Multicultural Societies, Global Cities, Local Diversities: Identity, Ethnicity and Religion in Amsterdam

label Diverse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:01 history_edu Diana Ignat
European societies are generally depicted as multicultural. However, perceptions on what multiculturalism implies, vary greatly. In this course students will get acquainted with contemporary academic debates on globalization, multiculturalism, ethnicity and nationalism. Even though many people consider ethnicity, cultural diversity and the nation 'hard facts', as academic concepts they are utterly vague. How can we assess these issues that are so central in many people's lives, yet avoid falling into a pitfall of essentializing them?Students will also carry out a little research project. If multiculturalism is complex then it becomes even more complicated in global cities like Amsterdam. Indeed, through intensified processes of globalization - due to the increasing mobility and migration of people and the explosive growth of electronic media - various people, identities and cultures come together into new interactions and relations. Usual ethnic and religious categories are replaced by new ones. Global cities are places of new encounters and transformation, new possibilities and new problems. In some cases interactions may result in fluid and reflexive identities and cultural change yet in others they can result in the hardening of boundaries and the intensification of identities.

Period
14-07-2014 - 25-07-2014 (2 weeks)

Target group
The course will be particularly of interest to students with a background in Humanities and Social Sciences, but students from other disciplines can also take part.

Course aim
- Getting a general introduction into the recent academic discussions and scholarly documents on globalization, multiculturalism and global cities. Several case studies will be discussed. - Learning how to carry out ethnographic fieldwork in urban environments. - Getting to know Amsterdam.



Credits
3.0 ECTS creditsECTS is the standard European credit system, each ECTS credit is equivalent to 28 study hours. All courses are worth 3 ECTS. Because some education systems (such as the American universities) base their credits on contact hours, we have included the contact hours in the course description on our website.

Course fee
EUR 0[Convert to USD]The tuition fee of this course is 1200,- and includes furnished accommodation and the orientation programme. If you select two consecutive courses and study with us for four weeks, you will receive a 10% discount on the second course fee.Some courses will include excursions. We will also organize trips and excursions as part of our social programme, which is a great way to get to know your fellow students and learn more about Amsterdam and the Netherlands. The social programme is not included in the tuition fee.

Course leader
Prof. Thijl Sunier

VU University Amsterdam Study Abroad in Amsterdam
Address: De Boelelaan 1105 Amsterdam
Postal code: 1081 HV
City: Amsterdam
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://www.studyabroadinamsterdam.nl/en/summerschool/index.asp
E-mail: amsterdamsummerschool@vu.nl
Phone: +31 20 5986506