Cultural Exchange and Globalization
(Honors Seminar, Global Cultures)

About the Course:

This seminar will examine world cultures as a route to gaining an historical understanding of current world affairs, especially globalization. Students in the course will be in contact with students at two other universities: Kadir Has University in Turkey, and Shanghai TV University in the People's Republic of China. The course also aims to familiarize the student with current social scientific practice in studying culture and to introduce a wide variety of cultural contexts for examination.

Contacting the Professor:

My office is in 2N 203, and my office phone is 718-982-2869; I have office hours Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to 6:00 and by appointment. You may also reach me via email at lavender@mail.csi.cuny.edu; for further information, refer to my homepage (www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/).

Course Requirements:

All students are required to attend class meetings and take part actively in class discussions. Written work will require students to synthesize readings, lectures, films, and discussions. Seminar participants must also read and assimilate assigned readings, and be prepared to discuss the readings on the schedule listed below. Please note that some of the films will be viewed outside of class; copies will be on reserve at the AV library, or may also be available for loan from the professor. Students will submit all assignments on time; late assignments will only be accepted by prior arrangement with the professor. Plagiarism and other forms of intellectual dishonesty or sloth will not be tolerated.
          A Note About Academic Integrity: Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by acts such as borrowing or purchasing term papers, essays, reports, and other written assignments; submitting the same work for credit in more than one course; using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations; copying others' work and submitting it as one's own; and misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one's ideas, statements, terms, and data must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form; failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may result in failure in the course and in disciplinary actions with penalties such as suspension or dismissal from the College. For information about City University of New York policies on academic dishonesty, refer to the CUNY website at www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/content/2004/policies/image/policy.pdf

Technology Requirements for the Course:

This course will require students to have and use an email address throughout the semester. These will be assigned in the first week of class. Further, the course will have a Blackboard site, available via the College Library's website, at http://classweb.csi.cuny.edu/?bbatt=Y?bbatt=Y. Course readings, with the exception of Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost, are available via the Blackboard site. For further information about setting up a Blackboard account, please contact Mark Lewental at Lewental@mail.csi.cuny.edu.

Assignments:

Assignments and Exercises (ongoing) (30% of course grade)

Class Attendance/Participation (20% of course grade)

Midterm Essay (30% of course grade)

Final Research Essay (20% of course grade)

Course assignments are stored at www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/global/hon206assignments.html

Required Texts:

Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998).

Houghton Mifflin's "Reader's Guide" to King Leopold's Ghost at http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/hochschild_king_leo.shtml

The Reader for this course is stored on the Blackboard site at http://classweb.csi.cuny.edu/?bbatt=Y?bbatt=Y (BB).

SECTION ONE: The Culture Concept
     Key Issues: What is "culture"? How do the social sciences conceptualize it? What forces shape cross-cultural experience?

	Monday 31 January	Introduction to Course
	Readings: Gerald Weiss, "A Scientific Concept of Culture" (BB).

	Wednesday 2 February	What is culture?; Discuss Weiss reading
	Readings: Horace Miner, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" (BB).

	Monday 7 February	Testing Cultures; Insiders and Outsiders in Cultural Studies; Discuss Miner, "Nacirema"
	Readings: Clifford Geertz, "Thick Description" (BB).

	Wednesday 9 February	Applying Theories of Culture; Culture as a Lens of Inquiry; Discuss Geertz, "Thick Description"
	Readings: Clifford Geertz, "Thick Description" (BB).

SECTION TWO: Introduction to Globalization
     Key Issues: What is globalization? When can we date its starting point? In what direction does it lead us?

	Monday 14 February	What is Globalization?; Watch Life + Debt in class.
	Readings: Critics and Cheerleaders of Globalization Handout (doc file); Life + Debt.

	Wednesday 16 February	A Case Study of Globalization – McDonald's
	Readings: Benjamin R. Barber, "Jihad vs. McWorld" (BB).

Monday 21 February

College Closed

	Wednesday 23 February	Models of Globalization
	Readings: Ngaire Woods, "Editorial Introduction - Globalization: Definitions, Debates, and Implications"; Vaclav Havel, "Globalization: A Warning That All Is Not Well" (BB).

	Monday 28 February	Debating Globalization
	Readings: Leslie Sklair, "Competing Conceptions of Globalization"; Thomas Clayton, "'Competing Conceptions of Globalization' Revisited" (BB).

Wednesday 2 March

College Introductions: Greetings from the College of Staten Island/CUNY

SECTION THREE: Empires and World Systems
     Key Issues: What led to the emergence of empires, especially in the nineteenth century? What elements played a role in the collapse of empires, and what elements of empire survived? How has the history of imperialism shaped the post-colonial world?

	Monday 7 March	Where Does Globalization Start? Where Does it End?
	Readings: E. J. Hobsbawm, "The World Unified" (BB).

	Wednesday 9 March	Where Does Globalization Start? Where Does it End?
	Readings: John Gray, "From the Great Transformation to the Global Free Market"; Moisés Naím, "Globalization: Passing Fad or Permanent Revolution?" (BB).

	Monday 14 March	Origins of Empire
	Readings: Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Preface-Ch. 5; Houghton Mifflin's "Reader's Guide" to King Leopold's Ghost at http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/hochschild_king_leo.shtml.

	Wednesday 16 March	Empires and European Expansion: The British Empire
	Readings: Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Chs. 6-10; Houghton Mifflin's "Reader's Guide" to King Leopold's Ghost at http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/hochschild_king_leo.shtml.

	Monday 21 March	Case-Studies of Empire: British India
	Readings: Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Chs. 11-16; Houghton Mifflin's "Reader's Guide" to King Leopold's Ghost at http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/hochschild_king_leo.shtml.

	Wednesday 23 March	Case-Studies of Empire: Discussion of Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost (Belgian Congo); Midterm Essay Due
	Readings: Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Chs. 17-19; Houghton Mifflin's "Reader's Guide" to King Leopold's Ghost at http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/hochschild_king_leo.shtml; Temporary Exhibit, "Memory of Congo. The Colonial Era" (4 February 2005 - 9 October 2005), The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), Belgium.

Monday 28 March

College Closed

	Wednesday 30 March	Classes follow a Monday schedule - Empire as the Prehistory of Globalization
	Readings: Jagdish Bhagwati, "Culture Imperiled or Enriched?" (BB).

SECTION FOUR: Issues in Globalization
     Key Issues: What are globalization's promises and problems? What is the impact of globalization on world culture(s)? Does it have particular impacts on specific groups (for example, on farmers, or women, or entrepreneurs)?

Monday 4 April

Introductions with Shanghai TV University

	Wednesday 6 April	Environment -- Professor Michael Kress (College of Staten Island/CUNY - US)
	Readings: Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons"; “Rio Declaration On Environment And Development” (BB).

Monday 11 April

Environment Discussion

	Wednesday 13 April	Institutions (NGOs, Multinational Corporations, IMF, etc.) -- Professor Annie Xia Qian (Shanghai TV University - China)
	Readings: “For Richer or Poorer: Facts and Fiction About Trade and Economic Gains in the Developed World”; “The East Asia Crisis” (BB).

Monday 18 April

Institutions Discussion

	Wednesday 20 April	Globalization and Labor Issues – Professor Muberra Yuksel, Kadhir Has University, Turkey
	Readings: “Illegal Migrant Labour Force in Turkey”; “Human And Labor Rights Under The WTO” (BB).

	April 16-24 Wed.-Thurs. Spring Recess

Monday 2 May

Labor Issues Discussion

	Wednesday 4 May	Youth and Popular Culture -- Professor Levent Soysal (Kadir Has University - Turkey)
	Readings: “The New International Information Order”; “Peripheral Vision”; “Bollywood Versus Hollywood: Battle Of The Dream” (BB).

	Monday 9 May	Youth and Popular Global Culture Discussion
	Readings: The "Numa Numa" Meme as An Example of Globalized Youth Culture; Economist Links Legal Abortion to Falling Crime Rate.

	Wednesday 11 May	Critiques of Globalization -- Professor Catherine Lavender (College of Staten Island/CUNY - US)
	Readings: Jagdish Bhagwati, "Anti-Globalization: Why?"; "Counter-Capitalism: Globisation's Children Strike Back” (BB).

Monday 16 May

Critiques of Globalization Discussion

Wednesday 18 May

Summing Up

Monday 23 May

Final Papers Due (by 5:00 pm in the History Department Office, 2N-215, or via the BB site)