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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 Sweet Briar 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, “Sweetness 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”
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