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Rebellious Ways

 In the twenty-first century, we are in the midst of a global rapid expansion of transnational social movements involving networks of people and ideologies cutting across national borders. Through their ideological discourses, and everyday practices, they challenge the dominance of states and international institutions of governance, such as the IMF, the World Bank, or the United Nations, as well as multinational corporations. They belong to a shifting array of transnational citizen movements (TSMOs), such as international environmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and informal coalitions.
 Social movements are also small or regional in scale. These include indigenous people’ and peasant resistance movements—witness Chiapas, Latin America, or Hawaii--as well as everyday localized practices of internal resistance. These are the “weapons of the weak.” In the colonial regimes of the so-called “Third World,” people have always resisted, in myriad ways. The Western gaze has often mistaken these social movements for hopeless, forlorn, quasi-religious “revitalization” movements, or “cargo cults”.
 In Rebellious Ways, we take a critical look at the ideologies and practices of a wide variety of social movements from around the world. We learn about the cultural politics of these movements; how their cultural meanings and practices conflict with other regimes of knowledge and practice. We learn to take a critical look into the ideologies of global environmentalism, and women’s movements. We ask how do dissenting individuals get a voice and “go public,” and create mass action? What are the fluid ways in which activists now interconnect in a shrinking world? What arrays of constituencies and ideologies swirl around a movement? How do our Western desires shape our own views of social movements?

Course Format
This course is conducted in a seminar-style format. This means there is a high standard of responsibility and participation in classes. Students are expected to come to class prepared at all times to speak about the readings, and to write about them in class. You will be doing small group cooperative activities, as well as discussing readings, videos, assignments.
On occasion we will host guest speakers. Students are expected to take good notes on the speakers’ presentations, and to be ready with good questions for the speakers.

Requirements
Students are required to do all the readings assigned on time. Students are also required to hand in assignments on time.

Books
Fox, Richard and Orin Starn (1997) Between Resistance and Revolution.

Guha, Ramachandra (2000) Environmentalism: A Global History.

Lamont Lindstrom, (1993) Cargo Cult: Strange Stories of Desire from Melanesia and Beyond.

Tice, Karin, (1995) Kuna Crafts, Gender and the Global Economy. 
Evaluation:
Participation: All students are expected to take an active part in class at all times. We meet but once a week, and you must attend every class. This is a key part of your grade.

Assignments: There will be several written assignments given throughout the semester. Many of these will involve the use of the Internet. For each one you will be given a guidelines paper which sets out what is required.

Response Papers: There will be regular papers assigned based on the readings. These “Response Papers” ask you to think critically about the readings, and write a considered, cogent, response. Guideline sheets for these papers will be given to you the class before they are due. These guideline sheets will present you with a focus or set of questions about the readings.

All Assignments and Papers must be word-processed, double-spaced, and use proper citation format. If a paper is late, points will be deducted for each day it is late.

196 level: The 196 students will be required to complete a project or special topics term paper.

Final Exam: Last class, April 30. Cumulative, essay.
096
Participation         20%
Assignments         30%
Response Papers   30%
Final Exam            20%

196
Participation          20%
Assignments          15%
Response Papers    20%
Project/Paper         25%
Final  Exam           20%