Course overview
Security Studies has been critiqued for its state-centrism and West-centrism, which produces theories and policy prescriptions that diminish the agency of the oppressed and compounds racial, gendered, sexual and class-based oppressions. This course explores alternative approaches to security-seeking by focussing on global social movements that work to contest the oppressive social structures that cause insecurity. After exploring critiques of dominant approaches in Security Studies, we will compare a range of global political struggles to interrogate how they conceptualise the conditions of oppression and reframe and operationalise a different set of categories, concepts and norms to disrupt and resist.
Course learning outcomes
- Think critically about concepts and practices of security
- Articulate how social movements challenge dominant conceptions of security and the dynamics of political change
- Critically analyse and compare a number of different theoretical concepts devised by social movements to contest dominant security paradigms and structures
- Conduct independent research utilising a wide variety of sources
- Craft compelling arguments substantiated with thorough evidence
- Articulate ideas confidently, thoughtfully, and respectfully