INTL 360 - Problems in Cultural Analysis

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as ANTH 360) Covers a variety of current issues in modern anthropology in terms of ongoing discussion among scholars of diverse opinions rather than a rigid body of fact and theory.

Topic for 2013/14b: Global Diasporas. This course highlights aspects of globalization that put waves of people, ideas and money on the move, paying specific attention to diaspora and migration. Theories of globalization, diaspora, and transnationalism provide students with frameworks for analyzing what happens when people move across state boundaries, and for considering the “push and pull” factors influencing movements from the South to North, and from East to West and vice versa. The use of ethnography, film, and the novel help students better understand how such flows are experienced locally, how connections across space and time are sustained, and how “culture” is continually (re)made in and through movement and as a consequence of contact rather than isolation. The question that animates and organizes our inquiries is: How do global flows of human interaction challenge or complicate our understandings of such constructs as “culture”, “race” and “nation-state?” May be repeated for credit if topic has changed. Ms. Lowe. Swift. The department.

Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or International Studies, or permission of the instructor.

One 3-hour seminar.