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Anthropology 362
Anthropological Perspectives on Global Issues
Spring 2000
Instructor: Richard Robbins
Room: Redcay 131
Phone: 564-4006
Email: richard.robbins@plattsburgh.edu
or robbinsr@westelcom.com
Web Site: http://www.plattsburgh.edu/legacy
Introduction: Aims
Each day we confront on television, radio, newspapers, and news magazines
stories about global problems: population growth, poverty and hunger, environmental
degradation, disease, ethnic and religious strife, war, and crime. A premise of the course
is that we are not getting the whole story from these sources. This does not necessarily
mean that there is a conspiracy to keep us from the truth, but only that our perspectives
on global problems are biased by the cultural framework through which the news is
reported.
There are a couple of consequences of the cultural bias in our knowledge of
world events. First, they seem far more removed from our lives than they really are. While
we may agree that it is a tragedy that people are starving in Brazil or massacred in East
Timor, it seems to have little to do with us. More importantly, it seems that there is
little we can do about these problems other than contribute to one charity or another or
support government aid programs that are supposed to help alleviate these problems.
Second, because the media is largely ahistorical, it rarely seriously examines the
historical roots of the problems it reports on. Consequently, the problems seem rooted in
contemporary dynamics only. Third, because the media tends to view problems as isolated,
and not as issues rooted in a global system or network, we fail to appreciate the degree
to which these problems affect and are affected by all of us.
Global Perspectives will examiine how world events are rooted in a specific
global culture and cannot be fully understood in isolation from this culture's economic,
political, social, and historic contexts.
Readings and Resources
Information and resources for the class will come from the following
sources:
Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism by Richard H. Robbins (Allyn
& Bacon Publishers) Available in the bookstore
- The Online Global Problems Reader,
edited by Richard H. Robbins and Gloria
Bobbie Available on the Internet at http://www.plattsburgh.edu/legacy/gpr.htm
- UN Wire: This is a compilation of news stories from around the world on topics
that we will address in the course. You can register at: http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire
- Electronic Mail and the Internet. I expect to be forwarding to you readings via
email during the semester, so you will need to check your "mailbox" at least two
or three times a week. You will also be responsible for accessing information through the
World Wide Web. We will have a special class on using email and the Web, and special help
will be available, if needed.
Research and Independent Inquiry
• Each participant will be responsible for collecting information on a
specific country (to be assigned) related to the course issues. The nature of the
information will be discussed in class.
• Each participant will be given a specific "corporate
investment," and will obtain information on the social, economic, environmental, etc.
impact of that corporation (see below)
Assessment
Assessment (grades) will be determined by:
- Daily Quizzes: we will have a short, relatively easy, one-question daily quiz. It
will be based on that day's reading assignment.
- A report on the social, economic, environmental, etc. impact of the corporation
that you have chosen to invest in (see below).
- A brief history of the relationship between your country and the industrialized
world.
- Reports on specific features (see below)of the country that you are assigned
- Your contributions to class discussions (specifically reference to the daily
reports in UN Wire).
Country Reports
You will be responsible for preparing five reports on your country (due dates
are noted in the Course Outline and Assignments). One paper will be the brief history
mentioned above, another on the history and nature of social protest (# 8 below), and
three selected from topics 2 through 7 below. To find out your assigned
country go to http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/country_assignments00.htm
1. An economic history of your country (5-7 pages--Required)
2. The history and impact of population growth (3-5 pages)
3. The distribution of wealth and the extent of poverty and hunger (3-5 pages)
4. The state of the environment and sources of environmental degradation (3-5 pages)
6. The state of health and medical care (3-5 pages)
7. The relations between the nation state and minority and ethnic populations (3-5 pages)
8. The history and nature of social protest (5-7 pages--Required)
Additional guidelines for the reports follow the Course Outline.
Corporate Report (3-5 pages)
If you were an investor (capitalist) you'd expect your investments to yield a
profit. If you buy stocks or mutual funds or dabble in commodities, you expect to your
money to "reproduce." However the process through which money "grows"
is often hidden, or conveniently overlooked. Your task in this report is to examine the
social, political, or economic costs of the reproduction of money. First, you need to
follow your investment to see whether or not your money "reproduced." But more
importantly, you need to research how your corporation went about reproducing your money.
In what sort of conditions did workers labor? What were the environmental costs of
producing whatever it was your corporation produced? What sort of political power does
your corporation assert? What are the economic or social costs of production?
You may find that your corporation is very responsible; but you have to also
remember that the sort of information that you want is not something that corporations (or
the state, for that matter) wants you to know. Consequently you need to do some real
searching. Our website (http://www.plattsburgh.edu/legacy/corporate_resources.htm)
provides some excellent resources for you to start with; just go to internet resources,
then to corporations (or the capitalist) to begin. Multinational Monitor and Corporate Watch are both good places to start; you may
also went to go to the site on "Researching
Corporations." But don't neglect library resources, newspapers (e.g. the NY Times
index), or other searchable databases.
To find out your assigned corporation go to http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/corporate_assignments00.htm
COURSE OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS
Dates |
Topics |
Assignments and Due Dates |
Weeks 1-2 |
The Creation of the Consumer |
Text: Chapter 1; Reader: Readings
1, 4, 8; 10 Exercise 1 |
Week 3 |
The Creation of the Laborer |
Text: Chapter 2; Reader, Readings
4, 10; Exercise 1, 2; Begin and continue to collect information on your country. |
Week 4 |
The Creation of the Capitalist |
Text: Chapter 3; Reader, Readings
4, 11, 12, (Readings 10 and 13 are optional:10 provides a defense of "free
trade" and 13 explains the collapse of Asian economies in 1997) |
Week 5 |
The Creation of the Nation-State |
Text: Chapter 4: Reader, Readings
4, 7, 8 |
Week 6 |
Population Growth |
Text: Chapter 5; Reader, Readings
1, 8, 10; Exercise 2; Country history paper is due. |
Week 7 |
Poverty, Hunger, and Economic
Development |
Text, Chapter 6; Reader, Readings
2, 3, 8, 13, Exercise 1, 3 (Check for your country); Population paper is due. |
Week 8 |
The Environment |
Text: Chapter 7; Reader, Readings
4, 8, 9, 12, Exercises 2-3; Poverty and development paper is due. |
Week 9 |
Health and Disease |
Text: Chapter 8; Reader, Readings
4, 7, 11; Environment Paper Due |
Week 10 |
Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic
Conflict |
Text: Chapter 9; Reader, Readings
4, 9, 11; Health and Disease paper is due. |
Week 11 |
Peasant Resistance and Revolt |
Text: Chapter 10; Reader,
Readings 5, 8; Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Conflict paper due. |
Week 12 |
Anti-systemic Protest |
Text: Chapter 11; Reader,
Readings 5 (alternate), 10, Exercise 1;Corporate paper due |
Week 13 |
Religious Protest |
Text: Chapter 12; Reader,
Readings 1, 5, 8; Exercise 1 |
Week 14 |
Future Scenarios |
Text: Chapter 13; Reader,
Reading1; Social protest paper due |
GUIDELINES FOR ESSAYS
The following are some general guidelines for each of the papers due for the
course. Most of the information, with the possible exception of the history paper, should
be available on the Internet, but don’t neglect library resources. Above all your
papers should reflect your reading of the text and assigned readings (particularly if your
country is discussed) Don't be reluctant to quote from the text or the readings. All
your sources must be cited, and, if you are not aware of them, acquaint yourselves with
the college's plagiarism policy. If you do use direct quotations from sources, note them
as such and cite the author and source. Each paper must be accompanied by a corrected
draft.
There are extensive resources on countries at:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/country_resources.htm
and map resources at:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/map_file.htm
History and Capital Development (5 to 7 pages)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/capitalist_resources.htm
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/nation_state_resources.htm
The key in this paper is to focus on the changes,
particularly economic changes, that have occurred in your country in the past two to four
hundred years. In effect, you will need to supply a history of the organization and
distribution of capital and the creation of the nation-state. I suggest that you work
from the present backwards; that may help focus your paper on the events and agents that
contributed to the present state of your country.
You are not, of course, going to get into a lot of detail,
but you should be able to identify the major agents of change. You might want to begin by
asking how the present-day borders of your country were defined, and ask when it became
recognized as a state entity? Your country may not have existed as such 20, 30, or 100
years ago. But there was something there; what was it and when did it emerge as a formally
recognized state?
Focus also on the present-day economy and how it developed and be sure to
identify the relations of your country with so-called core countries. If it was
colonized, when and by who? If it fought for its independence, who did it fight against?
Focus also on social, political, and economic divisions in
your country. What kinds of social divisions exist (ethnic, class, racial, etc.), and
what are their origins?
Population (3-5 pages)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/population_resources.htm
This paper should focus on the population history of your
country; if possible, try to find population figures for various points in history (e.g.
1900, 1950, etc.) If such data is not available, do the best you can.
Your paper should also include past and present rates of population growth, and
efforts of the nation-state to control or influence population growth.
Finally, you should assess the extent to which population growth has thought to
be responsible for rates of economic growth, poverty, hunger, and environmental damage.
Poverty and Hunger (3-5 pages)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/hunger_resources.htm
You’ll want to focus on three things: the extent of
poverty and hunger in your country, the extent to which it can be attributed to your
country’s position in the global economy, and domestic and/or international efforts
and improving the economic and nutritional status of the population.
1) Extent of Poverty and Hunger
There are some standard measures of poverty that you should include(and that are
readily available), such as per capita income, gross domestic product, etc. How does your
country rank in relations to others? Hunger is more difficult to document, but, since
starvation mostly affects infants, check the infant mortality rate.
2) Position in the Global Economy
Check your countries trade status (e.g. trade deficit or surplus), key imports
and exports, national debt, etc.
3) Efforts Toward Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger
What sort of programs does your country have to alleviate hunger and/or poverty?
Are there international efforts? What role, if any, has the World Bank played in the
economy of your country?
The Environment (3-5 pages)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/environment_resources.htm
First check to see what you can find via indices such as First Search about
environmental conditions in your country. Then see what you can find about agricultural
and industrial production. List the major crops that are grown and the major industries,
if any. See if you can also find the major sources of energy used (e.g. oil, hydropower,
nuclear, etc.), and the amount of use.
Second try to determine if your country could be classified
as having a consumer society. Is more consumed than is necessary by the people in your
country and how is the consumption distributed (remember disparities of income)? What is
the status of the environment in your country? Have forests been cut to be used for
planting or grazing of cattle? Have soils been depleted to grow export crops? Look for
such things occurring in your country. If so, who uses the end product? Is it being
exported for use by others? How does this affect the wealth of your country?
Third, try to determine the extent to which the environmental problems of your
country can be attributed to the working of the global capitalist economy. If you are a
less developed country, explore the issues of exporting resources, etc. which are causing
environmental degradation.
Health and Disease (3-5 pages)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/health_resources.htm
Describe the basic state of health in your country using such
measures as mortality rates, life expectancy, etc. Then describe the basic health problems
facing the people in your country. Are there problems with specific diseases? What sort of
rates are there for malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS? What are some of the cultural factors
that might predispose people in your countries to specific diseases? How is the rate of
disease and access to health care influenced by class and/or gender? How has the workings
of the global capitalist economy influenced the countries ability to supply health care?
And finally, what is the state of health care in your country? How many doctors or health
care workers (e.g. nurses) are there?
Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Conflict (3-5 pages)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/indigenous_peoples.htm
Identify indigenous groups or religious or ethnic minorities
within your country. Approximately what is their percentage within the general population?
Historically, how have they been treated by the majority or dominant population? What is
their present economic and social condition relative to the rest of the population?
Social Protest (5-7 pages)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/peasant_protest.htm
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/antisystemic_protest.htm
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/religious_protest.htm
There are various forms of protest to the expansion of
capitalism that we will examine in class including peasant, labor, feminest, minority,
environmental, indigenous, and religious protest, among others. Some of the questions you
need to address are: How have small-scale farmers (peasants) fared in agricultural
development? What is the history of peasant protest? To what extent were these and other
forms of protest linked to the expansion of the capitalist world system? Were the
motivations for the movements economic, or could they be linked to economic conditions?
Are there present-day movements that involve attempts of people or groups (labor groups,
women’s groups, environmental groups) to gain relief from what they view as
oppression? What role have religious groups played in addressing the social and economic
problems of your country? Finally, have religious groups been involved in any way in
violent protest in your country? Be sure to refer to our class discussions of Islamic
Fundamentalism and/or Liberation Theology, if relevant.
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