This course can be followed as part of the BA specialisation Global Connections
(onderdeel BA Culturele Antropologie en Ontwikkelingssociologie)
Course Description
Globalisation is intrinsically connected to the market. Increasingly, markets become interdependent and transnational and the (neoliberal) market is often understood as the driving force of the globalization processes. Often it is assumed that globalizing markets (capitalism, colonialism, neoliberalism) lead to uniformity of the way in which people conduct their economic activities.
The key questions that are dealt with in this course are: What insights does anthropology and development sociology offer when they study rapidly expanding markets? What are the consequences for societies when markets change, new markets develop, or when existing markets become marginalized? Who are the winners and losers of new economic opportunities? How is trust in markets generated and sometimes broken down again? What are people’s concerns about wealth and profit? What is the (occult) imaginary realm of markets?
This course contributes to:
Becoming familiar with the major anthropological and sociological debates and findings on the nexus of markets, money, and globalization.
Insight into the methodological, particularly ethnographic, approach to the study of markets.
Raising historical sensitivity for our understanding of contemporary markets.
Familiarity with concepts, insights, and methods that reveal that our understanding of markets should not be reduced to the dichotomy rational-emotional.
Research experience: in order to combine theory and method students will carry out a small scale study.
Learning to compare financial communities at the core with those at the periphery.
The insight that anthropology should not confine itself to subaltern studies but that ethnographic research can be very helpful to understand the way in which elites function within markets.
Coordination
Dr. Erik Bähre: ebaehre@fsw.leidenuniv.nl ; room nr. 3A29A (Pieter de la Court Building)
Methods of Instruction
Every two weeks we look at a particular theme, or problem with regards to globalization and the market.
Lectures, literature (ethnography and online articles), films, and research assignments all concern this particular theme.
Literature
Zaloom, Caitlin (2006) Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London. University of Chicago Press: Chicago. 238 p.
Wilson, Ara (2004) The Intimate Economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, Tycoons, and Avon Ladies in the Global City. Berkeley: University of California Press.
articles available online and/or in reader
IMPORTANT: The following book has been taken out from the reading list due to unavailability: MacGaffey, Janet, and Remy Bazenguissa-Ganga (2000) Congo-Paris: Transnational Traders On The Margins Of The Law. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, and Oxford: James Currey, in association with the International African Institute. Students who have already purchased this book should contact the lecturer Dr. Erik Bähre
Books are avaliable at the Atleest Bookshop in Leiden (address: Kort Rapenburg 12/A).
Examination
AQCI assignment and presentation: 10%
Interview assignment: 40%
Response: 10%
Final exam: 40%
Blackboard
Further details on the course will be announced on Blackboard.
Time-table
Fridays 12 February – 7 May 2010, 10-13 h (no lecture on 30 April)
Location: room PARTZAAL of the Pieter de la Court building (only on 23 April: room 1A22)
Exam: 28 May 2010, 10-13 h, room SB45
Retake: 18 June 2010, 10-13 h, room 1A11
Registration
Only the following categories of students can register for this course:
Students enrolled for the BA programme “Culturele antropologie en ontwikkelingssociologie”:
Inschrijving mogelijk via het secretariaat CA-OS, kamer 3A19, tel. 5273469, e-mail: secrcaos@fsw.leidenuniv.nl, tussen 30 november 2009 en 22 januari 2010.International exchange students:
For application please follow regular procedure through International Office , or contact the departmental coordinator N. Osterhaus-Simic.