Rural People in the Global Economy -ANTH 330 (2014 version)

Course Description

The aim of this course is to enable students to explore the impact of the internationalization of capital on rural peoples in the global economy and to evaluate the possibilities for meaningful food security and local autonomy. We will do this through an examination of three case studies (alligators in the Florida everglades, chickens and America, and artisanal fisheries in France) within the context of the global food production system.

Classes held T, 13:00 - 16:00. Term 2 (Jan-April, 2014)

Course Outline

Downloadable 2014 course outline

Course Blog

Background notes, commentaries, and resources can be found on the course blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/anth100

Required Textbooks

Laura A. Ogden. 2011. Swamplife: People, Gators, and Mangroves Entangled in the Everglades.
Charles R Menzies. 2011. Red Flags and Lace Coiffes: Identity and Survival in a Breton Village.
Charles R Menzies. 2014. People of the Saltwater (manuscript, posted on course connect site)
Deborah Fink. 1998. Cutting into the Meatpacking Line.

Topics and Readings

Capitalism and Global Interconnections

Eric Wolf, Europe and the People without History. Chatper 1. Chapter 3
Anthony Brewer (1980). Marxist Theories of Imperialism: A Critical Survey. Introduction

Capitalism and Food Production Systems

Gisli Palsson (1991). Coastal Economies, Cultural Accounts: Human Ecology and Icelandic Discourse. “Anthropological discussions of fishing economies”
Caroline Butler (2006). “Historicizing Indigenous Knowledge: Practical and Political Issues. In C. Menzies (ED) Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resource Management.
Eric R Wolf. Peasants. “Chapter 1: The Peasantry and its Problems,” ; “Chapter 2: Economic Aspects of Peasantry,”
Menzies and Butler (2006). Introduction: Understanding Ecological Knowledge. In C. Menzies (ED) Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resource Management.

Indigenous Communities in the Global Economy: NWC example

Menzies and Butler (2008). “The Indigenous Foundation of the Resource Economy of BC's North Coast.” Labour/Le Travail. 61 (Spring 2008), 131-149
James MacDonald (1995). Development of underdevelopment in Kitsumkalum. AE.
Eric Wolf. Envisioning Power. Chapter on Kwakiutl

Alternative Food

Jeffrey Pratt, “Food values. The local and the authentic.” Geert De Neve, Luetchford Peter, Jeffrey Pratt, Donald C. Wood, in (ed.) Hidden Hands in the Market: Ethnographies of Fair Trade, Ethical Consumption, and Corporate Social Responsibility (Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume 28), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 53 – 70.
David Harvey (2000). Spaces of Hope. “Chapter 12: The insurgent architect at work,” 233-255; “Appendix: Edilia, or ‘Make of it what you will,’” 257-281.
J.K. Gibson-Graham (2006). The End Of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy. “Chapter 11: Waiting for the Revolution . . .” 251-265.
Julia Guthman. "What's Capitalism Got to do with it?

A Note on Laptops in Class

Laptops, cell phones, and any other form of electronic recording or communication device will not be permitted in our class for any purpose without explicit and prior approval from your instructor. There are good reasons for some people with documented learning profiles to use laptops to take notes rather than using pen and paper. However, for most people the art and craft of writing notes by hand still remains a critical practice to engage in. As potential and aspiring anthropologists you will find yourself in locations in which the only way to take notes is by paper and pen. Please consider this to be a practicing ground for those circumstances. There are no good reasons (under normal circumstances) to use a cell phone in class.

Additional Resources

Anthropology and Society. Podcasts of presentations made by Charles Menzies on a variety of topics. Some of the items may have relevance for the course. To access a podcast of available presentations copy this URL http://www.ecoknow.ca/podcast/rss.xml and paste it into your podcast software application or click here to select individual talks.

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