CDP213 | Norms: The Doppelgänger of Public Policy

This course is curated to engage students with some of the most powerful ideological tools of the human enterprise–norms and normativity—that deeply shape public policy and law. Socio-cultural norms, especially those around gender, are often understood, accepted, and lived as ‘natural’ and, therefore, ‘normal’. This is why they can stymie our imaginations, control our choices, and undergird social institutions. They can enjoy a degree of righteous impunity when enmeshed with law and policy and sometimes even when pitted against law and policy. Yet, norms remain relatively under-explored, even within academia.

This course focuses upon the dynamics between policy and socio-cultural norms, particularly an inter-twined set of norms of and around gender, sexuality, heteronormativity, pronatalism, the family, care, violence, and the violence of law. Since each of these carries a rich repertoire of historical and contemporary discourse and debate, students get to delve into their ethics to challenge the given meaning of personhood and citizenship.

The desired outcome of the course is to:

(a) stimulate critical thought and reflective inquiry into the supposedly ‘personal’ and ‘political’ and join the dots between the two;

(b) consider how scholarly work and current events might speak to each other and enrich our understanding; and
(c)conceptualize responses to challenges of autonomy, rights, and systemic injustice.