The course will provide a thorough understanding of the rise of the politics of protection as a mode of global governance. Students will engage in key debates, and gain in-depth knowledge of different perspectives and the legal rules that (seek to) govern world society. The course readings, discussions and assignments are intended to guide students to a level of critical thinking, viewing, and writing on a variety of complex and pressing issues of contemporary world society. With the help of a variety of texts, images and sources as well as guest lectures, simulation games, and documentary screenings, we will reflect upon the ethical, political and legal dimensions of protection within world society. Each seminar will use the guiding questions, images, and concepts as tools for reflection, and invite students to actively participate in the debate.
The course connects to the VU research profiles Governance for Society and Connected World. The course emphasizes the inclusion of multiple voices by taking a inter/transdisciplinary, multimedia approach. The course explicitly pays attention to the development of ‘visual literacy’ by including critical analysis of images as important component in the protection discourse. Because we live in a visual age and we are exposed to images 24/7 is it a crucial skill to be able to critically analyze images and to become aware of our own roles as makers, circulators, subjects and viewers of these images.