SEMINAR IN VISUAL ETHNOGRAPHY
URBS-457/SOCI-435
FALL 2014
INSTRUCTOR: ARJUN SHANKAR
Globalization has become one of the primary categories by which 21st century change is imagined. Scholars have used the concept to both justify and explain everything from increased social inequality to changing migration patterns to national growth to sectarian strife to corporatization to humanitarianism. Yet, globalization as a category has been ill-defined: is it primarily an economic, political, or cultural process? Where do we see the results of globalization and why?
Either implicitly or explicitly, rightly or wrongly, the city has taken on a renewed focus as the “site” in which these global processes take place, with airports, roads, multinational corporations, information technologies, supranational organizations, and financial centers facilitating global connection between cities. Yet, emerging cities in the Global South such as Sao Paolo, Lahore, New Delhi, and Newark have seen changes drastically different than cities such as New York, London, and Paris. These differences reflect complex histories linked to earlier colonial, racial, and ethnic relations. How, then, does globalization differentially affect these cities?
FALL 2014
INSTRUCTOR: ARJUN SHANKAR
Globalization has become one of the primary categories by which 21st century change is imagined. Scholars have used the concept to both justify and explain everything from increased social inequality to changing migration patterns to national growth to sectarian strife to corporatization to humanitarianism. Yet, globalization as a category has been ill-defined: is it primarily an economic, political, or cultural process? Where do we see the results of globalization and why?
Either implicitly or explicitly, rightly or wrongly, the city has taken on a renewed focus as the “site” in which these global processes take place, with airports, roads, multinational corporations, information technologies, supranational organizations, and financial centers facilitating global connection between cities. Yet, emerging cities in the Global South such as Sao Paolo, Lahore, New Delhi, and Newark have seen changes drastically different than cities such as New York, London, and Paris. These differences reflect complex histories linked to earlier colonial, racial, and ethnic relations. How, then, does globalization differentially affect these cities?
