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INST 300

Globalization and its Discontents

“Incredible !ndia” Tourist Campaign, 2005

What is the market? What is it selling? What are you buying?

I. Course Description

The theme of the study abroad program is the question of development and globalization as seen from the perspective of the formerly colonized world. This course consists of two linked parts. The first section takes students to specific sites throughout India to investigate a series of questions linked to the question of globalization and its discontents: what does globalization mean? How does it transform daily life across the globe? What does it mean for the environment? How does it change notions of time and space? An overarching theme investigates how ideological boundaries frame the manner in which we make sense of and interact with the world around us. The borders considered—between the “developed” and “developing” worlds, urban and rural, “east” and “west”, Muslim-Hindu-Christian—will be explored by crossing the borders themselves as participants travel through India to engage these questions at important sites of interest: a telecommunications help line in Bangalore, Fatepur Sikri as a syncretic religious space, Lutyen’s New Delhi as an example of Western imaginings of the “Orient.”

The second section of the course is rooted in Agartala, India—during which students participating in the program will join with students from Holy Cross College. Together, through shared readings and discussions, these students will interrogate the perils and possibilities of globalization and come to more subtle and nuanced understanding of the borders a globalized world creates and bridges.

Students can take this course for either three or six credits. What follows is the syllabus for the three credit class. Students interested in taking the course for six credits will use one of their journal entries as the launching point for a research paper conducted as an independent study with the professors or other approved King’s faculty.

II. Purpose

A. Goals

1) Develop a global comparative perspective.

2) Encourage both the capacity and the desire to travel outside familiar geographic and intellectual landscapes.

3) Develop an appreciation for the interconnectivity of classes in the international studies minor and a facility with interdisciplinary thinking.

4) Develop an understanding of the interconnectivity of social systems and their environments.

5) Develop a critical appreciation for travel and the complex relationship between travel, capitalism, and identity.

6) Develop an understanding of the relationship between identity and diversity.

7) Develop an understanding of how globalization is experienced in differing contexts.

B. Objectives

1) Identify the major social, political, economic, historical, and cultural issues that influence our notion of globalization.

2) Apply the transferable skills of a liberal arts education – Critical Thinking, Effective Writing, Effective Oral Communication, Information Literacy, Technology Competency, Quantitative Reasoning, Moral Reasoning – to a critical understanding of globalization.

3) Analyze the linkages between global and local.

4) Investigate their own identity as “Western” (or, perhaps, as “non-Western”) and the manner in which this frames their own experience of the world.

5) Engage with the international community through both linguistic competency in a foreign language and foreign travel experience.

III. Course Requirements

A. Readings.

At various times during the program, we will distribute short readings (typically 50-100 pages) that focus attention on selected course themes. You will be responsible for reading in your free time within a specific period, usually within one to two days. Each of the readings is geared to the sites we will be visiting and should be referenced in your written assignments.

B. Assignments

10% Travel Brochure (United States). Prior to departing on the travel portion of the program, students will design a travel brochure for tourists interested in traveling to the United States. (For an example, see the “Incredible !ndia” Campaign) Students should think about what sites and experiences are quintessentially “American.” What should a visitor to America see and do in order to acquire the “American experience”? Think about the relationship between capitalism, tourism and identity.

(See goals: 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7)

(See objectives: 2, 3, and 4)

20% Journal entries. On eight occasions during the program, students will be asked to answer a series of short, directed questions in a journal that they will keep for the duration of the program. Each journal entry should be approximately 300-600 words (or, equivalent to 1-2 double spaced typed pages). Upon your return, you will revise and type up your entries, and submit both the original and final documents no later than Friday 30 July.

(See goals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)

(See objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)

15% Photo essay. Throughout the program, the student will take photographs that represent some aspect of the manner in which borders work – the student should choose one photograph which represents a border (as barrier or crossing) between two contested fields (developed / developing; global / local; etc.). Upon return, students will choose one of these photographs as the basis for a short essay that describes some aspect of the relationship. This essay is due no later than Friday 30 July.

(See goals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)

(See objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)

15% Participation. At every stop during the program there will be informal and formal discussions of the questions outlined below and the assigned readings. For this component, it is necessary but not sufficient to “go along for the ride” – the student must demonstrate active engagement with the activities and discussions that form the academic core of this class.

(See goals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)

(See objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)

20% Final essay. For the final project each student will work closely with a student from Holy Cross College to discuss his or her journal entries. Students will choose three journal entries which will form the basis of an extended essay that will reference their work with their Holy Cross partner, course readings, class discussions, and travel portion of the program. This essay should be framed by the question of globalization and identity. How is globalization experienced? How are local and national identities created and transformed? What does it mean to be Indian or American? How can you tell?

(See goals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)

(See objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)

10% Travel brochure (India). Upon return to the United States students will create a travel brochure for those seeking to travel to India. How can one market the “Indian experience”? Does such a thing exist? Think about the connections between capitalism, tourism and identity.

10% Travel brochure (United States—Revised). Upon return the student will revise their original travel brochure for the United States. How has it been transformed?

C. Schedule

May 22^nd	Leave New York City
May 23rd-27^th	New Delhi Readings: 1) Bernard Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge, Princeton, 1996 (selections). 2) Partha Chaterjee, The Nation and its Fragments, Princeton, 1993 (selections). 3) Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian, Picador, 2006 (selections)
May 23^rd	Orientation
May 24^th	National Museum and Lutyen’s New Delhi Questions: 1) What are some of the narratives presented by the National Museum? What story of India does it seek to tell? 2) How did Luyten and the British seek to re-make Delhi? How are British prescriptions for order displayed in the architecture and urban planning of New Delhi? How was space remade? Can we make connections between the colonial project and 21^st century globalization?
May 25^th	Red Fort and Jama Masjid Question: 1) How is the story of Mughal India represented in the monuments of Islamic India? How is Islamic India marketed? Consumed?
May 26^th	Akshardham Temple, Commonwealth Games Village and Birla Mandir Question: 1) From what you have seen thus far, how are we to make sense of India as a multi-confessional state? Are there intersections between “Hindu India” and “Islamic India”? What are the lessons of the Commonwealth Games Village? What India is being presented (and consumed) there? What lessons might we learn with respect to globalization?
May 27^th	Free Day Collect your thoughts…
May 28^th-30^th	Agra and Fatephur Sikri Readings: 1) John Urry, The Tourist Gaze, Sage Publications, 1990 (selections) 2) Anna Kurian, “Going Places: Popular Tourism Writing in India,” in Popular Culture in a Globalized India, M. Koti Gokulsing, ed, Routledge, 2009.
May 28^th	Travel to Agra
May 29^th	Taj Mahal Question: 1) What are we to make of the Taj Mahal? How is tourism a “pilgrimage of the secular sacred?” An act of globalization? How is it a consumptive act? Who is consuming it? How are issues of race, class, gender and caste negotiated here?
May 30	Fatephur Sikri Question: 1) How is Fatephur Sikri a syncretic space? How is it “Indian”?
May 31^st-June 3^rd	Bangalore Readings: 1) Lynne Ciochetto, “Advertising in a Globalised India,” in Popular Culture in a Globalized India, M. Koti Gokulsing, ed, Routledge, 2009. 2) Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger, Free Press, 2008. 3) Rupal Oza, “Showcasing India”
May 31^st	Travel to Bangalore
June 1^st	Bangalore Call Center Questions: 1) How is Bangalore shaped by globalization? How do we make sense of the call center? How does Bangalore represent tensions between public and private good in the globalized world?
June 2^nd	Free Day Collect your thoughts…
June 3^rd	Holy Cross Site
June 4^th-6^th	Chennai Readings: Jonathan D. James, McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics: Televangelism in Contemporary India, Sage Press, 2010 (excerpts).
June 4^th	Holy Cross Site
June 5^th	National Basilica to St. Thomas and Walajah Mosque Question: 1) How does the National Basilica represent an Indian Christian experience? How is it in dialogue with the Walajah Mosque?
June 6^th	Free Day Collect your thoughts…
June 7^th-12^th	Agartala in Conjunction with students from Holy Cross College Readings: Katherine Boo, “Opening Night,” in The New Yorker. Question: 1) How is Agartala’s version of globalization different than Bangalore’s? How are they similar? What about the villages outside of Agartala? How are we to make sense of the relationship between the state and adivasi / Scheduled Tribes? How does the proximity to Bangladesh inform these questions? Issues of migration and borders?

Grading Rubrics

Assignment 1: Travel Brochure (United States)

Goal and/or Objective	Unsuccessful	Successful	Outstanding
Student has carefully thought about the manner in which national identity is constructed.
Student has carefully though about the connection between social systems and their environments in creating the “American experience.”
Student has carefully thought about linkages between the local and the global.
Student facility with transferable skills of a liberal arts education.

Assignment 2: Journal Entries

Goal and/or Objective	Unsuccessful	Successful	Outstanding
Student demonstrates a growing global comparative perspective.
Student demonstrates a developing awareness of the interconnectivity of classes in the international studies minor and a facility with interdisciplinary thinking.
Student demonstrates a growing understanding for the interconnectivity of social systems and their environments.
Student demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between identity and diversity.
Student demonstrates an appreciation of how globalization is experienced in differing contexts.
Student shows a self-reflective understanding of the manner in which their own identity is contextualized.
Student facility with transferable skills of a liberal arts education.

Assignment 3: Photo Essay

Goal and/or Objective	Unsuccessful	Successful	Outstanding
Student demonstrates a growing global comparative perspective.
Student demonstrates a developing awareness of the interconnectivity of classes in the international studies minor and a facility with interdisciplinary thinking.
Student demonstrates a growing understanding for the interconnectivity of social systems and their environments.
Student demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between identity and diversity.
Student demonstrates an appreciation of how globalization is experienced in differing contexts.
Student shows a self-reflective understanding of the manner in which their own identity is contextualized.
Student facility with transferable skills of a liberal arts education.

Assignment 4: Final Essay

Goal and/or Objective	Unsuccessful	Successful	Outstanding
Student demonstrates a growing global comparative perspective.
Student demonstrates a developing awareness of the interconnectivity of classes in the international studies minor and a facility with interdisciplinary thinking.
Student demonstrates a growing understanding for the interconnectivity of social systems and their environments.
Student demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between identity and diversity.
Student demonstrates an appreciation of how globalization is experienced in differing contexts.
Student shows a self-reflective understanding of the manner in which their own identity is contextualized.
Student facility with transferable skills of a liberal arts education.

Assignment 5: Travel Brochure (India)

Goal and/or Objective	Unsuccessful	Successful	Outstanding
Student has carefully thought about the manner in which national identity is constructed.
Student has carefully though about the connection between social systems and their environments in creating the “Indian experience.”
Student has carefully thought about linkages between the local and the global.
Student has carefully thought about the connection between travel, capitalism, consumption and identity (including national identity).
Student facility with transferable skills of a liberal arts education.

Assignment 6: Revised Travel Brochure (United States)

Goal and/or Objective	Unsuccessful	Successful	Outstanding
Student has carefully thought about the manner in which national identity is constructed.
Student has carefully though about the connection between social systems and their environments in creating the “American experience.”
Student has carefully thought about linkages between the local and the global.
Student facility with transferable skills of a liberal arts education.