ANSO 205-01, Grassroots Responses to Globalization, Spring 2008

Abstract

Globalization often invokes images of Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart and fear of increasing global sameness. Proponents celebrate free trade, affordable goods, and the luxury of eating foods both out of place and out of season, while detractors cite such broad concerns as environmental destruction, human rights abuses, and loss of cultural heritage. The popular rhetoric of globalization portrays governments and corporations as its primary agents, while individuals are depicted as passive victims, and of these, communities in the so-called developing world are often assumed to be its most silently subjugated. But grassroots campaigns against globalizing efforts have been gaining momentum throughout the world. We will begin by exploring political and economic motivations behind globalization as well as thoughtful criticism from both within and outside the movement. From there we will turn our attention to detailed ethnographies and case studies focusing on the environmental face of globalization, women-centered strategies for remedying some of the blows globalization has dealt, and even the globalization of religion. We will carefully weigh the merits and costs of globalization by grappling with readings on policy, theory, and ethnography, while considering our own place in the globalized scheme.