COLL: THE PROMISES AND PERILS OF IDENTIT

In the course, we will engage the decades-long debates around what it means to organize politics around identity in the United States, particularly from the lens of marginalized groups. In the age of American politics where the term “identity politics” is often used as a dismissal or derogation of the experiences of marginalized groups, what exactly is identity politics? What do the contemporary anxieties around identity politics tell us about political life? What are the political possibilities that arise from organizing identity-based movements? Does focusing too much on identity politics overshadow concerns around material redistribution? We will trace the notion of identity politics back to its origins in Black queer feminism in the 1970s, and seek to understand its evolutions to today. We will bridge the work of critical theorists with the empirical study of identity-based politics, focusing on those who have sought to negotiate differences across race, gender, and sexuality.