Global Inequality in Historical Perspective: An Introduction to Global History

2022/2023

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

6

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Департамент истории

Статус:

Курс по выбору

Когда читается:

1-й курс, 3, 4 модуль

Преподаватели

Круглова Анна Борисовна

Ссорин-Чайков Николай Владимирович

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This course gives an introduction to global history from the perspective of the economic anthropology of capitalism. Its aims are to explore key issues and approaches within this field of inquiry from the vantage point of a tension between political-economic (Marxist) and cultural (Weberian) perspectives in the historical and anthropological understanding of global inequalities. Topics of seminars include anthropological critique of the world systems theory, the war and free markets, subaltern modernity, Protestant and “ordinary” ethics, the political economy of state socialism, the social and economic condition of post-modernity, affective labor and “new” paternalism. While these themes make up a chronological vector from the early modern plantation slavery and industrialization to “late modernity,” they are not so much, or not just, to detail different historical periods as consider different research methodologies in their heuristic possibilities as well as limits.

Learning Objectives

• To explore key issues and approaches within this field of inquiry from the vantage point of a tension between political-economic (Marxist) and cultural (Weberian) perspectives in the historical and anthropological understanding of global inequalities.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Ability to see the problems and aspects of contemporary life in their interconnectedness (“holistically”)
• Understanding the general importance of cultural and historical contexts, and the ability to identify which contexts are especially necessary to understand the local situation
• An understanding of how to apply broadly comparativism, anthropological analysis for studying any aspect of social and cultural life, discerning the advantages and disadvantages of ethnographic, systemic, comparativist approaches
• Skills of reflexive assessment of the scholar’s position in the field, as well as in social studies, among her colleagues; knowing how to adjust these relationships accordingly
• Familiarity with some of the general historical developments and topics in Western critical and social theory
• Skills of conference-style discussion

Course Contents

• Introduction (lecture)
• Political economy vs. culture
• War and free markets
• Subalternity
• Socialist political economy
• Protestant ethics
• Postmodern condition
• Affect and affective labor
• Paternalism
• Ordinary ethics

Assessment Elements

• Response paper 1
  Min 300, max 400 words essay connecting minimum of 1 text from the current session with minimum of 1 text from any of the previous sessions
• Response paper 2
  Min 300, max 400 words essay connecting minimum of 1 text from the current session with minimum of 1 text from any of the previous sessions
• Reading response 1
  Sets of questions or ideas about readings for class discussions, 100-500 words
• Reading response 2
  Sets of questions or ideas about readings for class discussions, 100-500 words
• Presentation
  10 minutes length, power point, students are required to deliver a 10-minute oral presentation during the course.

Interim Assessment

• 2022/2023 4th module
  0.1 * Presentation + 0.35 * Response paper 2 + 0.35 * Response paper 1 + 0.1 * Reading response 1 + 0.1 * Reading response 2

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Marx, K., & Engels, F. (2001). Capital : A Critique of Political Economy. Electric Book Co.

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Wallerstein, I. M. (2004). World-Systems Analysis : An Introduction. Durham: Duke University Press Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=682046