M, 11:30 AM-2:00 PM, MJ 112
Meets with AAAD-A 590
Open to Graduates Only!

Instructor: C. Calloway-Thomas
E-Mail: calloway@indiana.edu
Office: Mottier Hall 219
Phone: 855-0524

In his new book, After Theory, Terry Eagleton writes, “The problem
at the moment is that the rich have mobility while the poor have
locality.  Or rather, until the rich get their hands on it.  The
rich are global and the poor are local – though just as poverty is a
global fact, so the rich are coming to appreciate the benefits of
locality. It is not hard to imagine affluent communities of the
future protected by watchtowers, searchlights and machine-guns,
while the poor scavenge for food in the waste lands beyond.”
Eagleton’s comments strike at the very heart of three crucial
questions:  Why, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, is
the world still divided between the few who are rich and the many
who are poor?  Who gets to decide who gets included in divisions
between margins and majority?  And how do cultural factors help to
explain the behavior of ethnic groups and the way in which societies
achieve or fail to achieve power?

In this seminar we will weigh in on the debate over globalization
and critically examine the interrelationships between cultural
identities and power. The course examines why values, cultural
identities, and forces of globalization matter in the process of
human decision-making. By extension, such influential variables
shape how individuals think and feel about notions of progress and
change.  We will also examine the role of the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank and Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) for
mediating social hierarchy and difference. Anti-globalization
protests in Brazil, Bolivia, Seattle and other places will be
highlighted. The works of A. Appadurai, Nancy Frazer, Francis
Fukuyama, Thomas Friedman, Terry Eagleton, Stuart Hall, Lawrence E.
Harrison, Michael Hardt, Samuel P. Huntington, Karl Marx, Antonio
Negri, Arundhati Roy, David Swartz, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Hugh Thomas
and others will provide the analytic tools for understanding and
explaining the nature of power, notions of inequality,
globalization, sameness and difference.

Finally, we will wrestle with three compelling, but highly
controversial issues: Will individuals in developing countries have
to change their cultural heritage (identity) in order to participate
more meaningfully in the global system?  Change their modes of
decision-making? If yes, will such radical changes lead to piles of
stones?

Required Texts:

Hernando De Soto, The Mystery of Capital
Lawrence E. Harrison & Samuel P. Huntington, Culture Matters
Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We?  The Challenges to America’s
National Identity
Antonio Negri, Insurgencies:  Constituent Power and the Modern State
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Making Globalization Work
Additional Readings (articles online & course packet)