Admission requirements
Only students who are admitted to the master’s programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology can take part in this course.
This course forms the basis of the MA specialisation Global Connections.
Description
This MA specialization examines global connections through the flows and boundaries of things, people and ideas as economic, political and cultural processes which are affected by international, regional or national institutions. We will draw on debates regarding concepts such as globalization, capitalism, markets, governance and citizenship and use various examples to highlight different aspects of these debates. Instead of looking at ‘the global’ and ‘local’ as fixed divides, we will examine how the movement of capital and ideas, people and commodities, operate at multi-scalar levels and strengthen or weaken global inequalities; the sovereignty of states and markets; and the boundaries of cultural identities and nationhood.
In the first part of the course (5 ECTS) we will give an introduction on the main approaches and concepts regarding economic and political ideas. The emphasis will be on ideas that are seen as having global effects but have diverse forms of reinterpretation and contestation at different scales e.g. neoliberal ideologies vs protectionism, decentralization, human rights, Corporate Social Responsibility and Fair Trade movement. Special attention will be given to multilateral organizations such as international financial institutions (World Bank, IMF), ILO, UNESCO promoting global agenda’s. The focus will be on anthropological studies analysing these global agenda’s, how they influence the conditions of global connections, how they travel and get translated in specific social situations and arenas.
Keywords: globalization and capitalism; governance and sovereignty; migration and citizenship; commodity values and circulation; cultural meanings
Course objectives
Students who follow this course will develop:
a firm foundation in political and economic anthropological theory,
academic skills necessary to analyze processes that affect different groups of people in society,
knowledge to connect issues that are politically relevant and urgent in the current world situation with local day-to-day events,
research skills and methodologies within the framework of global ethnographies,
skills which are relevant in policy making; NGO consultancy; social activism; or journalism
Time table
Please see the schedule
Mode of instruction
Total 5 ECTS = 190 study hours (sbu)
Lectures 12 hours (18 sbu)
Group discussions 6 hrs (12 sbu)
Study of literature 335 pp (56 sbu)
Weekly assignments and final paper (56 sbu)
Assesment method
Weekly assignments (16 sbu) – 50% of final grade
Final paper 5 pp = 3000 words (40 sbu) – 50% of final grade
Presence and active participation in the discussions
Registration in uSis
All participants must register in uSis for the lecture series of this course. (Registration for the exam is not required since there is no classical examination.)
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used to spread course-relevant information and assignments.
Reading list
To be announced. Students themselves will also be given room to select literature dicussed in assignments. The literature should connect the issues discussed in class to their own field of study.