Academics

Political Science 275H: Nationalism, Immigration and the Politics of Identity (3 Credits)

Professor Spinner-Halev, UNC Department of Political Science

IDEAs in Action: FC-VALUES

This course is about boundaries, with the aim of understanding the interplay between national identity and immigration in Western democracies, with a focus on Britain and Hungary. While nationalism is often viewed as a natural part of the world, it is in fact a modern phenomenon. This course will begin with theoretical understandings of nationalism and immigration in the West. It will then move in a more concrete and political direction to the construction of national identity in Britain and Hungary, and to the contemporary challenge of immigration. We will discuss collective memory, immigration, and the relationship between national identity, democracy, and populism. We will examine the differences in how immigrants have been integrated in the UK and Hungary, and how they have changed the national identity of each country. As the course progresses, we will move from the theoretical to the more specific.