Hybrid Identities, Authentic Selves (SS-0217)Posted in Course Offerings, History, Identity Development/Psychology, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Media Archive, United States on 2011-07-02 04:12Z by Steven |
Hybrid Identities, Authentic Selves (SS-0217)
Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts
Spring Term 2011
Kimberly Chang, Associate Professor of Cultural Psychology
This course explores two related concepts—hybridity and authenticity—that underlie many present-day struggles over cultural identity and representation. The former calls attention to the multiplicity of social identities that vie for recognition within a person, while the latter emphasizes what is unique or essential to the self. While the hybrid is often charged with being inauthentic or fake, claims to authenticity are frequently criticized for being exclusive or reactionary. How do we negotiate among multiple and often contending identities? When do we feel the need to claim an authentic self? What are the pressures to do so and what purpose do such claims serve? We will read across disciplinary perspectives—including history, philosophy, psychology and literature—and explore these questions through both analytical and creative forms. While the “mixed race” experience will be the primary lens for the course, we will interrogate the ways that racial categories intersect with other axis of difference in the making of selves, identities, and communities.
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