CULT 320 — Globalization & Cultures — Spring 2011

Professor Lisa M. Rabin

Mondays 7:20 p.m.-10:00 p.m.

Innovation Hall 133

lrabin@gmu.edu

Office Hours: Immediately after class, 10:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m.

and 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.Thursdays, Acquia Bldg. 3rd Floor,

Department of Modern & Classical Languages

Description:

“Globalization” is lived in everyday life and experienced differentially across the globe. This course will critically examine the complex and varied relationships between culture(s) and globalization from the age of colonialism to the present. Emphasizing the post-1970s dispensation of neoliberal capitalism, we will pay attention to the role that media and new media technologies play in shaping the cultural spaces in which people live today. We will also critically examine globalization’s planners’ claim that everyone gets rich off free trade, inspecting the effects of globalization on subsistence, inequality, and fairness in various locations. Lastly, this course will examine “globalization from below”: far-flung movements that resist or attempt to construct alternatives to neoliberal globalization, and activist movements that can be defined as “transglocal.”

Grading:

Class Participation: 15%

Response Papers (10 entries, 3 pts. each): 20%

First Midterm Take-Home Exam: 20%

Second Midterm Take-Home Exam: 20%

Final Research Paper: 25% (5% = outline; 20% = paper itself)

Please see section following schedule for specific guidelines for evaluation and grading of each of these items.

Class Rules: Arrive on time since lectures/discussions will start promptly. Turn your cell phones off. Do not leave early or during break; this is disruptive for everyone. If you have to leave early, please come and talk to me beforehand. If you cannot make it to class, email me beforehand; if you are sick and have to miss class, bring a doctor’s note to the next class session. The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the syllabus pending availability of materials. Please do not surf the Internet or check your email during class.

Required Texts:

• Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative.

• Anderson, Cavanagh, and Lee, Field Guide to the Global Economy.

• Kate Raworth, Trading Away Our Rights (Oxfam: Free Download)

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/papers/tradingaway.html)

• Peter Stalker, No-Nonsense Guide to International Migration.

• Other readings (PDFs) will be made available via Blackboard:

CULT 320—Rabin—Weekly Readings and Topics

COURSE SCHEDULE

Please note: Texts that are indicated on the weekly schedule should be read before that class.

DEFINITIONS AND CONTESTATIONS

Week 1: Introductions (24 January 2011):

Flat Earths, McWorlds, and the Homogenization Thesis

Friedman, “The World is Flat”

Angelique Hauergud, “Globalization and Thomas Friedman,” Why America’s Pundits Are Wrong, pp. 102-121 (on GoogleBookshttp://books.google.com/books?id=UsgEoq2jKhgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=why+americas+top+pundits+are+wrong&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=32suTcmLD8KBlAfJmKiBDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Film: Life and Debt HC154 .L54 2001

Week 2: Encountering Globalization: Key Concepts (31 January)

John Tomlinson, “Globalization and Culture,” Globalization and Culture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), Chapters 1-2, pp. 1-60 [chapter 1 is divided into two sections; both chapters are available on Blackboard]

Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Globalization and Culture: Global Melange (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Press, 2004), Chapters 3 [Available on Blackboard]

Film: The Japanese Version (56 mins) DS821.5.U5 J36
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Histories of Globalization

Week 3: Colonial Globalizations (7 February)

Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, pp. 1-154.

Video: Thirst (62 mins)

Week 4: (14 February) Dreams of Modernity and Universal Communication

Armand Mattelart, Chapter 1, “Networks of Universalization” (pp. 1-22), from Networking the World (PDF).

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Bourgeois and Proletarians,” from The Communist Manifesto, http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html.: Summarize basic position on bourgeois global revolution.

Video: T-Shirt Travels (57 mins) Online: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/t_shirt_travels/

*Mid-Term take-home exam questions distributed. The exam is due at the beginning of class next week. (I cannot accept exams by email.)*

Note: There is no reading or response paper expected for next week.

Week 5: (18 February) Neoliberal Globalization

Mid-term exam due.

Week 6: Neoliberal Globalization, continued (25 February)

Alan Howard, “” No Sweat: Fashion, Free Trade, and Garment Workers, ed. Andrew Ross (New York: Verso, 1997), pp.151-172 [Available on Blackboard]

“Globalization of Labor,” Finance and Development (A Quarterly Magazine of the IMF), http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2007/06/picture.htm

Week 7: What Has Globalization Wrought? (March 7)

Sarah Anderson and John Cavanaugh with Thea Lee, Field Guide to the Global Economy.

Week 8: Spring Break—No Class (14 March)

remember the outline for your final paper is due at the beginning of class, in class, on march 21.

also read and respond to nancy morris reading on blackboard.

Connected Worlds

Week 9: Global Media: The Cultural Imperialism Debate (23 March)

*Outline of Final Paper Due (hard copy; I cannot accept copies by email).*

Nancy Morris, “The Myth of Unadulterated Culture Meets the Threat of Imported Media,” Media, Culture, & Society, vol. 24, no. 2 (March 2002): 278-289. [Available on Blackboard]

Visual: See map of globe; countries are represented according to their Internet usage:

http://www.govcom.org/maps/map_set_wsis/GC0_Maps_set_3.0_digitaldivide.pdf

Week 10: Global Media II: Active Consumption & Political Activism (30 March)

Greene, Alison. “Cablevision(nation) in Rural Yucatán: Performing Modernity and Mexicanidad in the early 1990s,” Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico Since 1940 (Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 2001), pp. 415-451. [Available on Blackboard]

Naomi Klein, No Logo (New York: Picador, 2002), Chapter 16. [Available on Blackboard]

Video: No Logo: Brands, Globalization, and Resistance (42 mins) HD69.B7 K58

*Mid-term exam questions distributed. Exam is due at the beginning of class next week. (I cannot accept exams by email.)*

*Please note: No response paper due next week, but read Mike Davis’ Planet of Slums.*

Week 11: Cities in Globalization (06 April)

*Mid-term exam due.*

Mike Davis, Planet of Slums

Video: Maquilapolis (68 mins)

Week 12: Migrations (13 April)

Peter Stalker, The No-Nonsense Guide to International Migration.

In class group work: Use Peter Stalker’s interactive web site on global

migration: http://www.pstalker.com/migration/index.htm.

Video: Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night (27 mins) JZ1318 .N36 2005

Video: We Don’t Play Golf Here (33 mins)

Week 13: Women’s Labor in the Global Supply Chain (20 April)

Kate Raworth (Oxfam), Trading Away our Rights, http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/papers/tradingaway.html (free booklet download).

Diagram: “THE SWEAT BEHIND THE GAP SHIRT” BY JESSE GORDON. “THE NATION,” 2006.

Video: China Blue (87 mins) HD2339.C6 C55 2007

Week 14: Sex and Food in the Global Circuit (27 April)

Dennis Altman, “Sex and Political Economy,” http://australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-September-2001/altman2.html

Mark Liechty, “Carnal Economies: the Commodification of Food and Sex in Kathmandu,” Cultural Anthropology 20(1) (2005): 1-38 [Available on Blackboard].

Video: Tales of the Global Economy: The Cappuccino Trail (50 mins)

Week 15: Breakdowns, Shadows, and Conflicts of Globalization (30 April)

Donald Macedo and Panayota Guonari, “Globalization and the Unleashing of New Racisms,” in The Globalization of Racism, pp. 3-35 [Available on Blackboard].

Carolyn Nordstrom, “The Cultures of Criminals,” from Global Outlaws (pp. 139-148) [Available on Blackboard]

Visual: The Global Arms Trade, Princeton fact sheet: http://www.princeton.edu/~ina/infographics/weapons.html

Video: Conversations with History: Amy Chua (55 mins)

Note: There are no more response papers due.

Week 16: Globalization from Below: Resistances and Alternatives (07 May)

*FINAL PAPER DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS. (I cannot accept them by email.)*

“Transglocal Barrio Politics: Dominican American Organizing in New York City”

John Cavanaugh et al., “Ten Principles for Sustainable Societies” (pp. 54—78), from Alternatives to Economic Globalization,

http://intercontinentalcry.org/ten-principles-for-sustainable-societies/

Sample excerpts from We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anticapitalism, http://www.weareeverywhere.org/.

Video: The Take (87 mins)

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Description of Assignments (with thanks to Professors Peter Mandaville and Timothy Gibson)

(1) Final Paper (20%): An 8-10-page research paper on a topic of your own choosing in the area of globalization and culture. Due on the last day of class (May 7). Final papers will consider globalization and culture in the context of one of three “global flows” – flows of capital, flows of people, or flows of media. I will provide you with a separate assignment sheet on Blackboard for more details on possible topics and for the basic requirements of the assignments. Students are free to develop your own topic, so long as it fits within the context of the course. Final papers should be a clearly articulated argument, with careful consideration and scholarly research, and should endeavor to advance your own analysis of the topic.

(3) Final Paper Outline (5%):

Students will be asked to submit an outline of their final papers immediately following Spring Break (March 21). Outlines should include: 1) a short summary of the paper’s topic; 2) a thesis statement (i.e, the main idea/argument/claim of the paper); 3) an outline of sections or paragraphs that will form the main body of the argument; and 4) a list of 10 scholarly resources.

(3) Two Take-Home Midterm Exams (20 points each)

These exams will contain 3-4 short essay questions, and will evaluate students’ depth of knowledge regarding the theoretical perspectives covered during the semester. The exams will be in an “open book/open notes” format. Exam questions will be distributed beforehand, but must be answered in essay format during class time for the exam.

(4)	Response Papers (10 points)

To provide an opportunity for everyone in the course to reflect critically on the issues raised in readings, students will be asked to write ten (10) informal, one-page papers which respond to the readings assigned throughout the semester. Basically, students should view these papers as an opportunity to work through some of the conceptual and substantive issues raised in course readings, and as a way to explore themes they may cover later in their term papers.

Each paper will be worth 2 percent of your final grade and must be submitted at the beginning of class. Note on grading: these papers are not meant to be formal essays. When marking these, I will NOT be looking for grammar, organization, and so on. I will be looking for evidence that you are engaged with the readings, and that you are taking advantage of the opportunity to reflect on the issues of the course. Papers that simply re-hash the lectures or that fail to show an explicit connection to the readings will receive reduced or zero credit.

(5) Individual & Group Participation (15 points)

Students will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss and reflect upon the readings assigned that week. As a result, active participation in the lectures, discussions, and workshops--posing questions, offering opinions, engaging in dialogue and debate--is a crucial component of the course. Students will therefore be marked on the level of engagement in the seminars and lectures throughout the semester. Overall, this is what I will look for in participation:

(a) Attendance and professional classroom demeanor. You must attend class to participate. As a result, students with habitual attendance problems cannot expect to receive a favorable participation mark. In the case of personal or health emergencies, I will make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, students will be expected to conduct themselves with professionalism. This means arriving on time, and focusing on course activities (i.e., no cell phones, texting, browsing on your laptop, etc.).

(b) Contributions to class lectures, discussions, workshops, and seminars. In lectures and discussions, I will look for contributions (i.e., speaking in class: asking questions, contributing to group discussions, asking questions in lectures) that demonstrate you are following what is going on in class and that you have completed the assigned readings. Additionally, I will reward those students who work well with their colleagues in class—for example, demonstrating a desire to help others, showing a respect for others’ opinions and perspectives. Finally, all students will be asked to bring questions in response to readings assigned each week. Failure to do so will influence a student’s participation grade.

General Notes and Procedures

(1) Late Assignments

Late midterms and response papers will be subject to a daily penalty. I will deduct 10 percent from your assignment for every day late (weekends equal one day). In the case of personal and/or medical emergencies, I may make an exception to these policies based on the particulars of the case. However, if an emergency does arise, you should try to contact me before the actual due date (e.g., via email day or night). I do not offer extensions to students after the due date has passed, except in the case of true family or health emergencies.

(2) Exam “Make-ups”

Only in extreme circumstances (verified illness or death in the family) can exams be “made up” without prior arrangements. Exams may not be taken early, except under exceptional circumstances.

(3) Students Must Keep Copies of All Assignments

All students are required to keep copies of all their assignments (either hard or electronic copies) until final grades are posted. Students are also expected to follow their progress on Blackboard. If you see that you are missing a grade on Blackboard, you must contact me as soon as possible. Failure to do so will put your ability to re-submit missing papers in jeopardy.

(5) Honor Code

George Mason University students are expected to adhere to the Honor Code; please familiarize yourself with the Honor Code if you have not already done so. All papers, projects, and exams are to be original and prepared for this class. Papers and projects for this class may be related to a task in another class, but you must get specific permission from both instructors. While hired typists and proofreaders are permitted, your exams, papers, and projects must be your own work. Plagiarism of any kind (see the honor code for a definition) will not be tolerated, and papers may be checked using anti-plaigarism software systems (such as “Turn it In”).

(6) Disability Support Services

If you are student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me an contact the Office of Disability Resources at 703-993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office.

(7) Changes to the syllabus

As the instructor, I reserve the right to make changes to the above syllabus, in the interest of furthering student learning and/or ensuring a safe and respectful learning environment for all students. Students will be given the opportunity to provide input regarding any major changes to the course plan.

(8) Add/Drop deadlines

Last day to add (full-semester course): Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Last day to drop (full-semester course): Friday, February 25, 2011

Selective withdrawal period (full semester course): Friday, February 25-Friday, April 1, 2011

Further Notes on Grading Expectations

As you can see below, the grading scale goes from A to F. What this means in practical terms is that not everyone earns an "A" or "B". These marks are reserved for good or excellent work--i.e. work which demonstrates not only an acceptable grasp of the material, but which also shows a high degree of complexity, originality and independence of thought. So, in this course, as in other GMU courses, the average grade will most likely be a "C" – a grade which signals an acceptable but not impressive, critical, and/or creative grasp of the subject matter. What this also means is that assignments that demonstrate only a rudimentary or one-dimensional grasp of the material, or that show serious weaknesses in both the complexity of the analysis and the ability to present ideas, will receive a below-average (i.e. a "D" or "F" mark).