and need to be revised in light of multiple identities, hyper diversity, transnationalism, and globalization. We will try to address the following questions: What are the changing public discourses surrounding multiculturalism? What are the characteristics of new forms of immigration, and how have these new forms of immigration impacted multicultural theories? How do all of these patterns contribute to what might be called post‐multiculturalism?
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Information Package / Course Catalogue