Trump! Brexit! Black Lives Matter! Pride! Many of today’s political developments seem to revolve around identity in more ways than one. While some acknowledge the importance of identity politics in an age with growing inequalities, others argue that focusing on identity in the political arena distracts from the “real cause” of contemporary political anger: economic inequality. 

In the first week of this summer programme, we will examine the concept of identity through an academic lens, and analyse how it intersects with other important concepts such as culture, class, race, sexuality, and ethnicity. In the second week, we will turn to current political debates that are strongly steered by ‘identity politics’, most dominantly those around populism, globalization, environmentalism, and antiracist social movements.

In our lectures, the students will be given the theoretical background to participate in empirical discussions that will be the basis of our interactive online seminars and class debates. In these sessions, students will work together to disentangle empirical manifestations of identity politics, unravelling how both are so closely bound together. Students will use their home context as nodes that are deeply entrenched in local and global debates about democracy.  

Students will experience studying in a supportive international environment hosted by the University of Amsterdam. The lectures and all course materials are in English. Participants in the course will develop study skills and become acquainted with learning methods that will give them an advantage as they continue their education at university. 

Erinne Paisley (rMA) is a lecturer at the UvA in Media Studies. She studied New Media and Digital Cultures at the University of Amsterdam after completing a BA at the University of Toronto in Media and Book Studies as well as Peace, Conflict, and Justice within UofT’s Munk School of Global Affairs. She is a lead investigator on the research project Digitized Love and Intimacy on Hinge, a collaboration between UvA’s Social Science and Humanities departments. Erinne has published academically on feminist data studies and fake news, as well as authored three internationally published books for young-adults on social media activism. Her research interests include digitally mediated intimacy, gender-based violence, and social media and popular protest.  

Want to get to know more about studying at the University of Amsterdam? Follow us on social media and join our summer community. Get a feel for our summer school vibe and our academic and social community, and learn about studying with us through the eyes of past summer school students. 

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Looking for an alumni perspective? Read this interview with Grace Forrest, who attended the Pre-University Honours Programme: Politics & Identity in summer 2018.