Spring 2005

ANT 391 • Globalization in East Asia

Course Description

This seminar is intended to consider processes of globalization and localization as they are expressed and experienced in East Asia. We will look at different local contexts in which global products and processes are interpreted and used. The purpose of the course is to develop a critical understanding of the flows of goods, people, and ideas and to consider the theoretical implications of these flows for anthropological research and cross-cultural studies of East Asia. Central to the seminar is the consideration of what “globalization” means in local contexts. Although the emphasis is on the East Asian experience, readings will be drawn from the broader literature on globalization in anthropology.

Texts

Tentative list of readings: Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Wilson, Rob and Wimal Dissanayake (eds.) Cultural Production and the Transnational Imaginary Watson, James (ed.) Golden Arches East Constable, Nicole. Romance on a Global Stage: Pen Pals, Virtual Ethnography, and “Mail Order” Marriages Douglass, Mike and Glenda Roberts. Japan and Global Migration: Foreign Workers and the Advent of a Multicultural Society Iwabuchi, Koichi. Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism

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