My Office Hours This Fall:

Wed. 12:30-1:45pm and Thurs. 3:30-5pm

Course Schedule and Readings

Note: All readings are either from required course texts or on reserve in the Bailey-Howe Library or the Area and International Studies office (A 506 Old Mill)

Problem #1: As the bumper sticker says, we can "Act Locally." But can we really "Think Globally?"

Tues. Sept. 2: Introduction to the course, instructor’s expectations, etc.

No reading

Thurs. Sept. 4: Globalization's Many Faces

Activity: Brain Dump

Reading: 1. Friedman, Thomas. "While I was Sleeping." The World is Flat, pp. 3-11.

2. Brecher, Jeremy, Tim Costello, and Brendan Smith. (2000) "Globalization and Its Specter." In Globalization from Below: The Power of Solidarity. Cambridge: South End Press, pp. 1-17.

Tues. Sept. 9: The Limits of "One Worldism"

Guest: Laurie Kutner, Reference Librarian

Activity: Walking

Reading: 1. Ghemawat, Pankaj. (2007) "Why the World Isn’t Flat." Foreign Policy. March/April 2007: 54-60.

2. Wendell Berry (1991) "Out of your Car, Off your horse." Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1991, 61-3.

3. Traven, B. (1966) "Assembly Line."

Thurs. Sept. 11: Class is CANCELLED (Luis is at a conference), but please do the reading anyway

Readings: 1. Kolodziej, Edward. (n.d.) “Why Global Studies?” Essay prepared for Global Studies Workshop, Center for Global Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

"Charter for Transdisciplinarity." Adopted at the First World Congress of Trandisciplinarity, Convento da Arrábida, Portugal, November 2-6, 1994.

Available at: http://nicol.club.fr/ciret/english/charten.htm

 

Problem #2: Hasn't globalization happened before? What's so different about the contemporary era?

Tues. Sept. 16: Globalizing History and Historicizing Globalization

Handout: Periodizing Globalization

Quiz #1: A map quiz, based on Oxfam International’s "Mapping our World" interactive website, available at: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/mapping_our_world/mapping_our_world/l/home/index.htm

Reading: 1. Bentley, Jerry. (2004) "Globalizing History and Historicizing Globalization." Globalizations Vol. 1, no. 1: 69-81.

Thurs. Sept. 18: Elements of the Global Culture of Capitalism, Part 1

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Ch. 1.

2. Robbins, Talking Points on Global Problems, pp. 1-20.

Tues. Sept. 23: Special Guest Lecture by Gustavo Esteva: Beyond Globalization

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Ch. 2.

Thurs. Sept. 25: Elements of the Global Culture of Capitalism, Part 2

Film: "The Story of Stuff"

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Chs. 3-4.

Tues. Sept. 30: Summit: Follow that Commodity!

Reading: 1. Packer, George. (2002) "How Susie Bayer’s T-Shirt Ended up on the Back of Yusuf Mama." New York Times Magazine, March 31, 2002, pp.

Problem #3: How does globalization create greater prosperity for some and inequality and poverty for others?

Thurs. Oct. 2: What's Happening to the Global Economy?

Quiz #2

Reading: 1. Oppenheimer, Michael. (2008) “The End of Liberal Globalization.” World Policy Journal. Winter 2007/2008.

Tues. Oct. 7: "Globalization Floats All Boats" vs. "Globalization Increases Poverty and Inequality"

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Chs. 6, 8.

Viewing: “Why Globalization Works,” Video Interview with Martin Wolf, available at:

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/video.jsp (*Need to ensure your computer has RealPlayer)

Recommended but not required: Robbins, Talking Points on Global Problems, pp. 31-40, 71-8.

Thurs. Oct. 9: Dynamics of Labor Migration

Film: Selection from Oaxacalifornia

Reading: 1. Cohen, Jeffrey. (2004) “Studying the Culture of Migration in Oaxaca’s Central Valleys.” The Culture of Migration in Southern Mexico. University of Texas Press, pp. 1-27.

2. Ehrenreich, Barbara and Arlie Russell Hochschild. (2003) “Introduction.” Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy.

Tues. Oct. 14: Summit: The Politics of Redistributing Global Wealth

Reading: TBA

Problem #4: If the world is not becoming culturally homogenized, what is it becoming?

Thurs. Oct. 16: Frameworks for Thinking About Globalization and Culture

Quiz #3           

Film: Begin "In and Out of Africa"

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Ch. 9.

Tues. Oct. 21: Cultural Hybridity

Film: Finish "In and Out of Africa"

Reading: 1. Nederveen Pieterse, Jan. (2000) "Globalization as Hybridization." Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange.

Thurs. Oct. 23: Summit: Grassroots Movements and the Rise of Global Indigenism

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Ch. 10

2. Kuper, A. (2003) “The Return of the Native.” Available at:            http://newhumanist.org.uk/631

Tues. Oct. 28: Globalization, Literature, and Film

Guest: Prof. John Waldron

Reading: 1. Begin reading Dai, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress.

Thurs. Oct. 30: Discussion of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Quiz #4

Reading: 1. Finish reading Dai, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

 

Problem #5: Are we facing imminent global environmental collapse, and is it possible to avert it?

Tues. Nov. 4: Is population growth really the problem?

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Ch. 5

2. Robbins, Talking Points on Global Problems, pp. 66-70.

Thurs. Nov. 6: Perspectives from Political Ecology

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Ch. 7.

2. Robbins, Talking Points on Global Problems, pp. 80-92.

Tues. Nov. 11: Summit: We Need an International Agreement on Climate Change (Mock Kyoto Protocol)           

Reading: 1. Begin "Global Issues" website "Climate Change and Global Warming"

(http://www.globalissues.org/issue/178/climate-change-and-global-warming)

Thurs. Nov. 13: The Politics of Global Environmental Knowledge

Quiz #5

Reading: 1. Taylor, Peter and Frederick Buttel. (1992) "How Do We Know We Have Global Environmental Problems?: Science and the Globalization of Environmental Discourse." Geoforum 23(3): 405-16.

2. Finish "Global Issues" website "Climate Change and Global Warming"

(http://www.globalissues.org/issue/178/climate-change-and-global-warming)

 

Problem #6: Is global governance necessary? It is even possible?

Tues. Nov. 18: The Problem of "Global Security"

Reading: 1. Rudolph, Christopher. (2003) "Globalization and Security: Migration and Evolving Concepts of Security in Statecraft and Scholarship." Security Studies 13(1):1-32.

2. Annan, Kofi. "What I’ve Learned." Washington Post. Monday, December 11, 2006; Page A19.

3. Taljaard, Raenette. (2003) "The Bigger Problem: Weapons of Individual Destruction." YaleGlobal, 15 October 2003. Available at: http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=2632

Thurs. Nov. 20: Summit: Globalization and Human Rights

Reading: 1. Brysk, Allison. (2002) “Introduction: Transnational Threats and Opportunities.” In Brysk, ed. Globalization and Human Rights. University of California Press. pp. 1-18.                         

Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving Recess (no class)

Tues. Dec. 2: The Politics of “Global Citizenship.”

Reading: 1. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Ch. 11-12.

Thurs. Dec. 4: What does it mean to be a Global Citizen?: "This I Believe" Presentations

Tues. Dec. 9: What does it mean to be a Global Citizen?: "This I Believe" Presentations

Thurs. Dec. 11: What does it mean to be a Global Citizen?: "This I Believe" Presentations

Final Tues. 12/16: 9-11am

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