Professor Ann Marie Leshkowich
Beaven 231
508-793-2788
aleshkow@holycross.edu
Office Hours: M 1-4, W 1-3, F 1-3

Course Description

This seminar provides an in-depth exploration of the ways in which anthropologists research, write, and theorize globalization. Focusing on the social and cultural transformations associated with globalization in Asia, the course explores how these changes are gendered: how they affect women and men, gendered subjectivities, family relations, and cultural conceptions of gender and gender roles. Topics to be considered include: colonialism, factory work, alternative modernities, migration, consumption, and intimate economies. Readings will consist of social scientific theory (Marx, Foucault, Hannerz, Bourdieu), recent contributions in gender theory (Butler, Freeman) and contemporary ethnographies of Asia (e.g. Ong, Kondo, Brenner, Adrian, Constable).

 

Class meetings

The class meets one time per week and follows a seminar format. Students will be expected to attend all class meetings (attendance will be taken), to complete the readings as scheduled on the syllabus, and to come to class prepared to engage in a focused discussion of the issues raised by the readings. Most weeks, students will write a brief response paper (2-3 pages) on an assigned topic. These will serve as the basis for group discussion.

 

Course Requirements

Course grades will be based on written work and class participation, broken down as follows:

1. Class Discussion and Participation (15%)

This advanced seminar promotes an active approach to learning. Not only are you required to attend all class meetings, but you will be expected to engage actively in group discussions in ways which demonstrate your critical reflection on the readings. You will also be required to explore the themes of the course by conducting research on an independent topic. The final class session will be devoted to presentations of these final research papers, and these presentations will be taken into account in calculating participation grades. Because involvement in class activities is so important, more than one unexcused absence during the semester will result in the lowering of your participation grade by two percentage points for each additional class missed.

2. Response papers (24%)

In preparation for most class meetings, you will be asked to write a short response paper (2-3 pages) on an assigned question related to the readings. These papers require you to reflect on the readings, either by developing your own insights or by evaluating the methods used by their authors. There are eight assignments over the course of the semester. Each is worth three points, for a total of 24% of your course grade. Late papers will not be accepted.

3. Two 5-7 page essays (25%)

In weeks 5 and 9, you will be asked to submit a 5-7 page (double-spaced) essay on an assigned question. These essays will require you to make a critical, insightful, and compelling argument that synthesizes issues raised by readings from the previous weeks. Each paper will count for 12.5% of your course grade. Papers will be due by 3pm on a Friday following the course meeting (i.e., October 1 and October 29). Unexcused late papers will be penalized one portion of a grade (e.g. an A becomes an A-) for each day late.

4. Final Paper (36%)

At the end of the semester, you will complete a final paper (15-20 pages), either an extended treatment of one of the topics raised in the seminar (with additional outside reading) or a research paper relating the issues explored in the course to an independent topic of your choosing. Paper topics must be approved by the professor, with proposals, abstracts, and bibliographies due in week 11 (November 10). Final papers will be due on Wednesday, December 15 by 5 p.m. Unexcused late papers will be penalized one portion of a grade (e.g. an A becomes an A-) for each day late.

 

Grade Calculation

The 5-7 page essays, final paper, and course grades will be calculated according to a 100-point scale. The grading scale is as follows:

A, 93 and above	C+, 77-79
A-, 90-92	C, 73-76
B+, 87-89	C-, 70-72
B, 83-86	D+, 67-69
B-, 80-82	D, 60-66
	F, 59 and below

 

Office Hours

My office hours are listed at the top of this syllabus, and I encourage you to visit with me during the semester. I am available to discuss specific issues arising from the course, as well as to exchange more general insights and chat about experiences from your studies or my research.

 

Course Website (http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/aleshkow/genderglob/genderglob.html)

The website for this course is a center for important information: syllabus, writing assignments, study guide questions, essay questions, and announcements. Please check it frequently and feel free to pass along suggestions for additional links and information which should be included. Also, check out my homepage at:
http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/aleshkow/homepage.html

 

Readings

The following books (marked with ** on the reading list) are available for purchase:

Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. 1995. Vintage Books. ISBN: 0679752552
Ong, Aihwa. Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline. 1987. State Univ of New York Pr. ISBN: 0887063810
Kondo, Dorinne. Crafting Selves. 1990. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 0226450449
Brenner, Suzanne. The Domestication of Desire. 1998. Princeton: Princeton Univ Pr. ISBN: 0691016925
Rofel, Lisa. Other Modernities. 1999. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN: 0520210794
Mills, Mary Beth. Thai Women in the Global Labor Force. 1999. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN: 081352654X
Constable, Nicole. Maid to Order in Hong Kong. 1997. Ithaca: Cornell Univ Pr. ISBN: 0801483824
Mazzarella, William. Shoveling Smoke. 2003. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN: 0822331454
Wilson, Ara. The Intimate Economies of Bangkok. 2004. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN: 0520239687
Adrian, Bonnie. Framing the Bride. 2003. Berkeley: University of California Press. 0520238346

All other readings are available through ERes. The course password is anth399.

 

Course Schedule

Week 1: September 1
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW: What is globalization? What is gender?
Visit to Reference section of Dinand Library at 3:45.

 

TOPIC ONE: THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL FRAMINGS

The seminar will begin by considering recent anthropological discussions of the processes of globalization and how they are connected both to gender and to the history of colonialism. We will consider the following key questions: What are the social and cultural dynamics of globalization? How are they gendered? How are colonialism, modernity, and contemporary globalization linked? What were the racial and gendered dimensions of colonialism? What are their repercussions today?

Week 2: September 8
Readings: Appadurai, "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy" (article)
Hannerz, "Cosmopolitans and Locals in World Culture" (article)
Freeman, "Is Local : Global as Feminine : Masculine? Rethinking the Gender of Globalization" (article)
Said, Orientalism, pp. 1-28 (article)
Bhabha, "Of Mimicry and Men" (article)
Chakrabarty, "The Difference-Deferral of a Colonial Modernity" (article)
Writing Assignment #1 due in class.
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

 

TOPIC TWO: FACTORIES, GENDER, AND DISCIPLINE

We will explore two different phenomena associated with factory production: 1) the impact of this work on laborers' gendered subjectivities, lives, families, and social status, and 2) the organizing and regimenting of workers' bodies which occurs on the factory floor. Does wage labor in a factory increase women's independence and autonomy? Does it enhance men's social and cultural power? What is the relationship between the organization of specific gendered bodies in the workplace and the "female body" and "male body" as social constructs? How does the spread of women's factory labor alter existing power relations? How do notions of the body and gender identity seem to be changing in specific parts of Asia as a result of globalization processes?

Week 3: September 15
THE DISCIPLINED BODY (1)
Readings: **Foucault, Discipline and Punish (pages 3-31, 135-228)
Writing Assignment #2
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

Week 4: September 22
THE DISCIPLINED BODY (2)
Readings: **Ong, Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline (entire book)
Writing Assignment #3
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

Week 5: September 29
ENGENDERING SELVES IN THE FACTORY
Readings: **Kondo, Crafting Selves (entire book)
No response paper due this week.
First 5-7 page essay due on Friday, October 1 by e-mail.

 

TOPIC THREE: GENDER AND ALTERNATIVE MODERNITIES

In this section, we examine the concept of modernity in both capitalist and socialist societies in Asia. How has modernity been conceptualized in these different social and political contexts? How is modernity gendered? Is the concept of alternative modernities useful for understanding these differences?

Week 6: October 6
GENDER, MODERNITY, DESIRE, AND FAMILY BUSINESSES
Readings: Gaonkar, "On Alternative Modernities" (article)
**Brenner, The Domestication of Desire (entire book)
Writing Assignment #4
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

Week 7: October 13
LATE SOCIALIST MODERNITIES
Readings: Nguyen Huy Thiep, "The General Retires" in The General Retires and Other Stories (article)
**Rofel, Other Modernities (entire book)
Writing Assignment #5
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

 

TOPIC FOUR: MIGRATION

As part of globalization, people move within and between national borders in search of work or other opportunities. How are these population shifts gendered? With what concrete effects?

Week 8: October 20
DOMESTIC MIGRATION
Readings: **Mills, Thai Women in the Global Labor Force (entire book)
NOTE: Class will meet for one hour today, to make up for the extra meeting on November 1 (film showing)
Writing Assignment #6
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

Week 9: October 27
TRANSNATIONAL MIGRATION
Readings: Ong, "Introduction: Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality" (article)
**Constable, Maid to Order in Hong Kong (entire book)
No response paper this week.
Second 5-7 page essay due on Friday, October 29 by by e-mail.

 

TOPIC FIVE: CONSUMPTION AND INTIMATE ECONOMIES OF GENDER

The seminar to this point has focused on globalizaton primarily as a transformation in the organization of production. In the marketplace, globalization also involves increased access to commodities and the development of consumer cultures as a major forum for expressing individual, social, and cultural identities. How is consumption connected to globalization? How is growing consumption transforming gender relations and subjectivities? How is globalization experienced on intimate levels? With what consequences?

SPECIAL EVENT: Showing of film by Johan Lindquist and Per Eriksson. Monday, November 1, 3pm.

Week 10: November 3
COMMODITIES, GENDER, AND CLASS: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Readings: Marx, selection from Capital (article)
Bourdieu, selection from Distinction
Butler, selection from Gender Trouble
Writing Assignment #7 (optional: can be made up by doing assignment 8 or 10 below)
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

Week 11: November 10
ADVERTISING SEX
**Mazzarella, Shoveling Smoke (entire book)
Writing Assignment #8 (optional to make up for assignment #7)
FINAL PAPER PROPOSAL DUE THIS WEEK

Week 12: November 15 (note: class has been switched to a Monday from 3-5 for this week)
INTIMATE ECONOMIES
**Wilson, The Intimate Economies of Bangkok (entire book)
Writing Assignment #9
For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

Week 13: December 1
WEDDINGS
**Adrian, Framing the Bride (entire book)
Writing Assignment #10 (optional to make up for assignment #7)

Wednesday, December 15
FINAL PAPERS DUE by 5 p.m. in Professor Leshkowich's office (Beaven 231).

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu