Semester & Location:	Fall 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Psychology, Sociology, Political Science
Prerequisite:	None
Faculty:	S. Salman Ahmad, PhD (current students please contact via the Canvas Inbox)
Program Contact:	Department email address psy.cns@dis.dk
Time & Place:	Mondays: 14.50-17.45 Classroom: N7-A23

 

Course Description:

In this course, we will explore the dynamics of identity and of identity-based tensions and conflicts in human systems.

One of the major problems in the world today is the conflict of identities – be they of religion, ethnicity, race, or country. Such conflicts are often rooted in an exclusive sense of self and therefore a solution to resolve such conflicts may lie in the emergence of truly inclusive identities. Applying cutting-edge research on identity and subjective experience, this experiential lab will explore and evolve identity-related processes that could transform prejudice, discrimination and conflict.

As identity is shaped and maintained by a number of forces, the lab will take a multidisciplinary approach rooted in social sciences and the humanities drawing from self and identity studies, symbolic interactionism, phenomenology and existentialism – particularly the shaping of subjective experience, and the dynamics of collective and political behavior. The lab has an applied focus, i.e., translating theory into practice. As such, we will use practical, immersive tools in creating processes and strategies that could solve problems of identity-based conflicts. We will work with surfacing the assumptions that create conflict and reconstructing these, testing and expanding boundaries of self and transforming the subjective experience of self and other.

 

Learning Objectives:

• To analyse and evaluate theories around identity with specific focus on its relationship to prejudice, discrimination and conflict.
• To explore the application of the above theories in transforming prejudice, discrimination and conflict.
• To deepen experiential knowledge of tensions and conflicts rooted in identity and to analyse one’s own experiences of identity-based conflicts.
• To participate in, develop and critically reflect upon some interventions designed to transform prejudice, discrimination and conflict.

 

Faculty

S. Salman Ahmad, Ph.D.

Salman Ahmad has a PhD in Psychology and has worked as a faculty member and consultant with various educational, business and social organizations across South Asia, the Middle-East, the Americas, and Europe. He teaches and consults in the areas of psychology, leadership and organizational development and has been engaged in social change initiatives with the European Union. He is the Founder of cnergi.nu and intosilence.nu, associated Chief Consultant at Living Institute, and an External Lecturer at Copenhagen Business School and the University of Copenhagen. 

 

Reading

Selected texts:

• Ahn, S.J., Le, A.M.T., & Bailenson, J.N. (2013). The effect of embodied experiences on self-other merging, attitude, and helping behavior. Media Psychology, 16 (1), 7-38.

• Auerbach, Y. (2009). The Reconciliation Pyramid—A Narrative-Based Framework for Analyzing Identity Conflicts. Political Psychology, 30(2), 291-318.

• Bashir,  B. & Goldberg, A. (2014) Deliberating the Holocaust and the Nakba: disruptive empathy and binationalism in Israel/Palestine, Journal of Genocide Research, 16:1, 77-99.

• Blight, J. G., & Lang, J. M. (2004). Lesson Number One:"Empathize With Your Enemy". Peace & Conflict, 10(4), 349-368.

• Block, J., & Block, J. H. (2006). Nursery school personality and political orientation two decades later. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(5), 734–749.

• Bloom, P. (2013). The Baby in the Well: The Case Against Empathy. The New Yorker.

• Brewer, M. B. (2010). Social identity complexity and acceptance of diversity. In Crisp, R. J. (ed.) The Psychology of social and cultural diversity. Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell Publishing, 9-33.

• Bubar, R., Cespedes, K., & Bundy-Fazioli, K. (2016). Intersectionality and Social Work: Omissions of Race, Class, and Sexuality in Graduate School Education. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(3), 283–296.

• Chiu, C., & Yeh, Y. (2017). In Your Shoes or Mine? Shifting From Other to Self Perspective Is Vital for Emotional Empathy. Emotion, doi:10.1037/emo0000346

• Cooley, E., Brown-Iannuzzi, J. L., Lei, R. F., & Cipolli, W., III (2019). Complex Intersections of Race and Class: Among Social Liberals, Learning About White Privilege Reduces Sympathy, Increases Blame, and Decreases External Attributions for White People Struggling With Poverty. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000605 download

• Dingott Alkopher, T. (2018). Socio-psychological reactions in the EU to immigration: from regaining ontological security to desecuritisation. European Security, 27(3), 314–335.

• Freire, P. (2001). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum Publishing, New York.

• Hammack, P. L. (2008). Narrative and the cultural psychology of identity. Personality And Social Psychology Review, 12(3), 222-247.

• Hermans, H. M., Konopka, A., Oosterwegel, A., & Zomer, P. (2016). Fields of tension in a boundary-crossing world: Towards a democratic organization of the self. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, doi:10.1007/s12124-016-9370-6, 1-13.

• Hirsh, J. B., & Kang, S. K. (2016). Mechanisms of identity conflict: Uncertainty, anxiety, and the behavioral inhibition system. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(3), 223–244.

• Howell, A., & Richter-Montpetit, M. (2020). Is securitization theory racist? Civilizationism, methodological whiteness, and antiblack thought in the Copenhagen School. Security Dialogue, 51(1), 3–22.

• Jarvis, L. (2017) The Ethics of Mislocalized Selfhood, Performance Research, 22:3, 30-37.

• Johnson, C. (2005). Narratives of identity: Denying empathy in conservative discourses on race, class, and sexuality. Theory & Society, 34(1), 37-61.

• Kinnvall, C. (2004). Globalization and Religious Nationalism: Self, Identity, and the Search for Ontological Security. Political Psychology, 25(5), 741-767.

• Maddi, S. R. (1967). The existential neurosis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 72(4), 311–325.

• Maister, L., Slater, M., Sanchez-Vives, M. V., & Tsakiris, M. (2015). Changing bodies changes minds: Owning another body affects social cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19(1), 6–12. 

• Poggi, I., & D’Errico, F. (2018). Feeling offended: A blow to our image and our social relationships. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi-org.esc-web.lib.cbs.dk:8443/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02221

• Sam, D.L & Berry, J.W. (2010). Acculturation: When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet. Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol 5. 472-481.

• Sanadjian, M. (2016). Diversity, rights or privileges? Denunciation of multiculturalism, ‘political correctness’ and anti-racism of the ex-Commander of Scotland Yard Ali Dizaei. Social Identities, 22(3), 247–273.

• Schein, E. (2003). On Dialogue, Culture, and Organizational Learning. Vol. 4 Issue 4, p27-38.

• Seinfeld, S. et al (2018). Offenders become the victim in virtual reality: impact of changing perspective in domestic violence. Scientific reports 8 (2692). pp.1-7,

• Sen, A. (2006). Identity and violence: The illusion of destiny. New York, NY, US: W W Norton & Co.

• Turner, J.C. (2005). Explaining the Nature of Power: A Three-Process Theory. European Journal of Social Psychology. 35: 1-22.

• Van Bavel, J. J., & Pereira, A. (2018). The partisan brain: An identity-based model of political belief. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(3), 213–224.

• Žižek, S. (1996). Fantasy as a political category: A Lacanian approach. Journal For The Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society, 1(2), 77-86.

 

Field Studies

Khora Virtual Reality

To study the role of technology in creating empathy.

Immigration and the Construction of the Native/Immigrant Identity Juxtaposition

To study the challenges of identity integration in multicultural contexts.

 

Guest Lecturers

Anastasia Bukashe, PhD, Psychologist, Organizational Consultant and Priest virtually from South Africa

Ida Dencher and Nicholas Chisa from Denmark on the Native-Immigrant Identity Juxtaposition in Denmark

Caroline Demeyére, PhD, post-doctoral researcher in Diversity and Inclusion at Copenhagen Business School

 

Approach to Teaching

This is an experiential lab and as such, students can expect the course to be not just interactive, but deeply experiential as you will be challenged, your boundaries will be pushed and your assumptions of self and other, and right and wrong will be questioned. However, we will also work on developing a psychologically safe climate in this class, so that all will feel safe enough to push these boundaries of self. The underlying rationale is that it is important for us to acknowledge and confront our own prejudices if we are to work with transforming the prejudices of others. 

 

Expectations from Students

The course aims at being transformative, and as such you must come prepared to be challenged and for your comfort zones to be pushed. High degrees of honesty, authenticity, courage and respect for the other are needed to successfully complete this course and derive meaningful learning from it. The course may require a certain degree of self-disclosure and self-confrontation and students must be prepared for that. Students must also be prepared for some emotional discomfort that may accompany the process of self-confrontation. But all of this will be in an environment of confidentiality and psychological safety.

 

Statement of Confidentiality

As the processes of the course may require a certain degree of self-disclosure, all students will enter the course with an understanding that all that is revealed by course members during the unfolding of the course will remain confidential and will not be revealed in any way whatsoever to anyone else by any other course member. This respect for the privacy and safety of the other will form the foundation for an environment of psychological safety that would be a precondition for the successful achievement of course objectives.

 

Grading

Methods of Evaluation	Individual/Group Evaluation	Percentage of grade
Engagement and Commitment	Individual	20%
Initial Essay	Individual	10%
Paper 1	Individual	20%
Paper 2	Individual	25%
Final Assignment	Group/Individual	25%
Total		100%

 

Engagement and Commitment:

A part of the evaluation will be based on active engagement and commitment to the process in class. This would involve, punctuality, being prepared with readings for each session, being involved in classroom activities, engaging in self-disclosure and demonstrating the courage to confront the self. At the same time, students will be expected to be positive, constructive and supportive in their exchanges with other class participants. Therefore, honesty and authenticity towards the self and consideration and compassion towards others would be considered important abilities and values in this course and their inculcation and demonstration will be a part of the evaluation. 

 

Initial Essay and Mid-term Papers:

Another part of the evaluation will be based on individual paper submissions. Students will complete one initial essay and two papers throughout the course in which they will apply theory to analyze their own experiences and the development they are experiencing in their own understanding of identity, prejudice and conflict. The raw data of the papers will be the experiences of the student and this data will need to be analyzed through the lens of course theory. 

 

Final Assignment:

A third part of the evaluation will be a final paper (students may choose to write this with some others or by themselves) where students will select a case and submit a proposal on transforming a conflict as presented in the case. Students are free to select their own case. The case could be a conflict at the intrapersonal, interpersonal or group level. Students may also work with large scale, macro level conflicts either within a nation or between nations. The focus of the paper would be coming up with strategies to transform the conflict whilst basing the analysis and proposals in course theory.  

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class you must complete all of the assigned work.

 

Policies

Policy on absence from class: If students are unable to attend class due to illness, family bereavement, or use of a pre-approved accommodation, they must proactively communicate with faculty to be considered for an excused absence. In the event of an excused absence, students are responsible for all material covered or assigned in class and should coordinate with other students in class for notes to keep up.

Policy on late papers: Late papers without a valid reason will not be accepted.

Policy for students who arrive late to class: Arriving late without a valid reason will affect your class participation grade.

Use of laptops or phones in class:  Computers and smart phones are not permitted in during regular class sessions. Occasionally you will work in groups or conduct other activities where a computer may be permitted. You will be informed when this is the case. Cell phones are to be switched off and put away in your bags during class. If you have to receive an urgent call, then please take permission from the instructor before the class.

 

Academic Accommodations

Your learning experience in this class is important to me.  If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure I receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways I can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to me. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support academicsupport@dis.dk

 

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading  
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code