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Columbia University
ANTH V3335, Spring 2007
GLOBALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP: The Cultural Politics of Belonging (in an Age of Transnationalism and Cosmopolitanism)
Instructor: Colin Smith (2006-2007 ExEAS Postdoctoral Fellow) M/W: 1:10-2:25
Course Description
This course is about the challenges that globalization poses to citizenship today. With the development of new global markets and advances in communications and transportation, new transnational communities have emerged that complicate the bonds between citizens and states. In addition, not only is there an increasing number of people who have not only been raised and educated in more than one country, or who are the children of parents from different countries and ethnicities, but immigrants and their descendants today are able to communicate with, and return to, their “home countries” more easily than ever before.
As a result, the particularly modern notion that there is a natural correspondence between nation-state, people, and culture is coming under question.
Among the questions this course addresses are: what happens when cultural beliefs and practices conflict with the laws of the state, as with the Muslim hijab, or “scarf affair,” in France?; how do people negotiate national boundaries and redefine citizenship in ways that allow them to take advantage of the opportunities for transnational movement and enterprise that globalization makes possible?; what are the claims of citizenship rights of illegal immigrants?; how does the state contend with multiple passport holders and transnational communities with potential allegiances to more than one state?
We will focus on several case studies, including the recent controversy of wearing the hijab in French schools, women’s citizenship rights in India, Chinese transnational communities and economic citizenship, West Africans in New York, Japanese-Brazilians in Japan, the identity dilemmas and claims of “hapas” (Eurasians, half-asians), and international marriage and romance. In addition to rethinking conventional notions of citizenship and culture, we will also use these cases to question new concepts, such as “flexible citizenship,” “cultural hybridity,” and “transmigrant,” that have emerged to describe new forms of belonging in our condition of “late modernity.”
This is an anthropology course, but it is also interdisciplinary. In addition to anthropological texts, readings are by political scientists, sociologists and historians. They will take us to France and Germany, Africa, India, China, South East Asia, Japan, New York City, and Northern California, as well as illuminate each place’s transnational connections. Classes meet twice a week, and will consist of lectures, discussions, and student presentations.
Course Requirements
- Class participation (10% of the final grade). You are expected to keep up with the readings and contribute to discussion and debates about them.
- Student Presentations on Current Events:Students will take turns giving short 5 minute presentations on news stories relating to globalization, citizenship, and transnationalism. These news stories will be posted on the Wiki page and students can post comments about them.
- 3 Pre-midterm reaction papers and wiki posts (20%). These short 1-2 page papers should critically discuss the readings for a given session. They must be turned in before the sessions. In addition, a key term from the reading must be defined within the context of the reading and posted to the key terms section of the Wiki page. The last reaction paper and post must be on or before March 7 th
- Team Presentations on readings (25%). In teams of 2-3 you will give 15 minute long presentations on one week’s readings.
- Final Project (45%): in lieu of a research paper, I would like you to build a wiki webpage about a case study of globalization and citizenship. This webpage will allow you to include text, audio, and visual content, and hyperlinks, making it a multi-media project. A technician from the Center for New Media will give a tutorial on the wiki technology. You will work on the page in small teams. All members must contribute to the main page and other basic sections of the case study, including historical and political context, news reports, and a map, and we will review your postings in class on a regular basis. But you will also make an individual contribution that will be linked to the main page. This individual contribution will be the equivalent of a 10 -12 page paper, but it need not be limited to text—it can include images and audio/audio-visual recordings (of interviews, for example). You should have selected a topic and begun work on the main page by the 4 th or 5 th week of the course. Case studies can be of an issue in a single country, an issue that is relevant to more than one country and is treated comparatively, or an issue that ties together more than one country through transnational connections. I am happy to help students come up with topics. Students will be expected to turn in and discuss a plan for the website with the instructor by the 4 th - 5 th week. Final due date for the projects is May 4th.
Required Books
- Rogers Brubaker (1998): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany
- Andrea Louie (2004): Chineseness Across Borders: Renegotiating Chinese Identities in China and the United States.
- Joshua Roth, 2002: Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan.
- Saskia Sassen (1996): Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization.
- Paul Stoller (2002): Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City
- Course Reader (Available at Village Copier on Broadway, btw 111 th and 112 th)
Syllabus (January 17th – April 30th)
Week 1
Session 1 (1/17): Introduction
- Introduction to the topic and course objectives
- Explanation of course mechanics and requirements.
- The Muslim “scarf affair” in France
Week 2
Session 2 (1/22): Citizenship and Transnational Identity
- J.G.A. Pocock (1995): “The Ideal of Citizenship since Classical Times.”
- Riva Kastoryano (2005): “French Secularism and Islam: France’s Headscarf Affair,” in Multiculturalism, Muslims, and Citizenship: A European Approach. Tariq Modood, Ricard Zapate-Barrero, Anna Triandafyllidon, eds.
Session 3 (1/24): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State
- Benedict Anderson (1991): Imagined Communities (Introduction, chapters 1-3)
Week 3
Session 4 (1/29): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State
- Benedict Anderson (1991): Imagined Communities (Introduction, chapters 1-3)
- Partha Chatterjee (1991): “Whose Imagined Community?,” in Millennium: Journal of International Studies. Vol. 20, no.3, December 1991 (pp. 521-525).
Session 5 (1/31): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State
- Rogers Brubaker (1998): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (Intro, chapters 1-2)
Week 4
Session 6 (2/5): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State
- Rogers Brubaker (1998): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (chapters 1-5)
Session 7 (2/7): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State
- Rogers Brubaker (1998): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (chapters 1-5)
Week 5
Session 8 (2/12): Globalization and Culture
- Michel-Rolph Trouillot (2003): “ North Atlantic Fictions: Global Transformations, 1492-1945.” (pp. 29-46)
- Arjun Appadurai (1990): “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy” (pp. 27-47).
Session 9 (2/14): Globalization, Citizenship, and the Nation-State
- Saskia Sassen (1996): Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization (begin reading).
Week 6
Session 10 (2/19): Globalization, Citizenship, and the Nation-State
- Saskia Sassen (1996): Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization (finish reading).
Session 11 (2/21): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State: (Multi-)Cultural Politics
- Charles Tilly (1996): “Citizenship, Identity, and Social History” (pp. 1-17)
- Radhika Viyasmongia (1999): “Race, Nationality, Mobility: A History of the Passport,” in Public Culture 29.
Week 7
Session 12 (2/26): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State: (Multi-)Cultural Politics
- Seyla Benhabib (2002): “Introduction: On the Use and Abuse of Culture,” in The Claims of Culture (pp. 1-23).
- Seyla Benhabib (2002): “Nous et les Autres (We and the Others)” (pp. 24-48).
Session 13 (2/28): Modernity, Citizenship, and the Nation-State: (Multi-)Cultural Politics
- Rogers Brubaker (1998): Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (chapter 7)
- Seyla Benhabib (2002): “Multiculturalism and Gendered Citizenship”(pp. 82-104)
Week 8
Session 14 (3/5): The Nation-State, Transnationalism, Gender and Human Rights
- Jaqueline Bhabha (1996): “Embodied Rights: Gender Persecution, State Sovereignty, and Refugees,” in Public Culture, 9,1: 3-32.
- Christine Whalley (1997): “Searching for ‘Voices’: Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debate over Female Genital Operations,” in Cultural Anthropology. 12,3: 405-438.
Session 15 (3/7): The Nation-State, Transnationalism, Gender and Human Rights
- Rajeswari Sunder Rajan (2003): Chapters 1 and 7 in The Scandal of the State: Women, Law, and Citizenship in Postcolonial India.
***March 12 th – March 16 th: Spring Recess***
Week 9
Session 16 (3/19): African New York
- Paul Stoller (2002): Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City (Prologue, chapters 1 and 2)
Session 17 (3/21): African New York
- Paul Stoller (2002): Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City (chapters 3-5)
- Class Field Trip to 125 th Street Market.
Week 10
Session 18 (3/26): African New York
- Paul Stoller (2002): Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City (finish: chapters 6-8, Epilogue).
Session 19 (3/28): The Limits of Jus Sanguinis: The Case of Japan
- Joshua Roth (2002): Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan.
Suggested Additonal Reading
- Eiko Ikegami (1996): “Citizenship and National Identity in Early Meiji Japan, 1868-1889.”
Week 11
Session 20 (4/2): The Limits of Jus Sanguinis: The Case of Japan
- Joshua Roth (2002): Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan.
Session 21 (4/4): Transnationalism and “Flexible Citizenship” in the Pacific Rim
- Andrea Louie (2004): Chineseness Across Borders (begin reading).
Week 12
Session 22 (4/9): Transnationalism and “Flexible Citizenship” in the Pacific Rim
- Andrea Louie (2004): Chineseness Across Borders (finish reading)
Session 23 (4/11): Transnationalism and “Flexible Citizenship” in the Pacific Rim
- Andrea Louie (2004): Chineseness Across Borders (finish reading)
Week 13
Session 24 (4/16): Hapas, Halfies, and Multiracials
- Paul Spickard (2001): “Who Is an Asian? Who Is a Pacific Islander? Monoracialism, Multiracial People, and Asian American Communities” (from The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed Heritage Asian Americans, ed. by Teresa Williams-Leon and Cynthia Nakashima).
- Cynthia Nakashima (2001): “Servants of Culture: The Symbolic Role of Mixed-Race Asians in American Discourse.”
- Rebecca Chiyoko King (2001): “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Mapping Discussions of Feminism, Race, and Beauty in Japanese American Beauty Pageants.”
Suggested Additional Reading:
- Daniel A. Nakashima (2001): “A Rose by Any Other Name: Names, Multiracial/Multiethnic People, and the Politics of Identity.”
- Christine C. Iikima Hall and Trude I. Cooke Turner (2001): “The Diversity of Biracial Individuals: Asian-White and Asian-Minority Biracial Identity.”
Session 25 (4/18): Hapas, Halfies, and Multiracials
- Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu (2001): “Multiethnic Lives and Monoethnic Myths: American-Japanese Amerasians in Japan.”
- Jan R. Weisman (2001): “The Tiger and His Stripes: Thai and American Reactions to Tiger Woods’s (Multi) "Racial Self"”
- Teresa Williams-León (2001): “The Convergence of Passing Zones: Multiracial Gays, Lesbians, and Bisexuals of Asian Descent.”
Suggested Additional Reading:
- Michael C. Thornton and Harold Gates (2001): “Black, Japanese, and American: An Asian American Identity Yesterday and Today.”
Week 14
Session 26 (4/23): International Romance and Other Desires
- Karen Kelsky (199?) “Flirting with the Foreign: Interracial Sex in Japan’s ‘International Age.”
- Nobue Suzuki (2002): “Of Love and the Marriage Market: Masculinity Politics and Filipina-Japanese Marriages in Japan,” in Men and Masculinities in
Contemporary Japan, ed. by James Roberson and Nobue Suzuki.Session 27 (4/25): International Romance and Other Desires
- Nicole Constable (2004): A Tale of Two Marriages: International Matchmaking and Gendered Mobility,” in Cross Border Marriages, ed. by Nicole Constable.
- Nicole Constable (2003): “Fairy Tales, Family Values, and the Global Politics of Romance,” in Romance on a Global Stage (pp. 91-115).
Suggested Additional Reading
- Nicole Constable (2003): “Introduction” in Romance on a Global Stage, (pp. 1-30).
- Nicole Constable (2003): “Conclusion: Marriage, Migration, and Transnational Families” in Romance on a Global Stage (pp. 210-226).
- Constance D. Clark (2001): "Foreign Marriage, "Traditional" and the
Politics of Border Crossings,” in China Urban, edited by
Nancy N. Chen, Constance D. Clark, Suzanne Z. Gottschang, and Lyn
Jeffery.- Hung Cam Thai (2002): “Clashing Dreams: Highly Educated Overseas Brides
and Low-Wage U.S. Husbands,” in Global Woman, edited by
Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild.Week 15
Session 28 (4/30): Conclusion
- Catch-up and Wrap-up