POL2205H1S L0101

Undergraduate Course Code: POL486H1S L0101

Topics in International Politics I

Postcolonial Debates in IR

Themes

What is postcolonial IR, and what does it mean for the discipline of IR? Why/how has postcolonial IR emerged and evolved? This course examines the foundations and evolution of postcolonial IR, to situate its legacies, changes, and continuities. Long held at the margins of the discipline of IR, it is now seeing renewed interest, particularly given its analytical value for examining issues of race and racism in IR. We cover key themes in postcolonial IR such as otherness, difference, representation, knowledge/power. We also examine what it means to undertake decolonial and anticolonial knowledge production in IR. The course is divided in two parts. The first part teases out the core theoretical tenets of postcolonial IR. The second part covers how postcolonial IR can be empirically performed. We examine the application of postcolonial critiques to key issues in IR, such as north-south cooperation, global environmental politics, diplomacy, global capitalism, war.

Texts

Primarily journal articles. TBA

Format and Requirements

TBA