Environmental Studies 37-390
Course Syllabus
Special Topics:
Environment, Globalization,
and Critical Theory
Spring 2002
Environmental Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
Class Hours:
Instructor:
Dr. Adrian Ivakhiv, Swart 320, 424-0848, ai@voyager.net
Office hours:
Tuesdays & Thursdays: 11.15 am-12 noon and 3.00-4.00 pm; other times by appointment
Course web page
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/ivakhiv/es390.htm
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BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION
“Globalization” has become an all-encompassing term for describing a series of processes which are
reshaping social, economic, political, and cultural life on the planet. This course will introduce
some of the main competing perspectives on globalization, and will apply them to understanding
how the natural environment is implicated in and affected by these processes, and how
environmental movements (and other social movements) are responding to these transformations.
Through intensive readings and discussion, we will try to understand the ways in which the local
and the global are increasingly intertwined, and to assess both the risks and the promises of the
global society that (seemingly) lies ahead.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the course are three-fold:
1) To explore the many meanings of the term “globalization” by examining the main competing
perspectives on globalization in all its dimensions and variants (economic, cultural, political, et
al.).
2) To develop an understanding of how the natural environment, and the human treatment of it,
are being affected by the processes associated with globalization; and how environmental issues
in turn are affecting the debate around globalization and appropriate responses to it.
3) To develop the research skills appropriate to understanding and acting on global environmental
issues and controversies, including the ability to critically analyze and adjudicate between
different arguments and perspectives, and general skills in critical thinking, reading, writing,
communication, argumentation, and (where possible and feasible) action.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
This course will be a seminar exploring the processes associated with “globalization,” how these
processes are affecting people’s lives and human-environment interactions, and how people and
communities are responding to them. The format will be that of an “exploratory conversation,” one
in which the conversing voices will be our own and those of the authors we will read. We will look
at a variety of arguments, including those critical and those in favor of globalization (in one or
another form), and will examine the different ways in which the term is applied. Since, in a sense,
there are many different “globalizations” occurring in the world today, the course will provide a
means for students to develop their own responses to globalization – that is, a sense of how, as
active citizens, it is possible for us to participate in the creation of tomorrow’s global society, and a
sense of what sort of society that ought to be.
The first five weeks of the course will involve an in-depth consideration of today’s global society
and the “divided world” that has recently become highlighted by the events of September 11 and
their aftermath. We will read selected key writings that have shaped popular and elite thinking
about the nature of the post-Cold War world (e.g., Benjamin Barber’s “Jihad versus McWorld,”
Samuel Huntington’s “The clash of civilizations,” and Robert Kaplan’s “The coming anarchy”), and
will critically analyze their arguments as well as the reasons for their popularity and influence. In
the process we will develop an understanding of global society as a single interconnected system, in
which competition over resources (such as oil), struggles over territory and power, and cultural
interactions (including media and cultural flows across borders) all take place within a single
political-economic system. The next four weeks will focus more closely on culture, religion
(especially religious fundamentalism), media, work and trade, and cultural and political resistance.
The final four weeks of the course will directly examine environmental issues, the ways they are
affected by “free trade,” and the movements that have emerged in response to corporate
globalization, especially those movements aimed at developing an alternative vision of
“globalization from below.” In the process we will weigh the options open to social and
environmental activists and will consider the problems and pitfalls of different forms of activism.
REQUIRED TEXTS
1. Naomi Klein, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (Vintage Canada/Random House, 2000).
2. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli (eds.), The Globalization Reader (Blackwell, 2000).
3. Course Readings, available on E-Reserve through Polk Library.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello, and Brendan Smith, Globalization from Below: The Power of
Solidarity (South End Press, 2000).
Joshua Karliner, The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization (Sierra
Club Books, 1997).
Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds.), The Case Against the Global Economy (Sierra Club
Books, 1996).
And various links available on the course web page – see http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/ivakhiv/es390.htm
COURSE FORMAT, REQUIREMENTS & EXPECTATIONS
The course will be a seminar, heavily centered around weekly readings and discussion of those
readings, with some additional materials (including videos and speakers) brought in where
appropriate and available. You will be expected to keep up to date with the readings and to prepare
short written responses to them and questions for discussion in advance of every class.
Participation (both in-class and potentially electronic) will account for a significant portion of your
grade, so you will need to come to class prepared. This will not be a course in which students are
expected to learn the “correct answers” to questions. Since “globalization” is a work in progress,
with this topic there are only better (or worse) questions and better (or worse) ways of going about
thinking through those questions. Free thinking and even disagreement (but respectful
disagreement) will be encouraged!
Because most of the course work will take place on a week-to-week basis (readings, written
responses to readings, and class discussion), there will not be any term paper or other additional
major writing expectations, outside of weekly reading journals and a presentation and
accompanying report.
Evaluation in the course will normally be as follows. (Note that variations may be possible, subject
to approval by the course director.)
Reading and reflection journal
45%
“Global-local connections” presentation & report
30%
Reading presentation
5%
Attendance and class (&/or electronic) participation
20%
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. READING & REFLECTION JOURNAL (45%)
OBJECTIVES
The reading journal is intended to
(1) allow you to reflect on and respond to the readings, thinking through their meaning and relevance in
relation to the course themes;
(2) prepare you for classroom discussions;
(3) document your “dialogue” with the class, responding to class discussions, instructor comments, etc.;
(4) where applicable, allow you to respond to questions which have been assigned on the readings;
(5) and allow you to work toward crafting your own understanding of globalization.
SUBMISSION DATES
These can either be submitted electronically to me by 10 p.m. Monday evening preceding a Tuesday class, or
they can be brought into class to be collected on Tuesdays. (They will normally not be accepted on
Thursdays, though exceptions may be made – these will be announced in class.)
If you write more than 10 weekly journal entries, only the ten “best” entries will count towards your grade.
Journal entries are expected to follow the format below and should clearly be marked “Journal entry for
week [#].”
You will be expected to hand in all your journal entries a second time as a package in the final class, together
with a final course reflection (to be discussed in class; the final reflection will be considered a part of your
“quality” grade for the journal).
EVALUATION
Journals will be evaluated as follows:
2% pts. per week (20% in total) for being completed on time (i.e. handed in on the appropriate Tuesday):
Journals should cover all required readings for a given week (i.e., the numbered items on the
schedule or readings below). If there are multiple required readings and you only cover some of them
(e.g. 2 of 3), you will receive a fraction (e.g. two-thirds) of the grade for completion; the same goes
for completing only part of the daily assignment (of the numbered items) below rather than all of
them;
25% in total (or 2% pts. per week plus 5% for the final reflection) for quality:
Individual journal entries will not normally be graded for quality during the term, though some
indication may be given of how well you are doing with your responses. The final complete journal
will be graded based on the overall quality of your reading summaries and critical responses, your
demonstration of clear and coherent thinking about the issues raised, and your ability to connect
themes and ideas between readings.
FORMAT
Journals should normally follow the following format. (On some days I will provide an alternative format or
set of specific questions to be answered.) Each of the numbered items below could be written in one
paragraph, though you are free to write more if you wish. But please be concise and not repetitive.
For each individual required reading (one-half to one page in length):
1. ARGUMENT SUMMARY: What is (/are) the author’s main argument(s)? How does he or she develop and
support this (/these) argument(s)?
2. QUESTIONS: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments presented? What kinds of questions does it
raise for you (or might it raise for other authors we have read up to now)?
(Please do not comment here on the author’s writing style or whether you thought the article was
‘interesting’; the former is more appropriate for a course in literary criticism, while the latter gets
boring and shows intellectual laziness.)
Following this section you may (but are not required to) include any additional notes on the
readings, lists of words new to you, definitions of those words, etc.
For the week’s readings as a whole: (one-half to one page in length)
1. COMPARISON & DIALOGUE: What are the central issues being debated or discussed in this week’s readings?
On what points do the authors agree and disagree? What are the differing assumptions and the evidence upon which the
positions are based? What is ‘at stake’ for us (and our understanding of globalization) in these readings?
2. PERSONAL RESPONSE: What surprised you, disturbed you, or enlightened you most in these readings? With
whom did you agree most, and why? How have any of these readings helped you to reflect and make sense of any current
events or issues?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. GLOBAL-LOCAL CONNECTIONS PRESENTATION & REPORT (30%)
PRESENTATION: You will be expected to do an in-class presentations (approx. 15 minutes in duration) on
the global dimensions/connections of a locally-based company or non-governmental organization of your
choice. This will require doing research on that company or organization, its financial connections with
other companies or countries, and so on. You should not rely only on information provided by the company
or organization itself; rather, you should seek out complementary and competing perspectives – i.e., you
should attempt to “triangulate” your research findings. (We will discuss this in class. More detailed
questions will be handed out.)
REPORT: An 800-1000-word report on the company, typed, double-spaced, written in complete sentences
and paragraphs, and fully referenced, should be handed in on the same day that you present your report in
class. Details will be discussed in class.
PRESENTATION/REPORT DUE DATES: Presentations will occur between the 6th and 13th weeks of
classes. You will be expected to sign up for a presentation date ahead of time.
EVALUATION
Evaluation will be based as follows:
Class presentation
10%
Report
20%
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. READING PRESENTATION (5%)
You will be required to research and deliver a brief (10 minutes or so) in-class presentation on a particular
article and author (to be selected and approved by the instructor beforehand).
This should include:
a) a brief introduction identifying the article’s main argument and the important questions it raises for us
(i.e., not more than you are expected to do with every article in your reading journals);
b) a background report on the author and article, mentioning any important facts that would allow us to
better understand the article, the context for which it was written, and any significant responses it may
have had (this component will require additional research);
c) and two or three questions for class discussion.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION (20%)
ATTENDANCE (10%):
You will be expected to attend and participate in classes regularly. Students who attend all classes
will get an automatic 10% for the attendance grade. Failure to notify the instructor in advance or to
provide written justification for a missed class (e.g., a signed certificate indicating a medical
emergency or death in the family) will automatically be penalized. Students who miss more than
three classes without a significant and justifiable reason will automatically drop a two-letter course
grade (e.g., from an ‘B’ to a ‘D’).
PARTICIPATION (10%):
For your 10% participation grade, you will be expected to demonstrate
a) informed, thoughtful and critical engagement with course materials;
b) a willingness to engage in respectful, civil discussion with other students, as we elaborate on and
think through the course themes;
c) and an ability to integrate what you are learning in this course with information gathered from
other sources.
It is important that you keep “one eye” (or ear) open to current events: you are strongly encouraged
to make a habit of “surfing” the internet in search of a more global (i.e., not just U.S.-based)
perspective on current events, and of sharing (electronically or in class) whatever you find to be
most interesting and relevant to our discussions. Students who demonstrate such an active
awareness of current events will get a higher participation grade than those who do not.
You may also participate electronically on a class listserv, as a supplement to your class
participation (though not normally as a substitute, except due to extenuating circumstances, which
will need to be discussed with me beforehand).
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES & READINGS
Please note that this schedule is tentative and subject to change, depending on how things develop
in class (and on student interests).
SOURCES:
E-Res = Polk Library E-Reserve
GR = Lechner and Boli, Globalization Reader
CAGE = Mander and Goldsmith, The Case Against the Global Economy
No Logo = Naomi Klein, No Logo
Others as indicated.
REC = Recommended, but not required reading.
Date
TOPIC
Tue Feb 5
Introduction to Course
Thu Feb 7
Clearing the Air, Getting a Sense
of Perspective:
READINGS
NOTES
1. Naomi Klein, “Signs of the times” (hand-out)
Globalization and September 11
Video: “US off the planet”
PART
1
MAKING SENSE OF
GLOBAL SOCIETY:
One World, or Two, or Many?
Tue Feb 12
Jihad versus McWorld, or
Clashing Civilizations?
1. Benjamin Barber, “Jihad vs. McWorld” (E-Res)
2. Samuel Huntington, “The clash of civilizations?”
(GR)
2. Fouad Ajami, “The summoning” (E-Res)
REC: Benjamin Barber, “Jihad vs. McWorld” (GR)
Thu Feb 14
Tue Feb 19
Global Disorder, or Not?
1. Robert Kaplan, “The coming anarchy”
(E-Res)
2. Simon Dalby, “Reading Robert Kaplan’s ‘Coming
anarchy’” (E-Res)
Thu Feb 21
Tue Feb 26
Resources, Scarcity, and
Environmental (In)security
1. Michael Klare, “Wealth, resources, and power: The
changing parameters of global security” (E-Res)
2. Matthias Finger, “The military, the nation state and
the environment” (E-Res)
Thu Feb 28
Video: excerpt from “Narmada: A
Valley Rises” or “Manufacturing
Consent”
3. Thomas Homer-Dixon, “Environmental scarcity and
mass violence” (E-Res)
Tue Mar 5
The World System
1. William Greider, “One world” (E-Res)
2. Leslie Sklair, “Sociology of the global system” (GR)
3. Immanuel Wallerstein, “The rise and future demise
of the capitalist system”
REC: R. Barnet and J. Cavanagh, “Electronic money
and the casino economy” (CAGE ch. 31)
Thu Mar 7
PART
2
EVERYDAY LIFE IN Culture, Religion, Media, Trade,
A GLOBAL SOCIETY: Work, & Resistance
Tue Mar 12
Global Cultural Flows and
Fragmented Identities
1. Pico Iyer, “Bali: On Prospero’s Isle/The Pillippines:
Born in the USA” (GR)
2. Arjun Appadurai, “Disjunction and difference in the
global cultural economy” (GR)
3. Inda and Rosaldo, “A world in motion” (E-Res)
Thu Mar 14
Tue Mar 19
Thu Mar 21
MARCH BREAK!
Tue Mar 26
Religious Diversity and the Rise of
Religious Fundamentalism
2. Andrew Sullivan, “This is a religious war” (course
web site)
3. R. Robertson and J. Chirico, “Humanity,
globalization, and worldwide religious resurgence”
(GR)
Thu Mar 28
Tue Apr 2
1. F. J. Lechner, Global fundamentalism” (GR)
Media, the ‘Society of the
Spectacle,’ and the
Corporatization of Public Space
1. Klein, No Logo, ch. 1-4, 7.
2. Ulrich Beck, “The emergence of a world public and
a global subpolitics”
REC: AdBusters Magazine (any issue)
Thu Apr 4
Video: “The Ad and the Ego”
Tue Apr 9
Trade and Work
1. McMurtry, “The FTAA and the WTO”
2. World Trade Organization, “Seven common
misunderstanding about the WTO” (GR)
Thu Apr 11
Video: “The Big One” and/or
“Roger and Me”
3. Klein, No Logo, ch. 9-10
REC: A. Goldsmith, “Seeds of exploitation: Free trade
zones in the global economy” (CAGE, ch. 23)
REC: Heredia and Purcell, “Structural adjustment &
polarization of Mexican society” (CAGE, ch. 24)
Tue Apr 16
Responses from Below: Culture
Jammers and Political Resisters
1. Subcommandante Marcos, ”Chiapas: The Southeast
in twowinds, a storm and a prophecy” (E-Res)
2. Klein, No Logo, ch. 12-14.
REC: Paul Hawken, . . . (course web site)
Thu Apr 18
PART
3
Tue Apr 23
Videos: “A Place Called Chiapas”
ENVIRONMENT & GLOBALIZATION
Global Ecology
1. Steven Yearley, “The transnational politics of the
environment” (E-Res)
2. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
(GR)
3. Vandana Shiva, “The greening of global reach” (ERes)
Thu Apr 25
Tue Apr 30
Free Trade and the Environment
1. Joshua Karliner, “Surfing the pipeline: The Chevron
corporation and the environmental impacts of oil”
(E-Res; Corporate Planet ch. 3)
Thu May 2
Video: WTO documentaries
2. Karliner, “Toxic empire: The World Bank, free
trade, and the migration of hazardous industry” (ERes; Corp. Planet ch. 5)
Tue May 7
Global Environmentalism
1. Wolfgang Sachs, “Globalization and sustainability”
2. Paul Wapner, “Greenpeace and political globalism”
(GR)
3. Klein, No Logo, ch. 16.
3. Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink,
“Environmental advocacy networks” (GR)
Thu May 9
Tue May 14
Globalization from Below
1. Joshua Karliner, “Grassroots globalization:
Reclaiming the blue planet” (GR)
2. Richard Falk, “Globalization from Below”
3. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, “Reversing the
race to the bottom”
4. Klein, No Logo, Conclusion.
Thu May 16
REC: S. Meeker-Lowry, “Community money: the
potential of local currency” (CAGE ch. 38)