Universität Wien

240027 VO Anthropology of Globalization (3.3.1) (2023S)

3.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie

The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used.
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Details

Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

If possible, the course is to be conducted in presence. Due to the respective applicable distance regulations and other measures, adjustments may be made.

  • Thursday 02.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 09.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 16.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 23.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 30.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 20.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 27.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 04.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 11.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 25.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 01.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 15.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Thursday 22.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course aims to introduce students to both globalization as a phenomenon – from European colonization to the Occupy Wall-Street movement - and to how anthropologists have engaged with it. It starts by discussing foundational ideas and concepts introduced by classic authors such as Immanuel Wallerstein, Eric Wolf, Manuel Castells, and Marshall Sahlins, and then moves to the more contemporary work such as those by Thomas Eriksen, James Ferguson, Anna Tsing, or David Graeber. Besides established authors in the Global North, this course will also engage with authors from the Global South, who think about globalization “from below”. In the process of making such archeology of knowledge - as would say Michel Foucault (1969) – students will learn about different traditions of knowledge around globalization, and how anthropology contributes to understanding this topic. Besides varying theoretical perspectives, the course will explicitly discuss different sets of subtopics related to globalization, such as environment and the Anthropocene; social movements, identity politics and global solidarity; and questions of power and economic and political dependency. Some of the overall questions structuring the discussion of sets of foundational concepts, contemporary theories, and subtopics are:
- To what extent the term “globalization” explains historical, socio-political, economical, and cultural phenomena today, and to what extent alternative tools may be more effective?
- To what extent globalization produces global connections, compresses time-space, intensifies a global consciousness, dissolves boundaries, generate and distribute capital, or bridges gaps between different groups of people?

Assessment and permitted materials

The Final Exam is on Thurs. 29.06.2023 = The final exam will consist of general questions about the material presented in class and in the assigned readings, possibly requiring students to use two or more authors to answer and positioning themselves in relation to the question at stake.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

According the UniVienna and KSA standards, the grading scheme is as follows:
91–100 points = 1 (excellent); 81–90 points = 2 (good); 71–80 points = 3 (satisfactory); 61–70 points = 4 (sufficient); 0–60 points = 5 (insufficient). In order to complete the course, one needs to obtain at least 61 points. Students can earn 10 extra points for class participation.

Examination topics

The final exam will require the student to discuss the topic of globalization by comparing more than one author and positioning themselves in relation to the question at stake.

Reading list

The reading list will consist of short excerpts (for example "introduction" or "conclusion") of some of the following references (*the remaining references are supplementary and not obligatory reading):

Castells, Manuel. 2000. “Information, Technology, and Global Capitalism”. In Hutton, Will and Giddens, Anthony (Eds.), Global Capitalism, pp. 52-74. New York: The New Press.

Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2018. “How Globalization Has Broken the Chain of Responsibility” (Sapiens, August 9, 2018). < https://www.sapiens.org/culture/globalization-downfall-gladstone-australia/>.

Ferguson, James. 1999. Expectations of modernity: myths and meanings of urban life on the Zambian Copperbelt. Perspectives on Southern Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Graeber, David. 2009. Direct Action: An Ethnography. Oakland: AK Press.

Guest, Kenneth J. (Ed.). Cultural Anthropology: a Reader for a Global Age. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Mathews, Gordon, Ribeiro, Gustavo L., and Vega, Carlos A.. 2012. Globalization from Below: The World’s Other Economy. London: Routledge.

Haraway, Donna. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press.

Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990.

Inda, Jonathan Xavier, and Rosaldo, Renato. 2002. The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc.

Juergensmeyer, Mark (ed). 2014. Thinking Globally: A Global Studies Reader. University of California Press.

Mintz, Sidney W. 1985. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Penguin Books.

Sahlins, Marshall. 1972. Stone Age Economics. London: Routledge.

Nordstrom, Carolyn. 2004. Shadows of War: Violence, Power, and International Profiteering in the Twenty-First Century. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Steger, Manfred. 2017. Globalization, a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tarlo, Emma, and Moors, Annelies. 2013. Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion: New Perspectives from Europe and North America. London: Bloomsburry.

Tsing, Anna L. 2005. Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1974. The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. Academic Press.

Wolf, Eric R.. 2010. Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Tu 12.09.2023 15:27