The course aims to: introduce key theoretical and anthropological approaches to the study of revolutions; develop the ability to analyze revolutions as historically grounded events; encourage comparative thinking across major revolutionary cases; strengthen critical engagement with primary sources and scholarly literature; foster reflection on how revolutionary ideas and practices evolve and circulate over time.

Upon completion of this class students will be able to: Understand and discuss key theoretical questions involved in comparing revolutions in modern global history Identify key events and actors of key revolutions in world history Understand how the ideas and the practices of revolution changed from time to time, and how some of these revolutions were informed by or shaped one other Read text critically and effectively Understand, interpret and contextualize primary sources.

Revolutions have been one of the most salient aspects of political modernity, or “the locomotives of history,” as Marx wrote in 1850. Beyond repeating the cliché that revolutions are the driving forces of social and political transformation, the goal in this class is to think through revolutions in their historical time as well as across history from the perspective of political anthropology. We will use the concepts of liminality, social dramas, crowd behavior, imitation, and tricksters, to disentangle the study of revolutions from structures and the search for causes and outcomes, as well as from ideology, culture, and agency, taking instead social practices and meaning formation more seriously, focusing on revolutions as historical events to be studied in their own right. This also prompts the question: Is a comparison between revolutions possible at all? After a theoretical introduction, we will examine a series of cases: from the “big three” (France, Russia, and China) to the “Third World” revolutions (Algeria, Cuba, and Iran), up to the most recent Arab Spring. We will conclude by examining the prospect for revolutionary change in the contemporary world, considering whether the concept of revolution should be consigned, or not, to the “dustbin of history.” The aim of this theoretical and historical investigation is not only to learn more about these specific revolutions but also to deepen understanding of political and social change more generally.

Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (London: Penguin, 1990 [1965]) Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979) Bjørn Thomassen, “Notes Towards an Anthropology of Political Revolutions,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 54, no. 2 (2012): 679-706 A full and more detailed list of readings will be distributed on the first day of class All readings will be accessible on the Moodle course page

Lectures, workshops, class discussions and presentations

a) Attending students: Continuous assessment (1/3 of the final grade): teamwork and mid-term written exam Final (2/3 of the fina grade): oral exam b) Exempted and non-compliant students: Oral exam (100% of the final grade). In addition to the syllabus readings, exempted and non-compliant students will be assigned additional readings. For further details, please contact the course instructor and teaching assistants.

Final grade 30/30 Student project approved by class teacher.