Lecture 1

the Anthropology of Globalizat
Globalization & Sociocultural Complexity:

Anthropological Perspectives
Lecture 1:
the Anthropology of Globalization
8 FEB 2017
Globalization & Sociocultural Complexity 1
Course intro
Books: Appadurai, Eriksen & Juris.
Course format: lectures, workgroups, workshop, period project,
take-home essay exam and Congress.
Orientation assignment (coming Friday)
8 FEB 2017
Today
Definition of globalization
Catalysts of contemporary globalization
The process of culture
Evolution of anthropological thinking
8 FEB 2017
(Park Jae-Sang)
8 FEB 2017

http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0&feature=c4-overview-v
l&list=PLEC422D53B7588DC7
8 FEB 2017
DON CHETO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhoNLILpuy0

GANG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZCKHjcLjCk
RUS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSCkiuONdeY
8 FEB 2017
8 FEB 2017
Todays leading questions :
1. What should we keep in mind about contemporary

cultural conditions?
2. What should we know about the state of our discipline (CA)?
8 FEB 2017
[Globalization] refers to the intensification of global interconnectedness,
suggesting a world full of movement and mixture, contacts and linkages, and
persistent cultural interaction and exchange. (Inda/Rosaldo 2002:2)
It implies a fundamental reordering of time and space. (I/R. 2007:8)
Contexts & Community

2. Cultural imperialism; 3. Economy, state, and citizenship
Social Interaction
4. Multiculturalism and FOSN; 5. networking and digital communities
Personhood
6. Media and representation; 7. The I in globalization
8 FEB 2017
Globalization: key concepts (Eriksen)
Disembedding
Speed
Standardization
Interconnectedness
Mobility
Mixing
Risk
Identity
(Alterglobalization)
8 FEB 2017
Since the1980s, global transformation and changes in the

anthropological perspective on culture.
Common ingredients in definitions of globalization:

1. Neoliberalism & economic interdependence
2. Redefined role nation-state: transnational flows
3. Contact & exchange (technological advancement)
4. Intertwinement local and global processes
Confrontation with a variety of cultural influences.
8 FEB 2017
Arjun Appadurai
8 FEB 2017
New global cultural economy :

Relation culture, politics and economy
Imagined worlds
5 scapes, buildings bricks of imagined worlds
(Land)scapes as perspectival constructs
(p. 50 text Appadurai)
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Imagined worlds
(as framework of the new global cultural economy)
Landscapes lack a clear and stabile shape, are fluid;
Landscapes are no longer arranged in an orderly fashion, evolve
independently;
Result: world appears to be highly dynamic, fluid, and chaotic
8 FEB 2017
Period Time Focus of interest Dominant Paradigms Major Theorists This
course
Formative Late Savage, civilization Cultural evolution Tylor, Frazer, Morgan Modern
19th c. (early)
Classic 1900- Primitives, tribes, Hist. particularism Boas, Malinowski, Modern

1945 bands, chiefdoms struct. functionalism Radcliffe-Brown,
culture & person. Mead, Benedict
20/30 Am. Urban anthr. Melting-pot Chicago-school
Modern 1945- Peasants, Modernization theory Harris, Worsley, Modern

1980 underdevelopment, dependency, World Wallerstein, Wolf (late)
urbanization systems, Gunder-Frank,
40-70 de/retribalization Manchester school
Transi- 1980- Anthropology itself Interpretive & critical Geertz, Clifford & Post-
tional 1990s anthropology, Marcus, Jameson, modern
postmodernism Foucault
Global 2000- Transnationalism Pragmatic postmodernism Appadurai, Ong, Post-

diasporas nations Hannerz, Sassen, modern
ethnicity etc Friedman etc.
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The Modern era: formative anthropology

(late 19th century-1900)
Armchair anthropologist:
studies exotic cultures on the basis of the writings of others (explorers,
missionaries colonial officials..)
Peoples and cultures with boundaries
tied to a territory
Stressing differences between Us and Them (othering)
Evolutionary perspective on culture
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Othering
St. Louis Worlds Fair (1904)
Exposition Coloniale Paris (1931)
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This celebrated and

interesting type,
unique in the world,
that features in our
anthropological
collection, is a
native of one of the
four divisions of
the Cafre family
which lives to the
west of Southern
Africa.
(Catalogue, 1888)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Abi8MEz7zU
8 FEB 2017
Modern era: classical

(late 1900-1945)
Malinowski:
participant observation
Cultural relativism
opposition to ethnocentrism
World divided into separate groups with distinct
cultures; world as a mosaic, culture is territorialized
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Essentialist/Culturalist perspective on culture:

Culture is a thing, essence, is reified
Culture is static
Culture is homogeneous
Cultures are clearly bounded units with a stable territory
Culture explains behavior; powerful force
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Nation building
(late 18th century first half 19the century)
Romanticist image of people (das Volk) and territory

Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803)
Belief that people, in a primordial way, are tied to a nation or ethnic
group, one with a distinct culture and a territorial claim: this is our
land.
Nation-state: connection between state (geographical unit) and
nation (Volk, single ethnic group)
8 FEB 2017
The late modern era: modern anthropology

(1945-1980)
Interest in intergroup interaction and influence.

Frederic Barth (Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, 1969): processes of
bordering are more important than the cultural stuff inside.
Modernization paradigm: continuation of evolutionary perspective on
development
..but also dependency theory & world systems: criticizing global
distribution of power
8 FEB 2017
Postmodernity: transitional anthropology (1980-1990)
Self-reflection within the discipline

Optimism (from the modern days) had faded:
- after two World Wars
- Cold War
- modernization did not result in the expected rise in wealth
Critical perspective on the Modernity project and the
conceptualization of progress
8 FEB 2017
Postmodernism
in social sciences:
Rejecting grand theories/meta-narratives
Rejecting assumptions that that imply generalization, e.g. modernism,
liberalism etc.
Meta-narratives reflect western hegemony rather than a universal
human development
Rejecting the claim of objectivity: reality is relative, constructed,
situational
Rejecting essentialism
8 FEB 2017
Constructionism
Revised perspective on culture / cultures:

Culture is not a thing, but an abstract concept
Culture does not have agency (people do: emphasis on power)
Culture is dynamic
Cultures have never been clearly bounded
Culture is heterogeneous
Culture doesnt explain behavior, culture itself should be explained
8 FEB 2017
Postmodern era:
pragmatic postmodernism (1990s-today):
Awareness of the process of negotiation (active involvement)

Acknowledging the subtleties of power
(e.g. Foucault)
Knowledge is situated; written from a certain angle
8 FEB 2017
Appadurais imaginary world Added

value?
-scapes stress deterritorialisation: disconnection group-culture-
territory
This course:
- What has produced the new world (dis)order?
- The process of power?
- Results: how do people deal with it?
- What about existing concepts and theories?
8 FEB 2017
A final
little exercise
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-front-national-speech-campaign-
launch-islamic-fundamentalism-french-elections-a7564051.
html
8 FEB 2017

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the Anthropology of Globalizat

Globalization & Sociocultural Complexity:

Orientation assignment (coming Friday)

DON CHETO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhoNLILpuy0

Todays leading questions :

1. What should we keep in mind about contemporary

2. What should we know about the state of our discipline (CA)?

It implies a fundamental reordering of time and space. (I/R. 2007:8)

Contexts & Community

Since the1980s, global transformation and changes in the

Common ingredients in definitions of globalization:

Confrontation with a variety of cultural influences.

New global cultural economy :

Classic 1900- Primitives, tribes, Hist. particularism Boas, Malinowski, Modern

Modern 1945- Peasants, Modernization theory Harris, Worsley, Modern

Global 2000- Transnationalism Pragmatic postmodernism Appadurai, Ong, Post-

The Modern era: formative anthropology

This celebrated and

Modern era: classical

Essentialist/Culturalist perspective on culture:

Romanticist image of people (das Volk) and territory

The late modern era: modern anthropology

Interest in intergroup interaction and influence.

Postmodernity: transitional anthropology (1980-1990)

Self-reflection within the discipline

Revised perspective on culture / cultures:

Awareness of the process of negotiation (active involvement)

Appadurais imaginary world Added

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