What is globalization? Are we now all citizens of a global capitalist economic and truly international political order? Or do we still live mostly under the economic constraints and governmental policies of the particular nation states of which we are citizens? Is globalization the same thing as economic and cultural imperialism in the form of multinational corporate and "development" projects or other projects that assume "Westernization," or "Americanization" agendas? Or do different nation states experience and negotiate global capitalism in profoundly different ways rooted in their distinctive historical and political-economic experiences? We live in a fascinating era marked simultaneously by the reach (and the risks) of global capitalism and by the distinctive yet interrelated histories of a tremendous variety of modern nation-states. This course provides you with a strong repertoire of concepts to help you understand our complex contemporary world, and will also expose you to the key foundational concepts and methodologies of contemporary sociocultural anthropology. We will systematically explore the ways in which anthropologists have come to theorize both global capitalism and the nation state through ethnographic case studies in three to four contemporary nation states.
