By Colleen Murray F E A T U R E D C O U R S E 26 SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE | SBC.EDU
WHEN MANY OF uS THINK OF GLOBALIzATION, we think of the West overwhelming the rest of the world, of chain stores and monopolies driving out the local fare, and the steady trickle of American jobs lost to overseas manufacturers. But Professor Debbie Durham’s fall course “Anthropology of Globalization” seeks a wider view and asks students to look at the complex ways that globalization occurs and affects our decisions. She guides students through a dizzying array of ideas and scenarios that show how globalization is being produced in industries, communities and families around the world. Debbie says that when anthropologists look at globalization, they focus on the individual: How do individuals solve problems in an environment now impacted by a global economy and mindset How do they react to shifts in economy, culture and family life How do they handle the new opportunities presented to them And, most of all, why are their decisions important To generate discussions of these questions, the class explores how McDonald’s isn’t just exporting American culture. Debbie notes that Spain, not the united States, was one of the first places you could use a credit card at a McDonald’s; that in China, locals appreciate McDonald’s because it treats all customers equally; that in Korea people see McDonald’s food as suitable for snack-time only; and that in some American McDonald’s you now can eat samosas and black beans that first appeared on menus overseas. McDonald’s is doing a lot more than what many Americans see as imposing on other cultures — while introducing American practices and items, it’s also borrowing and inventing others abroad, in response to people’s ways of living, and occasionally bringing them to the united States. “When asked for an example of globalization, people often think first of McDonald’s,” Debbie says. “But anthropologists are interested in the complex way McDonald’s becomes part of different people’s projects.” e global impact of non-governmental agencies, especially western humanitarian organizations in Africa, makes up another part of the course. “In zimbabwe, the individual effects that these organizations have are very complicated and surprising,” Debbie says. “Child-saving charities can cause family tensions and weaken the child’s ability to call upon support from a wide variety of people that typically would have been responsible. ey also undermine the way goods and wealth are distributed among family members.” At the same time, such organizations have also helped to empower children, and in some cases, given them the ability to start their own programs of social change under limited adult supervision. zimbabwe, Debbie notes, experimented with a Children’s Parliament that reported to the government, and has a child-led African Movement of Working Children and Youth. Although globalization is often thought of as the movement of western ideas and commodities, the course explores aspects of non-western influence as well. In countries around the world, Latin American telenovelas, Bollywood and Hong Kong kung fu films are popular, while American Hollywood films hold little interest. e Islamic fashion industry is another global movement that reaches from Asia into many parts of the world, including Great Britain and the u.S. as well as Niger and Indonesia. “We live in a world where how we live our lives can have an impact on women in Sri Lanka, children in Africa and local restaurants in Belize,” says Debbie. “Everything is connected. And an awareness of globalization is important for anyone working in any field today from banking to health care. ese are things to be aware of that will make you think creatively and should help you act responsibly, but also to see opportunities and work with them.” A professor at <strong>Sweet</strong> <strong>Briar</strong> since 1993, Debbie Durham has co-edited two books, “Generations and Globalization: Youth, Age, and Family in the New World Economy” and “Figuring the Future: Globalization and the Temporalities of Children and Youth.” Much of her research on youth has taken place in communities of Botswana; however, she is now undertaking a study of aging in Turkey. Recommended Reading: Arjun Appadurai, “Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization” | Sidney Mintz, “<strong>Sweet</strong>ness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History” | Aihwa Ong, “Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality” | Richard Wilk, “Home Cooking in the Global Village” | Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild, eds., “Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy” | Colleen Ballerino Cohen, Richard Wilk and Beverly Stoeltje, eds., “Beauty Queens on the Global Stage” SBC.EDU | SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE 27
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