Globalization And Its Historical Significance

This course draws on readings, insights, and frameworks from anthropology, history, political science, economics, and sociology to inform our understanding of globalization in its present form and to place it in historical perspective. We focus on a series of questions not only about what is happening as new developments continue to remake our world's cultural, economic, and political interconnections, but also about the growing awareness of these changes and the consequences of this awareness. In examining the changing nature of globalization over time and its recurring themes, we explore key moments and developments of early globalization (e.g. The Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds; early global flows of luxury goods like sugar, coffee, and tea; European exploration and the beginning of modern colonialism; the rise and transformation of early capitalism, etc.), as well as issues facing our current globalized world (e.g. international migration; offshoring of work; rising inequality; challenges to democracy and the post-World War II political order, etc.) and their interconnections. The body of the course deals with particular dimensions of globalization, reviewing and then looking comparatively at them in early and recent history. The overall approach is historical and comparative, setting globalization on the larger stage of the economic, political, and cultural development of various parts of the modern world.