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Body, Language, and Identity - OEBXO2104Z

Title:	Body, Language, and Identity
Guaranteed by:	Katedra občanské výchovy a filosofie (41-KOVF)
Faculty:	Faculty of Education
Actual:	from 2024
Semester:	summer
E-Credits:	3
Examination process:	summer s.:
Hours per week, examination:	summer s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
Capacity:	19 / 19 (19)
Min. number of students:	unlimited
4EU+:	no
Virtual mobility / capacity:	no
State of the course:	taught
Language:	English
Teaching methods:	full-time
Note:	course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan

Guarantor:	Mgr. Tomáš Samek, M.A., Ph.D.
Teacher(s):	Mgr. Tomáš Samek, M.A., Ph.D.

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Annotation -

This course is open to students of all kinds of educational background and does not presuppose any previous knowledge of linguistics, anthropology or any other social sciences. The questions “Who Am I?” and “Who Are We?” are central for this course that strives to answer them from various anthropological and linguistic perspectives. If you know the answers, you are likely to be a better teacher and co-worker. At least a part of our mind is anchored to body and bodily experience, thus informing our notions of both personal and social identity. The relationship between body and identity is to a large extent mediated by everyday language practices, societal discourses and group allegiances, whereby deixis plays a crucial rule. Together and individually, we will try to develop a sense of how to use the body – language – identity triangle as a means to achieve two intertwined purposes: (a) knowing ourselves better and (b) improving our performance as teachers in class settings. This enterprise will be both theoretical and practical and some non-traditional methodologies might be used in the process.

Last update: Samek Tomáš, Mgr., M.A., Ph.D. (17.02.2023)

Aim of the course -

The goal is given by the course description as provided above.

Last update: Samek Tomáš, Mgr., M.A., Ph.D. (13.02.2022)

Course completion requirements

Minimal attendance 70 percent
Reading during the seminar
Formulation of a question about the content of the reading is expected to be submitted every week – the final grade reflects the quality of those questions

Last update: Samek Tomáš, Mgr., M.A., Ph.D. (26.01.2023)

Literature -

Anderson, B. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London and New York: Verso 1991.
Blount, B. G. (ed.) Language, Culture, and Society: A Book of Readings. Prospect Heights 1995: Waveland Press.
Carrithers, M., S. Collins, S. Lukes (eds.). The Category of the Person: Anthropology, Philosophy, History. Cambridge University Press 1985.
De Castro, E. V. Cosmological deixis and Amerindian perspectivism. Journal of the Royal anthropological Institute (1998): 469-488.
Gallagher, Shaun and Dan Zahavi, "Phenomenological Approaches to Self-Consciousness", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), 2021.
Haldane, J. B. S. “On Being the Right Size”. 1926.
Jaworski, A., N. Coupland (eds.), The Discourse Reader. London and New York: Routledge 2001.
Kwan, Tze-wan. Towards a Phenomenology of Pronouns. (Conference Paper.)
Tufekci, Z. 5 pandemic mistakes we keep repeating: We can learn from our failures. The Atlantic. 26. 2. 2021.
Waugh, L. R. Marked and unmarked: A choice between unequals in semiotic structure. Semiotica1982, 38: 299 – 318.

Last update: Samek Tomáš, Mgr., M.A., Ph.D. (13.02.2022)

Requirements to the exam -

Minimal attendance 70 percent
Reading during the seminar
Formulation of a question about the content of the reading is expected to be submitted every week – the final grade reflects the quality of those questions

Last update: Samek Tomáš, Mgr., M.A., Ph.D. (26.01.2023)

Syllabus -

Consciousness. Individual and social body. Terminological and methodological outlook
How language shapes our world-view
“Person” and “self” as categories of human mind
Identity as a semiotic process. Deixis
“Who am I?” Embodied identity. Phenomenology of self. Body and space.
“You and me.” Deictic and phatic function
“Who are we?” Identity as (trans)national imagination
Gender and markedness
Identity in cross-cultural perspective
Individual and social body in the pandemics
Identities in discourse flux
The final theme should be decided by the students to meet their topical needs. Alternative to this is the following topic: Identity in a (de)globalized world

An in-depth version of the syllabus is included in the "Files" ("Soubory") section and is available from there to all students registered for the course.

Last update: Samek Tomáš, Mgr., M.A., Ph.D. (14.02.2022)

Learning outcomes

Student:

understands, and is able to differentiate between, various categories of human mind such as "consciousness", "self", "person" and "identity"
is aware of distinct communication functions and understands how to utilize them effectively in education settings
can explain the ways in which language shapes our world-view
is able to describe identity in cross-cultural perspective
understands the roles that deixis plays in human socialization and imagination of the individual and collective "self"
knows how to utilize language in multicultural classroom
is able to practice various techniques of calming mind and harmonizing it with bodily processes

Last update: Samek Tomáš, Mgr., M.A., Ph.D. (31.01.2025)