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Academic Year 2003/2004

Gendering Globalization: The New International Division of Labor
LAST 340 SP
Crosslistings:
ANTH 340
WMST 340

This course will focus on the ways current processes of globalization and the implementation of privatization policies have influenced women's lives worldwide. As a backdrop for these discussions, the course will begin with analyses of the ways gendered hierarchies have informed processes of state formation, imperialism, and anti-colonial nationalisms. We will then discuss how de-industrialization and the intensification and expansion of capitalism have led to an increasingly gendered and racialized international division of labor, and the ways transnational capital, labor, and culture have permeated and transformed local cultures and economies. We will then turn our attention to the ways women have critiqued and transformed these processes by examining materials on women and development, women's movements internationally, and the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Finally, using examples from the Caribbean, we will look at the ways women's engagement with new economic strategies is, in some cases, challenging long-standing local hierarchies of gender and class culture.

MAJOR READINGS

Selections from FEMINIST GENEALOGIES, COLONIAL LEGACIES, DEMOCRATIC FUTURES, Eds. M. Jacqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, 1997. New York: Routledge.

Sassen Saskia. 1994. CITIES IN A WORLD ECONOMY. Pine Forge Press

Enloe, Cynthia. 1990. BANANAS, BEACHES AND BASES: MAKING FEMINIST SENSE OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Sen, Gita and Caren Grown. 1987. DEVELOPMENT, CRISIS AND ALTERNATIVE VISIONS: THIRD WORLD WOMEN'S PERSPECTIVE S. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Freeman, Carla. 2000. HIGH TECH AND HIGH HEELS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: WOMEN, WORK, AND PINK-COLLAR IDENTITIES IN THE CARIBBEAN. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Many, many articles.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly one page summaries of major points and questions raised by readings. One in-class presentation of readings and issues raised, and leadership of discussion. FInal 12-15 page research paper. Students who wish to satisy the research requirements of their majors face special requirements and deadlines.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Preference given to LAST, ANTH, and WMST majors, and special consideration given to AFAM majors.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS LAST    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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