ANTHROPOLOGY 230

Globalization and the Human Condition

Fall 2007

Instructor:     Dr. Hsain Ilahiane, 322B Curtiss Hall, 294-6145, hsain@iastate.edu

Time and Place:  Tuesday and Thursday from 11- 12:20 , Mackay 117 .

Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-4,  or by appointment.

Teaching Assistant:  Adrienne Crowson, 316 Curtiss Hall, 294-5071,  acrowson@iastate.edu

Office Hours:  Tuesday from 9-10 and Wednesday from 1-2, or by appointment.

NOTES: 

1.  If you would like a hard copy of the syllabus, I will be more than delighted to provide you with a copy.

2.  Iowa State University complies with the American with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.  Any student who may require an accommodation under such provisions should contact me as soon as possible and no later than the end of the first week of class or as soon as you become aware. No retroactive accommodations will be provided in this class.

Course Content and Learning Objectives:

This course introduces students to the orders of global culture and power that influence human living and working conditions in the developing world (or the NEW Third World), as well as the capacity of human beings to alter those conditions. A combination of lectures, readings, films, class discussions and projects will familiarize students with approaches to global problems in applied anthropology and the solutions that the discipline has proposed. Although the course focuses on anthropological approaches, it also explores the concepts, methods, and data from a broad range of disciplines that form the background of anthropological techniques. 

The course adopts a comparative perspective-ethnographic, historical and geographic--on issues of vital concern for understanding local problems in a global context.  In addition, the course will probe specific issues such as natural resource management, health, poverty, world hunger, population pressure, religion, indigenous peoples, human rights, and the role of modern means of communication in the socio-economic development of the New Third World. 

The learning objectives of this course are: 1. To acquire an understanding of the forces that result in globalization; 2. To understand the physical, political, historical, economic and cultural dynamics of the New Third World; 3. To acquire an understanding of the role of funding agencies in directed change programs, and the characteristics of problems faced by subject populations throughout the developing world; 4.To acquire an understanding and working knowledge of local and global linkages in international development and change; 5. To understand how, when, and under what conditions local and global forces are entangled.