Cultural Anthropology 4: globalization and sociocultural complexity

Although transnational connections, the movement of people and the exchange of capital, goods and ideas, have long colored social life and cultural processes across the world, the magnitude of contemporary globalization is unprecedented. Increasing human diversity, shifts in balances of power, the emergence of new existential insecurities and opportunities, and the accelerated transformation of our life worlds are the inevitable outcome of a blend of recent developments that have determined the context in which global interconnectedness has severely intensified. In particular, the impact of today's globalization relates to the diminish of geopolitical bi-polarity after the Cold War era, the effects of neoliberal economics, the occurrence of global calamities and deterritorialized conflict, and the rapid evolution of especially information and communication technology. This course aims to investigate contemporary globalization and its linkage with some crucial social and cultural processes. Catalysts of globalization and sociocultural complexity will be critically assessed, especially the 'new' media. Furthermore, the effects of global interconnectedness are explored by dissecting phenomena like migration, the upsurge of religious movements, and the rise of transnationalism. Interrelated issues that will also be addressed in the series of lectures involve community formation, identity construction, cultural innovation versus cultural survival, and the shifting relationship between agency and structure. As such, 'Globalization and sociocultural complexity' should be regarded an introduction to current anthropology that logically follows 'Culturele Antropologie 2' in its aim to deepen students' understanding of theoretical approaches to, and the ethnography of, present-day's highly intricate social realities.

Assumed knowledge
Knowledge of the English language

•     Introduction to key concepts and principal theoretical debates         concerning         globalization         and         the         unprecedented         complexity         that         marks         social         life         today.
  

•     Introduction to an analytic framework that facilitates the exploration         of         both         the         foundations         and         effects         of         hypermobility         and         interconnectedness         from         an         anthropological         perspective.
  

•     Introduction to, and dissection of, cases in which the local (and         context         specific)         impact         of         global         forces         manifests.
  

•     Insight into intertwined processes of cultural reproduction and         cultural         transformation.
  

•     Insight into the organization and (re)definition of collectives in         contexts         of         contemporary         globalization.
  

•     Insight into the changing relationship between individuals and social         structures/formations         as         the         result         of         social         and         economic         developments         and         advancements         in         the         realm         of         (information)         technology.          
  

You must meet the following requirements

• Book Overheating: An Anthropology of Accelerated Change (ISBN 978-0-745-33634-3)
• Reader Online in Blackboard
• Book Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States. (ISBN 978-0-520-27514-0)