Democracy and Diversity

POLI 305
University of Victoria
Summer 2018

Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 to 12:00

Room: Cornett B107

Instructor: Didier Zúñiga

Office: DTB A334
Office Hours: Thursday 13:00 to 14:00
Email: dzuniga@uvic.ca

Diversity has become a central consideration in debates about democracy in contemporary political
theory. What such a polysemic notion entails politically and philosophically, however, is the
subject of intense debate. This course will focus on recent normative orientations to diversity, like
multiculturalism, impartiality, intersectionality, recognition, redistribution, feminism, care, and
sustainability. Through these lenses, this course will examine issues related to language, gender,
religious belief, Indigeneity, citizenship, vulnerability, disability, ecology, and animality.

In considering these themes, the students will be introduced to important texts and authors in
current thinking about diversity, and to the underlying methodological concerns that inform such
debates. As we proceed, the students will be encouraged to pursue reflective and critical enquiry
concerning some the central issues of democracy and diversity.

At the end of the course the students are expected (a) to become acquainted with basic ideas,
concepts, and problems related to democracy and diversity; (b) to construct persuasive
interpretations and applications of those ideas and concepts; (c) to evaluate normative and
explanatory arguments from theoretical texts; and (d) to give articulate expression to their own
thinking in a rigorous and coherent way.

Required reading
All readings listed in the syllabus are available via the UVic library (or will be distributed in class).
The main readings will be posted on Coursespaces.

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Evaluation
1. Participation and attendance 15%
2. Critical analysis (1000-1250 words) May 29th 30%
3. Essay proposal (250-350 words + bibliography) June 12th 15%
4. Essay (2500-3000 words) June 28th 40%

Please note:

All written assignment must be submitted electronically via Coursespaces before 4pm on the dates
shown in the schedule.

No assignment will be accepted without penalty after the stated due dates for each assignment.
The only exceptions will be for documented medical reasons or family emergencies. Late
assignments will be penalized at the rate of 5% per day.

Failure to complete all assignments will result in a grade of “N” for the course.

1. Participation and attendance

Students are required to complete the assigned readings before each class and come prepared to
discuss them. The students’ participation grade will take into account their attendance record as
well as their participation in class discussion. The students’ contributions will be evaluated by their
insightfulness and critical attention to the course material. Contributions are expected to help
advance other students’ understandings of the material, and must be congenial and committed to a
spirit of open, friendly, and respectful inquiry.
Please note that students with more than two unexcused absences will have their attendance grade
diminished.

2. Critical analysis
Students are required to write a critical analysis (1000-1250 words, not counting footnotes or
bibliography). A handout outlining this assignment will be available on Coursespaces early in the
term. The critical analysis is worth 30% of the final grade and is due on May 29th.

3. Essay proposal
Students must submit a 250-350 word proposal (not counting the bibliography) with a short
bibliography. The proposal must include an explanation of the proposed paper that identifies a
research question or problem and explains the direction the paper will take. Students may also
include an outline of the argument. The short bibliography’s quality will be judged by its relevance
to the topic. The proposal is worth 15% of the final grade and is due on June 12th.
Note: please read the research essay assignment on Coursespaces before writing the proposal.

4. Essay
Students are also required to write an essay that is 2500-3000 words (not counting footnotes or
bibliography). Papers will be due on June 28th. The essay is worth 40% of the final grade.

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Early in the term, students will be provided the information they will need to complete this
assignment via Coursespaces. The assignment will invite students to explore in more detail a
particular theme that has been covered in the lectures. Papers must follow scholarly conventions
regarding citation and bibliographical references.

On plagiarism, consult UVic’s Policy on Academic Integrity, at

http://web.uvic.ca/calendar2017-09/undergrad/info/regulations/academic-integrity.html

Good advice about how to avoid plagiarism:

http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize

Course Schedule

(subject to adjustment)

Please note that all listed dates are tentative. So that we can maintain flexibility throughout the
term with respect to setting the dates on which specific topics are treated, it is essential that students
maintain regular attendance, so that they are aware of our schedule, as it unfolds.

Week One

1 – Introduction and liberal egalitarianism (May 15)

General introduction to the course. Paper copies of the syllabus will be provided in class.

Brian Barry, “Liberalism and Multiculturalism,” Ethical Perspectives, vol. 4, no. 2, 1997, pp. 3-
14.

Recommended:
Ronald Dworkin, “Liberalism,” in Public and Private Morality, ed. S. Hampshire (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1978), pp. 113-143.

2 – Liberal multiculturalism (May 17)

Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1995), chapter 2, pp. 10-33.

Bikhu Parekh, “Dilemmas of a Multicultural Theory of Citizenship,” Constellations, vol. 4, no.

1, 1997, pp. 54-62.

Recommended:
Iris Marion Young, “A Multicultural Continuum: A Critique of Will Kymlicka’s Ethnic-Nation
Dichotomy,” Constellations, vol. 4, no. 1, 1997, pp. 48-53.

Week Two

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3 – Recognition, and the “communitarian” critique of liberalism (May 22)
Charles Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition,” in Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of
Recognition, ed. A. Gutman (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), pp. 25-73.

Recommended:
Alasdair MacIntyre, “The Privatization of the Good,” The Review of Politics, vol. 52, no. 3,
1990, pp. 344-377.

Charles Taylor, “Atomism,” in Philosophical Papers Volume 2: Philosophy and the Human
Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 187-210.

4 – Redistribution, culture, and identity politics (May 24)

Nancy Fraser, “From redistribution to recognition? Dilemmas of justice in a ‘Post-socialist’
Age,” New Left Review, I/212, July/August 1995, pp 68–93.

Judith Butler, “Merely Cultural,” in Adding Insult to Injury: Nancy Fraser Debates her Critics,
ed. K. Olson (New York: Verso, 2008), pp. 42-56.

Recommended:
Linda Martín Alcoff, “Fraser on Redistribution, Recognition, and Identity,” European Journal of
Political Theory, vol. 6, no. 3, 2007, pp. 255-265.

Week Three

**Critical analysis due May 29th**

5 – Secularism and religious diversity (May 29)

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), Introduction,
pp. 1-22.

Saba Mahmood “Can Secularism be Other-wise?” in Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age,

eds. Warner et al. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), pp. 282-299.

Recommended:
Charles Taylor, “Modes of Secularism,” in Secularism and its Critics, ed. R. Bhargava (New
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 31-53.

6 – Gender, oppression and culture (May 31)

Iris Marion Young, “Polity and group difference: A critique of universal citizenship,” Ethics,
vol. 99, no. 2, 1989, pp. 250–274.

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Sarah Song, “Majority norms, multiculturalism and gender equality,” American Political Science
Review, vol. 99, no. 4, 2005, pp. 473-89.

Recommended:
Iris Marion Young, “The Five Faces of Oppression,” in Justice and the Politics of Difference
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), pp. 39-65.

Avigail Eisenberg, “Diversity and equality: three approaches to cultural and sexual difference,”
The Journal of Political Philosophy, vol. 11, no. 1, 2003, pp. 41-64.

Week Four

7 – Diversity and intersectionality (June 5)

Kimberle Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence
against Women of Color,” Stanford Law Review, vol. 43, no. 6, 1991, pp. 1241-1299.

Sirma Bilge, “Beyond Subordination vs. Resistance: An Intersectional Approach to the Agency
of Veiled Muslim Women,” Journal of Intercultural Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, 2010, pp. 9-
28.

Recommended:
Avigail Eisenberg, “Identity politics and the risks of essentialism,” in Liberal Multiculturalism
and the Fair Terms of Integration, eds. Peter Balint and Sophie Guérard de Latour
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) pp. 159–176.

8 – Indigenous Peoples and colonialism (June 7)

Glen Coulthard, “Subjects of Empire: Indigenous Peoples and the ‘Politics of Recognition’ in
Canada,” Contemporary Political Theory, vol. 6, no. 4, 2007, pp. 437-460.

Gina Starblanket and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, “Toward a Relational Paradigm- Four Points
for Consideration: Knowledge, Gender, Land and Modernity,” in Reconciliation and
Resurgence, eds. M. Asch, J. Borrows, and J. Tully (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
Forthcoming, 2018).
Please note: copies of this text will be distributed in class on June 5 (or earlier) due to copyright
restrictions.

Recommended:
Jeff Corntassel and Cheryl Bryce, “Practicing sustainable self-determination: Indigenous
approaches to cultural restoration and revitalization,” The Brown Journal of World Affairs,
vol. 18, no. 2, 2012, pp. 151-162.

Glen Coulthard, “Place Against Empire: The Dene Nation, Land Claims and the Politics of
Recognition in the North,” in Recognition versus Self-Determination, eds. Avigail
Eisenberg et al. (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2014), pp. 147-173.

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 Week Five
th
**Essay Proposal due June 12 **

9 – Socioecological diversity, sustainability and reconciliation: the political thought of James

Tully. Part 1 (June 12)
James Tully, Strange Multiplicity: Constitutionalism in an Age of Diversity (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1994), chapter 1, pp. 1-30.

James Tully, “Reimagining belonging in diverse societies,” in Public Philosophy in a New Key,
Volume 1: Democracy and Civic Freedom (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
2008), pp. 160-184.

Recommended:
James Tully, “The Spirit of Haida Gwaii,” part of the Sustainability Lecture, delivered at
Dalhousie University, March 20, 2014.

James Tully, “A View of Transformative Reconciliation: Strange Multiplicity & the Spirit of
Haida Gwaii at 20,” symposium on Indigenous Studies and Anti-Imperial Critique for the
21st Century, delivered at Yale University, October 1-2, 2015.

10 – Socioecological diversity, sustainability and reconciliation: the political thought of

James Tully. Part 2 (June 14)
James Tully, “Reconciliation here on earth,” in Reconciliation and Resurgence, eds. M. Asch, J.
Borrows, and J. Tully (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Forthcoming, 2018).
Please note: copies of this text will be distributed in class on June 12 (or earlier) due to copyright
restrictions.

Guest speaker: Professor James Tully.

Week Six

11 – Vulnerability, disability, and care. Part 1 (June 19)

Joan Tronto, Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care (London: Routledge,
1993), chapter 4, pp 101-124.

Barbara Arneil, “Disability, Self-Image, and Modern Political Theory,” Political Theory, vol.
37, no. 2, (2009) pp. 218-242.

Recommended:
Eva F. Kittay, “When caring is just and justice is caring: justice and mental retardation,” Public
Culture, vol. 13, no. 3, 2001, pp. 557-580.

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12 – Class cancelled (June 21)

Week Seven

13 – Vulnerability, disability, and care. Part 2 (June 26)

Alasdair MacIntyre, Dependent Rational Animals (Chicago: Open Court, 2001), chapter 11,
pp. 128-154.

Amber Knight, “Democratizing disability: achieving inclusion (without assimilation) through

‘participatory parity’,” Hypatia, vol. 30, no. 1, 2015, pp. 97-114.

Recommended:
Amber Knight, “Disability, paternalism, and autonomy: rethinking political decision-making
and speech,” Res Philosophica, vol. 93, no. 4, 2016, pp. 865-891.

Alasdair MacIntyre, “The need for a standard of care,” in Americans with Disabilities:
Exploring Implications of the Law for Individuals and Institutions, eds. L. P. Francis and
A. Silvers (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 81-86.

**Essay due June 28**

14 – Citizenship and non-human animals + Conclusion (June 28)

Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, “Animals and the Frontiers of Citizenship,” Oxford
Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 34, no. 2, 2014, pp. 201-219.

Paul Nadasdy, “First Nations, Citizenship and Animals, or Why Northern Indigenous People
Might Not Want to Live in Zoopolis,” Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue
Canadienne de Science Politique, vol. 49, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1-20.

Recommended:
Corine Pelluchon, “Animal Ethics,” in Encyclopedia of Global Ethics, ed. H. ten Have (New York:
Springer, 2015).
http://corine-pelluchon.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Animal-Ethics_Springerlink.pdf

Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2011).

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Mobile Computing or Communications Devices
To facilitate the realization of course objectives, this course is organized as a manual note-taking
lecture course.

Please note:
Phone use in class for any purpose is strictly forbidden.
Students who wish to use laptops for the purpose of taking notes are required to sit in the back
rows of the classroom, so as to minimize distraction to other students.

Note also the significant benefits associated with taking your lecture notes by hand:
http://www.thestar.com/life/2014/06/09/laptops_vs_written_notes_writing_it_out_helps_students
_more_study_says.html.

Exceptions: Explicit permission for the use of a computer may be granted by the instructor in the
case of a disability that justifies its use to facilitate in-class note-taking or learning. You must
receive explicit permission from the instructor in such a case, and permission will require proper
documentation from the Centre for Accessible Learning.

Some Useful Resources

The Centre for Academic Communication. The writing centre is used by everyone – undergraduate
students, graduate students and professors. You can visit them up to a couple of times a week to
get assistance with current or past assignments. They can make a huge difference in your
confidence and skill with writing. I have seen students receive their first ‘A’s’ as a result of visiting
the Centre for Academic Communication.
https://www.uvic.ca/learningandteaching/cac/index.php

Time Management. Time management is a key skill that makes a huge difference in how well you
do at university. It is also a skill that is very valuable in any job you might have after university.
If you know you have trouble organizing your time to finish, for example, 3 papers due the same
day, then contact study solutions through the library. They offer excellent courses and provide
one-on-one assistance.
http://www.uvic.ca/library/locations/home/learning/study.php

Personal Challenges. You may also want to contact a counsellor if delays in your coursework
completion are due to personal challenges you face over the semester.
http://www.uvic.ca/services/counselling/

Accommodations. Students who require additional assistance (personal, technological, exam

taking, attendance, assignment requirements and more) are encouraged to book an appointment
with the Centre for Accessible Learning to consider registration. Additionally, students who
require accommodations are advised to speak to the course director early in the term. For general
inquiries: infocal@uvic.ca. For information regarding registration, documentation, learning
disability assessments, contact information and more, see:
http://www.uvic.ca/services/cal/

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Course Experience Survey (CES)
I value your feedback on this course. Towards the end of the term you will have the opportunity
to complete a confidential course experience survey (CES) regarding your learning experience.
The survey is vital to providing feedback to me regarding the course and my teaching, as well as
to help the department improve the overall program for students in the future. When it is time for
you to complete the survey, you will receive an email inviting you to do so. If you do not receive
an email invitation, you can go directly to http://ces.uvic.ca. You will need to use your UVic
NetLink ID to access the survey, which can be done on your laptop, tablet or mobile device. I will
remind you nearer the time but please be thinking about this important activity, especially the
following three questions, during the course:
1.What strengths did your instructor demonstrate that helped you learn in this course?
2. Please provide specific suggestions as to how the instructor could have helped you
learn more effectively.
3. Please provide specific suggestions as to how this course could be improved.