IS 200W: The Politics and Cultures of Modernization
Good 202 TTH 1:00 – 2:50
Emil Nagengast David Sowell
316 Good Hall, 641-3650 Founders 311, 641-3535
This course examines economic, political and cultural transformations caused by modernization and globalization. The political economy of the Atlantic world is understood to be a driving force of modernization; we will focus much of our attention on this region. Ideological, social, political and other patterns accompanied the process of modernization. Globalization refers to the intensification and denationalization of global relationships. We will discuss in detail some carefully chosen examples of events and ideas that are crucial to our world and the debates that shape it. Most frequently, we will use food as a means to illustrate multiple dimensions of these transformative forces. This requires an examination of food production, consumption, policies, and a range of other issues.
Over the course of the semester students in IS 200 should:
Ø develop an appreciation for the complexities of modernization and viewpoints about its positive and negative benefits;
Ø acquire an historical understanding of the modernization process;
Ø examine how the creation of knowledge underlies the organization and classification of our modern world;
Ø examine the dynamic nature of knowledge and the relationships between power and knowledge;
Ø gain basic knowledge of the key events, stages, and institutions of political economy; and
Ø strengthen various writing and reading skills.
Office Hours Please use these times to speak with your instructors. Other times may be arranged. Nagengast M 12-2 WF 12-1 Sowell: MW, 9:30-10:45, TTH, 9:00-10:15
Readings We require two books for the course plus a variety of shorter readings. Most readings will be found on the P drive, online, or on reserve.
Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power
Jeffrey M. Pilcher, Food in World History
You must read all assigned materials before you come to class. Quite frequently, we will offer you some guidance in the readings, with either points to consider or questions to think about. Some of these are included on this syllabus. This syllabus is to be found, with necessary updates, at http://faculty.juniata.edu/nagengast/IS200syll2014.html.
Evaluations Values
Quizzes and assignments 20%
Midterm Exam 10%
Second Exam 10%
JIF Projects 30%
Final Project (including stages) 30%
In addition, we reserve the right to adjust your grade by up to one letter for strong or weak participation. Participation includes attendance at all class functions; the level and quality of effort in various class activities, including un-graded assignments; the quality and quantity of analytical comments in class; work in teams; class presentations; and evidence of having read and understood the assigned materials.
Attendance and participation are essential for success in this course. Course activities include group lectures and presentations, films, panels, and individual discussion sections. Attendance is mandatory.
Withdrawal Policy The Juniata policy on withdrawals is that you must have an instructor’s signature in order to withdraw from a course after the end of the drop/add period. We can assign you either a WP or WF notation. We expect that students who seek to withdraw will have attended class and have been contributors to the class. If you have not, we reserve the right to deny you permission to withdraw. We will not permit a WP after March 6.
Writing Good writing requires careful attention to content, organization, and clarity of expression. It is difficult to imagine a good paper that has not gone through at least three edits. Please keep the need for multiple drafts in mind as you plan your researching and writing timetable. As in all writing projects, accurate citation of the sources of your information is critical. Failure to cite is a violation of the College’s Academic Integrity policy. Failure to cite correctly is sloppiness. Please use internet sources with extreme caution. We accept as valid peer-reviewed material. We look skeptically upon the usage of materials posted by individuals not subjected to critical peer review. We look with extreme disdain upon sources such as Wikipedia or political action groups that tend to have huge possible margins of error. Your professors will be quite happy to look at early drafts for content, organization, and writing. You should use the writing center for any questions.
Grading Policy We award grades based upon the notion that a “C” represents average work, a “B” is conspicuously above average, an “A” is earned by superior performance, and that a “D” represents sub-standard performance. “Fs” represent the failure to do assignments and poor performance. We will use pluses or minuses very rarely in evaluating assignments. Most students will receive a letter grade (A=95, B=85, C=75, D=65, or F=40) on individual assignments.
Academic Integrity Each student must observe Juniata’s policy on Academic Integrity. Except where explicitly stated, all work prepared for this course must be done individually. Joint study sessions are encouraged. Joint preparations of written assignments are prohibited unless expressly allowed in the syllabus. In-class examinations are to be done by each student without any form of assistance, either from another individual or any form of notes. ANY violation of these rules will result in at least a zero grade for the assignment and possibly a failing grade in the class. As obligated, we will report every violation of the College Academic Integrity Policy to the Judicial Board. The instructors will enforce these policies without exception.
Juniata International Forum (JIF) The Juniata International Forum is the centerpiece of this course. The class will be divided into country and NGO “teams” for the JIF. You will conduct extensive research on development topics and engage in discussions aimed at achieving the Millennium Challenge Goals. You will learn more about the JIF during the semester. The first JIF session on the Millennium Challenge will take place on March 27 and April 1. The second JIF will take place on April 24 and 29.
We will have two exams, the first on March 6 and the second on May 5. Before the exam we will give you a list of possible essay topics. On the day of the exam, one of the topics will be selected at random for you to do. The exam will last 60 minutes. We will then discuss the answer as a class.
Final Project We will talk about this project on January 30. You will be given a separate hand-out describing this assignment. The Final Project is due on the last day of class. We will be happy to comment upon a draft of the paper if you submit it to us by April 11.
These Final Project stages are required, save the optional draft.
February 6 Initial Bibliography
February 18 Outline
February 27 Draft Section One
April 1 Draft Section Two
April 15 Optional Draft
May Day Final Draft
COURSE SCHEDULE
January 21 Introduction: Think globally--and also locally. Why are some people fat and others skinny? Why are some people fit and others out-of-shape? How might these variables be affected by class or nationality or both? How might national or international public policy affect fatness/skinniness/or fitness?
Receive recipes. US HOMESTYLE, GAMBIAN, US VEGETARIAN, OLD US, MODERN US (PIZZA AND WINGS), McDonald’s, WEIGHT WATCHERS, INDIAN
Please visit a local grocery store and pretend to shop for your recipes. What did the meal cost? Analyze its ingredients-calories, fiber, fat, sugars, etc. Where do the various ingredients come from? US? Local? California? Mexico? Who could afford to eat these meals? If this recipe (or recipes like it) were your diet for a year, how might it affect your health? Would you likely gain or lose weight? Each team should prepare a two page paper that summarizes the answers to these questions. Bring your paper to class on Tuesday, January 28 and be prepared to talk about your recipe. Send an electronic version to Professor Nagengast
January 23 World System Theory, Modernization Theory
Globalization of Food
Pilcher, beginning through p. 33
January 28 Team Recipe Reports: What do we eat? Is it “good” for us? Where does food come from? Discuss JIF
January 30 Individual Diet Analysis. Read all of the reports from your classmates. Write a one page paper that suggests one social scientific method to compare the findings of the reports. Please suggest answers to what makes some people fat and others of normal weight? Which dietary practices contribute to good health? Why?
Discuss Final Project
Country assignment request Students will bring ranked list of countries, 1-7 that they would like do; we will make assignments on Tuesday.
February 4 Eric Wolf, Europe and the People without History, (reserve)
Come to class prepared to break into teams that will answer the following questions.
How many regions of the world would you identify in the 1400-1492 period?
What features do you use in creating a region?
What are their comparative features?
What distinguishes them?
What links them?
What is the role of silver (and gold) in the transformation of Europe?
How do plantations contribute to that transformation?
February 6 Mintz, Introduction, Ch. 1 Initial Final Project Bibliography Due
How does the starch/flavor, fringe characterize a “traditional diet”?
Mintz is very much interested in connections, relationships, and historical change, especially as they relate to the production and consumption of sugar. What factors does he indentify that he seeks to analyze? Make a list of at least five paired variables (eg. colony/metropolis, production in Jamaica/consumption in England). Be prepared to place these variables on a map of the Atlantic world.
“… the social history of the use of new foods in a western nation can contribute to the anthropology of modern life.” (p. xxviii) Please identify five points from chapter 1 that sustain this assertion.
“Human beings do create social structures, and do endow events with meaning; but these structures and meanings have historical origins that shape, limit, and help to explain such creativity.” (p. xxx)
February 11 Mintz, Chapter 2
What types of sucrose can be made from Saccharum officinarum? How is this done?
Sugar production in the Mediterranean and Caribbean regions shared many features, but differed in others. Prepare a list of similarities and differences. What accounts for them?
What is the relationship between sugar and colonization?; between sugar and mercantilism?; between sugar and free trade?
February 13 Mintz, Chapter 3
What are the six “meanings” of sugar? When was each predominant? What accounts for changing meanings? How does class and gender affect meaning?
How does sugar relate to “tea and jam” as part of the working class diet?
What does Mintz mean by “intensification”? By “extensification”? Please provide an example of each process.
What does Mintz mean by “convenience eating”? (p. 131)
February 18 Mintz, Chapters 4 and 5 Final Project Outline Due
What does Mintz mean by “external” and “internalized” “power”?
Does Mintz believe that consumers have “free choice”?
“Marxists stress that the factor which determines what happens in our society is the drive to accumulate capital; i.e., the ceaseless quest to make profits, which are then reinvested, to make more profit, in an endless spiral of capital accumulation. This leads to innovation and [social and political] change. Why [are there so many fast food chains]? Why has so much manufacturing left [the United States]? These changes have come about because firms are always looking for ways of maximising their profits. http://www.des4rev.org.uk/Marxunswau.htm (accessed January 14, 2009)
How does Mintz demonstrate this point as it relates to sugar? (p. 185, “the tremendous power concealed in mass consumption)
The production of sugar, the politico-economic system that sustained that production and the consumption of sugar largely defined the Atlantic world. The Atlantic world, in turn, provided the model for the modern world. Defend or refute this assertion.
What is the relationship between “fats and sugars”? How is it visible in the United States?
“Have we surrendered our autonomy over food”? (p. 211)
February 20 Mapping the Atlantic System, 1760s-1840s; Adam Smith et al.
February 25 Imperialism and Food Security in Africa
Agricultural Neo-Colonialism in Africa: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/18/g8-new-alliance-condemned-new-colonialism
February 27 Berlin Conference—the Scramble for Africa
Partial Final Project Draft Due
March 4 Case Study: The Gambia
Reading from Donald Wright
Pilcher, Chapter 8 “Empires of Food”
March 6 Mid-term Exam
March 18, 20, 25 The Post-War II World Economic Order
Millennium Challenge Papers due 20th
March 27 JIF CONFERENCE
April 1 JIF CONFERENCE
Partial Final Project Draft Due
April 3 Cacao DVD
April 8 Peterson, “Global Institutions and the WTO”
Pilcher, Ch. 6, ch. 10
TBD View “King Corn”
April 10 Discuss King Corn
Ted talk
April 15 Pilcher, Chapter 11, 12, 13, and conclusion
Full Final Project Draft Due (Optional)
April 17 EU Agricultural Policies
Peterson “Agricultural Policy in the EU: Europe’s Sacred Cows”
Formal JIF proposals due
April 22 A Day without Corn. Please turn in a one-two page paper that outlines what you would eat in a 24 hour period that contains no corn, and is reasonably healthy. What changes in your diet would be necessary to reduce your corn consumption by one-half?
April 24 JIF CONFERENCE
One page evaluation of conferences with other JIF teams due
April 29 JIF CONFERENCE
May Day “Have we surrendered our autonomy over food?”
What a silly question; we never had it.
Final Project Due in a portfolio with all final project stages
May 6 Second Examination