Modernity and postmodernity respectively have been described as a condition, a style, an organizational stage in capitalism, a mood, malaise, or attitude, and a bald mystification, to name a few. This course is designed to critically engage these concepts toward an understanding of twentieth century social processes and crises across historical time and cultural space. We will investigate how modernity and postmodernity are experienced and expressed in the "west" and among "nonwesterners" who continue to confront imperial interventions in the postcolonial period. Topics to be considered include modern and postmodern geographies; the colonial, postcolonial, and neocolonial; the rise of a global economy; flexible accumulation and flexible labor; capitalist restructuring and consumer "choice" (from designer coffee to microbreweries); reterritorialization and the "local"; economic restructuring and its effects and aftershocks.
COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Seminar
Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS ANTH
Prerequisites: None
Last Updated on MAR-03-1998
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