Thus, our theme for the next reading group meeting is “Globalization literature, re-read in the context of ecological chance.” It will be 26 October (Friday) from 15-17 at Moesgaard. If you are interested in attending, please contact Heather Swanson at ikshswanson@cas.au.dk

We will be discussing the following texts:

1. Appadurai, Arjun. "Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy." Theory, culture & society 7, no. 2-3 (1990): 295-310.

2. Tsing, Anna. "The Global Situation." Cultural Anthropology 15, no. 3 (2000): 327-60.

These first two articles are foundational texts in anthropology of globalization. Tsing offers a review and analysis of “the global” and directly engages Appadurai’s work in her piece.

3. Marcus, George E. 1995. Ethnography in/of the Worldsystem: The Emergence of a Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology 24: 95-117.

4. Candea, Matei. "Arbitrary locations: in defence of the bounded field‐site." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13, no. 1 (2007): 167-184.

The second two text focuses on the methods that have become associated with anthropology of globalization, particularly the “follow the thing” approach. What are the possibilities and limitations of this method (i.e. Candea’s arguments)? Might we reflect more carefully about our own methods for studying global flows/movements?

Although we will not discuss them during the reading group, if you are new to scholarship on anthropology of globalization and are looking for additional readings, we suggest the following texts:

Inda, Jonathan Xavier, and Renato Rosaldo. "Tracking global flows." Introductory chapter to The anthropology of globalization: A reader, 2^nd edition (2008) Blackwell Publishers.

This is a nice review/overview of the anthropological conversations and key texts related to globalization. 

Dumit, Joseph. "Writing the implosion: Teaching the world one thing at a time." Cultural Anthropology 29, no. 2 (2014): 344-362.

This is a methodological piece situated that takes a related but somewhat different approach from those of Marcus and Candea.