Course info

This module introduces key concepts of political and social thought stemming from different world-regions and discusses how these regions have imagined and re-imagined themselves throughout history.

You will learn about the societies and cultures of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The module is divided into four sections according to the cardinal directions - Global North, South, East, and West - and will introduce you to key concepts in global intellectual history, while encouraging you to question its sometimes arbitrary categories. These directions encode the hierarchical ways in which global space has been organised over the past few centuries by Western domination. Simultaneously, these directions also allude to political solidarities and identities born on the margins.

The module questions: how can we think in common with diverse societies and cultures, to create a more democratic and equal world? Through research-led teaching and instruction from scholars across several disciplines, you will learn to analyse debates around broad concepts and compare how they are approached from anthropological, historical, and philosophical perspectives.