21A.336 | Spring 2004 | Undergraduate

Marketing, Microchips and McDonalds: Debating Globalization

Pages

Essay 1

Write a 3 page essay on one of the following questions.

  1. In Sweetness and Power, Sidney Mintz explores the history of a single “global” commodity - sugar. According to Mintz, how did the transformation in the meanings and uses of sugar and its changing patterns of production and consumption affect and transform relationships between different parts of the world? In answering this question, explore the following issues: How did the meanings and uses of sugar shift historically? What were the changing patterns of production and consumption associated with sugar? How did these patterns transform relationships between people living in different parts of the world? What kinds of power relationships emerged as part of these transformations?
  2. Although “globalization” is often discussed as if it is unique to the current era, we have considered how different historical periods may also have been based upon “global” dynamics. Discuss Amitav Ghosh’s novel, In an Antique Land, in relation to this issue. What types of historical “global” relationships does Amitav Ghosh attempt to uncover in his novel? (Be sure to offer specifics such as the time period, the regions affected, the business and cultural climate of the Indian Ocean, and the types of evidence he uses). Why does Ghosh think it is important to call attention to this history? How and why does he contrast this history with the contemporary period? (To offer greater context for the Indian Ocean trading world described in the novel, I recommend that you consult Janet Abu Lughod’s book, Before European Hegemony.

Note: Please make an appointment with the writing tutor, to discuss your paper topic.

Essay 2

Answer ONE of the following two essay questions. Your paper should be approximately seven pages in length.

  1. Drawing heavily on the materials from this course, describe some of the economic transformations that occurred over the course of the 1980s and 90s. In what ways have the work and personal lives of the people we have studied been transformed? How have such transformations affected relationships between various parts of the world? What do you see as some of the long-term ramifications of such changes? In your view, are such changes generally positive, negative or some mix of the two? Make sure you offer an overview but also provide specific case examples that suggest the impact of these changes on people’s everyday lives.
  2. “Globalization” is also often used to signal political transformations in a post-Cold War era. According to Verdery, how did state socialism work and what is it currently in transition to? More broadly how is the end of the Cold War shifting how people think about relationships between different parts of the world?

Final Paper

Students must write a 10-13 page final research paper based on a topic of their own choosing. Topics must in some way explore issues relating to “globalization” as discussed during the class and suggest how relationships between particular regions of the world are being configured in relation to their chosen topic. Students must reference at least two of the class readings. Students may utilize current newspaper and magazine articles and information found on the internet, as well as relevant academic literature.

Past topics have included: the differential impact of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis on different parts of the world; the molding of MTV content to fit different national contexts; the international impact of the Bombay film industry; regional perspectives on the United Nations; the impact of “outsourcing” on different parts of the world; the “global” dimensions of the Korean fashion industry; differences in the social meanings of hip hop in the U.S., Germany and Tanzania; Silicon Valley as a social and technological node of “globalization”; the increasing internationalization of professional basketball in the US; and the international impact of professionals trained at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

LEC # TOPICS KEY DATES
Introduction
1 Introduction: Why is Everyone Talking About Globalization?  
2

The Cultural Homogenization Debates: Hip Hop in Japan

Guest Lecturer: Prof. Ian Condry

 
3 The Economic and Political Debates  
Part 1: Histories of the Global
4-5 Global Histories Before Capitalism  
6 European Colonialism  
7 European Economic Expansion  
8 The Rise of Consumer Society, the Welfare State and the Third World  
9 Film: Modern Times Paper due
Part 2: Investigating Contemporary Globalization
A. Transformations - Economic
10 Deindustrialization and the Growth of Service Industries  
11-12 Film: Roger and Me. The Rise of High Tech Topic for final paper due (Ses #12)
13 New Industrialization in the “Third World”  
14 Theorizing the Economic Transformation  
B. Transformations - Political and Geographic
15 The New Post-Cold War Geography  
16-17 Migrations Paper due
C. Transformations - Culture, Media and Technology
18 Media in Motion  
19 Reworking Networks: From Activism to the Mafia  
20 Biotech and the New Science  
21-23 Student Presentations Paper due
24 Judging Globalization in a post-Iraq War Era  
25 Conclusion Revised final paper due

Required Texts

Ghosh, Amitov. In an Antique Land. Penguin Books, 1992. ISBN: 9780140142037.

Mintz, Sidney. Sweetness and Power. New York: Penguin Books, 1986. ISBN: 9780140092332.

The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader. Edited by Jonathan Inda, and Renato Rosaldo. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. ISBN: 9780631222323.

Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. Harpercollins; 1st ed edition, 1995. ISBN: 9780060391485.

Marx, Karl, and Fredrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. ([Download](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/61
) text from Project Gutenberg.)

Wolf, Diane. Factory Daughters: Gender, Household Dynamics, and Rural Industrialization in Java. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780520070721.

Readings by Class Session

SES # TOPICS READINGS
Introduction
1 Introduction: Why is Everyone Talking About Globalization?  
2 The Cultural Homogenization Debates: Hip Hop in Japan

Condry, Ian. “Japanese Hip-Hop and the Globalization of Popular Culture.” In Urban Life. Edited by G. Gmelch and W. Zenner. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 2001. ISBN: 9781577661948.

Condry, Ian. “The Social Production of Difference: Imitation and Authenticity in Japanese Rap Music. In Transactions, Transgressions, Transformations: American Culture in Western Europe and Japan. Edited by U. Poiger and H. Fehrenbach. Berghahn Books, 2000. ISBN: 9781571811080.

3 The Economic and Political Debates

Giddens, Anthony. “Globalization.” Chapter 1 in Runaway World. New York: Routledge, 2002. ISBN: 9780415944878.

Bourdieu, Pierre. “The Myth of ‘Globalization’ and the European Welfare State.” In Acts of Resistance: Against the New Myths of Our Time. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780745622187.

“Enron: Seduction and Betrayal.” New York Review of Books. 14 March 2002.

Part 1: Histories Of The Global
4-5 Global Histories Before Capitalism Ghosh, Amitov. Into an Antique Land.
6 European Colonialism

Mintz, Sidney. Sweetness and Power. Introduction, and pp. 1-50.

Recommended Readings

Wolf, Eric. “The Slave Trade.” Chapter 7 in Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. ISBN: 9780520048980.

Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Empire, 1875-1914. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1995. ISBN: 9780297816355.

7 European Economic Expansion

Selections from Marx and Engels. The Communist Manifesto.

Sweetness and Power. pp. 51-100.

Recommended Readings

Wolf, Eric. “The Industrial Revolution.” Chapter 9 in Europe and the People Without History.

Hobsbawm, Eric. “The French Revolution.” Chapter 3 in The Age of Revolution. New York: Vintage Books, 1996. ISBN: 9780679772538.

8 The Rise of Consumer Society, The Welfare State and the Third World

Sweetness and Power. pp. 101-186.

Recommended Readings

Terkel, Studs. Selections from Hard Times. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. ISBN: 9780394746913.

Hobsbawm, Eric. “Into the Economic Abyss.” and “The Third World.” Chapters 3 and 13 in The Age of Extremes. New York: Vintage Books, 1996. ISBN: 9780679730057.

9 Film: Modern Times  
Part 2: Investigating Contemporary Globalization
A. Transformations - Economic
10 Deindustrialization and the Growth of Service Industries Bensman, David, and Roberta Lynch. Chapters 1, 2 and 4 in Rusted Dreams. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780520063020.
11-12 Film: Roger and Me. The Rise of High Tech Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs.
13 New Industrialization in the “Third World”

Wolf, Diane. Chapters 5, 6, and 8 in Factory Daughters: Gender, Household Dynamics and Rural Industrialization in Java. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780520086579.

Freeman, Carla. “Designing Women: Corporate Discipline and Barbado’s Off-shore Pink-Collar Sector.” In The Anthropology of Globalization. Edited by Jonathan Xavier Inda and Renato Rosaldo. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. ISBN: 9780631222323.

14 Theorizing the Economic Transformation Harvey, David. “The Political-Economic Transformation of Late Twentieth Century Capitalism.” In Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992. ISBN: 9780631162940.
B. Transformations - Political and Geographic
15 The New Post-Cold War Geography Verdery, Katherine. Chapters 1 and 8 in What was Socialism, What Comes Next? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780691011325.
16 Migrations Epstein, Beth. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 in Collective Terms. Dissertation, New York University, 1988.
17 Migrations (cont.)

Ong, Aihwa. “The Pacific Shuttle: Family, Citizenship, and Capital Circuits.” In The Anthropology of Globalization.

Rothenberg, Daniel. Preface and Chapter 1 in With These Hands. Berkeley: University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780520227347.

C. Transformations - Culture, Media and Technology
18

Media in Motion

Film: Clips From Indian Popular Films.

Larkin, Brian. “Indian Films and Nigerian Lovers: Media and the Creation of Parallel Modernities.” In The Anthropology of Globalization.

Ganti, Teja. “And Yet My Heart is Still Indian: Culture, Identity and the Bombay Film Industry.” In Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780520232310.

Appadurai, Arjun. “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Political Economy.” In The Anthropology of Globalization.

19

Reworking Networks: From Activism to the Mafia

Film: Clips From WTO Protests Showdown in Seattle.

McLagan, Meg. “Computing for Tibet.” In Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780520232310.

Nordstrom, Carolyn. Selection from Extra-state Globalization of the Illicit. In On Deepter Reflection. Edited by Gusterson, H. and C. Besteman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Handout on Russian Mafia from New York Review of Books.

Hughes, Nancy Scheper. “The Traffic in Human Organs.” In The Anthropology of Globalization.

20

Biotech and the New Science

Film: The Gene Hunters.

Brush, Stephen. “Bioprospecting the Public Domain.” Culture Anthropology. 14 (1999).

Reardon, Jenny. “The Human Genome Diversity Project.” Social Studies of Science (2001).

21-23 Student Presentations  
24 Judging Globalization in a Post-Iraq War Era

Ferguson, James. “Global Disconnect.” In The Anthropology of Globalization.

Cooper, Fred. “What is the Concept of Globalization Good For?” African Affairs. 100 (2001): 189-213.

25 Conclusion  

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Description

Everyday we are bombarded with the word “global” and encouraged to see globalization as the quintessential transformation of our age. But what exactly does “globalization” mean? How is it affecting the lives of people around the world, not only in economic, but social and cultural terms? How do contemporary changes compare with those from other historical periods? Are such changes positive, negative or simply inevitable? And, finally, how does the concept of the “global” itself shape our perceptions in ways that both help us understand the contemporary world and potentially distort it? This course begins by offering a brief overview of historical “world systems,” including those centered in Asia as well as Europe. It explores the nature of contemporary transformations, including those in economics, media and information technologies, population flows, and consumer habits, not through abstractions but by focusing on the daily lives of people in various parts of the world. This course considers such topics as the day-to-day impact of computers in Silicon Valley and among Tibetan refugees; the dilemmas of factory workers in the US and rural Java; the attractions of Bombay cinema in Nigeria, the making of rap music in Japan, and the cultural complexities of immigrant life in France. This course seeks not only to understand the various forms globalization takes, but to understand its very different impacts world-wide.

Requirements

This is a Communications Intensive (CI) class. Attendance at class and participation is essential. If you miss more than 2 class sessions without permission of the instructor, your grade will be lowered (a letter grade for every two classes).

Course materials must be read for the assigned day in class.

Written assignments include:

  1. One 5 Page Paper (worth 20% of grade)
  2. One 7 Page Paper (worth 20% of grade)
  3. A final 10 page research paper on a topic of the student’s own choosing which will be revised (worth 40% of grade)

Students will also give a brief 10 minute oral presentation based on their individually-researched papers. (The oral presentation combined with class participation will constitute the final 20% of your course grade.)

Course Info

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As Taught In
Spring 2004