ANTH 3030 6.

0: GLOBAL CAPITALISM, CULTURE, AND CONFLICT

Department of Social Anthropology, York University
Fall 2023-Winter 2024
York University recognizes that many Indigenous Nations have longstanding relationships with the territories upon which York University campuses
are located that precede the establishment of York University. York University acknowledges its presence on the traditional territory of many
Indigenous Nations. The area known as Tkaronto has been care taken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the
Huron-Wendat. It is now home to many First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities. We acknowledge the current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of
the Credit First Nation. This territory is subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for
the Great Lakes region (LA&PS Land Acknowledgement). (Understanding the Land Acknowledgement).

Course Time/Location: Thursdays, 1130-1430 (Room RN203A)

Course Instructor: Dr. Salman Hussain
Department of Social Anthropology, York University
E-mail: salhuss@yorku.ca
Office Hours & Location: By appointment (Center for Feminist Research)

Course Overview

Course Description and Learning Objectives

The formation and consequences of an increasingly interdependent world amidst widespread diversity of
society and culture is the theme of this course. We begin with an historical overview of the creation of this
interdependence, looking at European colonial expansion from the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the
Industrial Revolution. We then go on to examine more closely the processes of 19th and 20th century
colonialism that insured the expansion of a capitalist market and that fueled the forces of globalization in
our contemporary world. Once we have gained some theoretical and historical insight into the creation of
global economic, political, and cultural interdependence, we will focus on contemporary issues raised by
the conditions of this interdependency. In this context, we will look at development policies and their
consequences at the local level, the links between state formation and implications of cultural forms of
resistance to internal colonialism, the consequences of globalization for marginalized populations, and the
politics of resistance to contemporary global forces.

Course Format and Organization

This course will be taught in an in-person format. All assignments will be available online on eclass.
Submission of assignments, discussions and test-taking will also take place on the course’s eclass platform.

Technical requirements for taking the course

Eclass platform will be used in this course through which students will have access to the course materials.
Please review this syllabus to determine when the class meets and how office hours and presentations will
be conducted.

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources, and help:
• Student Guide to Moodle
• Zoom@YorkU Best Practices
• Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide
• Computing for Students Website
• Student Guide to eLearning at York University

Evaluation, Due Dates, and Assessment of Assignments

Students will be evaluated through a mix of weekly activities, class attendance and participation, class
presentations, and a research paper.

Attendance Attendance is mandatory for all classes, and your attendance grade will be
10% calculated as per attendance I will take in class in both terms.
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 Reading 250-300 words comments on assigned readings and visual media due weekly
Responses and to be posted on eclass. For these comments, you will complete a brief
20% (Weekly) response exercise called 3-2-1 (3 Takeaways, 2
Questions and 1 Critique). Your response will be due by 8:00 am on the day that
the readings are due, so that I have a chance to review them before class and
integrate them into the day’s discussion.

In-Class The students will pick a date and a weekly set of readings and
Presentation present in groups of two – once in the fall and once in the winter term.
20% (10% Fall,
10% Winter)

Mid-Term Mid-Term Test will be a take-home exam, based on the readings covered
20% (including) November 30th. ; it will be 6-8 pages (double-spaced); and will be due
on December 12th.

Research PaperThe fi Final paper will be a research paper based on secondary sources and primary
30% (10% - Topic research data. A list of suggested topics will be available to students around the
Proposal and Lit. middle of the course. The students will also be able to choose their own research
Review; topics after a consultation with the course instructor. This paper will be 8-10
20% Paper) pages (double-spaced) and will be due on April 4th.

Late Work and Policy on Extensions

Undocumented late work will not be accepted. Extensions will not be granted unless official medical or
other appropriate documentation is provided. I strongly suggest not to wait to complete assignments at the
last minute.

Grading
The grading scheme for this course conforms to the 9-point system used in undergraduate programs at
York University. For a full description of the York grading system, visit the York University Academic
Calendar.

GRADE GRADE POINT PERCENT RANGE DESCRIPTION

A+ 9 90-100 Exceptional

A 8 80-89 Excellent

B+ 7 75-79 Very Good

B 6 70-74 Good

C+ 5 65-69 Competent

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 C 4 60-64 Fairly Competent

D+ 3 55-59 Passing

D 2 50-54 Marginally Passing

E 1 (Marginally below 50%) Marginally Failing

F 0 (Below 50%) Failing

Course policies:

Academic Honesty and Integrity

In this course, we strive to maintain academic integrity to the highest extent possible. There is also an academic
integrity website with comprehensive information about academic honesty and how to find resources at York to
help improve students’ research and writing skills, and cope with University life. Students are expected to review
the materials on the Academic Integrity website at - http://www.yorku.ca/academicintegrity/.

Potential breaches of academic integrity include, but are not limited to:
In papers and assignments:
• Using someone else’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgement.
• Copying material word-for-word from a source (including lecture and study group notes) and not
placing the words within quotation marks.
• Submitting your own work in more than one course without the permission of the instructor.
• Making up sources or facts.
• Including references to sources that you did not use.
• Obtaining or providing unauthorized assistance on any assignment including:
1. working in groups on assignments that are supposed to be individual work;
2. having someone rewrite or add material to your work while “editing”.
3. Lending your work to a classmate who submits it as his/her own without your permission.

• In tests and exams:

1. Using or possessing any unauthorized aid, including a cell phone.
2. Looking at someone else’s answers
3. Letting someone else look at your answers.
4. Misrepresenting your identity.
5. Submitting an altered test for re-grading.

Misrepresentation:
• Falsifying or altering any documentation required by the University, including doctor’s notes.
• Falsifying institutional documents or grades.

All instances of academic dishonesty in this course will be reported to the appropriate university authorities
and can be punishable according to the Senate Policy on Academic Honesty.

Access/Disability
York University is committed to principles of respect, inclusion and equality of all persons with disabilities across
campus. The University provides services for students with disabilities (including physical, medical, learning and
psychiatric disabilities) needing accommodation related to teaching and evaluation methods/materials. These
services are made available to students in all Faculties and programs at York University.
Students in need of these services are asked to register with disability services as early as possible to ensure that
appropriate academic accommodation can be provided with advance notice. You are

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encouraged to schedule a time early in the term to meet with each professor to discuss your accommodation needs.
Please note that registering with disabilities services and discussing your needs with your professors is necessary to
avoid any impediment to receiving the necessary academic accommodations to meet your needs.

Additional information is available at the following websites:

Counselling & Disability Services - https://counselling.students.yorku.ca//
Counselling & Disability Services at Glendon - https://www.glendon.yorku.ca/counselling/
York Accessibility Hub - http://accessibilityhub.info.yorku.ca/

Intellectual Property Notice (Recordings of class discussions and lectures)

These course materials are designed for use as part of ANTH 3030 3.0: Discourses of Colonialism course at York
University and are the intellectual property of the professor unless otherwise stated. Third party copyrighted
materials (such as book chapters, journal articles, music, videos, etc.) have either been licensed for use in this course
or fall under an exception or limitation in Canadian Copyright law.

*Students must obtain permission from the course instructor to record class proceedings/lectures and they must not be
duplicated, copied and/or distributed outside of class (these acts can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA).
**Copying course material for distribution (e.g. uploading material to a commercial third-party website) may lead to a
charge of misconduct under York’s Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities and the Senate Policy on Academic
Honesty and/or legal consequences for violation of copyright law if copyright law has been violated.**

Religious Observance Accommodation

York University is committed to respecting the religious beliefs and practices of all members of the community, and
making accommodations for observances of special significance to adherents. Should any of the dates specified in
this syllabus for an in-class test or examination pose such a conflict for you, contact the Course Director within the
first three weeks of class. Similarly, should an assignment to be completed in a lab, practicum placement, workshop,
etc., scheduled later in the term pose such a conflict, contact the Course director immediately. Please note that to
arrange an alternative date or time for an examination scheduled in the formal examination periods (December
and April/May), students must complete an Examination Accommodation Form, which can be obtained from Student
Client Services, Student Services Centre or online at http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/pdf/exam_accommodation.pdf

Student Conduct in Academic Situations

Students and instructors are expected to maintain a professional relationship characterized by courtesy and mutual
respect. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the instructor to maintain an appropriate academic atmosphere in the
classroom and other academic settings, and the responsibility of the student to cooperate in that endeavour. Have
you read the syllabus until this point? Congratulations! Email your professor an Easter egg meme before the start of
our lecture on January 19 to receive a bonus participation mark. Please continue to read important information on
student conduct. Further, the instructor is the best person to decide, in the first instance, whether such an atmosphere
is present in the class. The policy and procedures governing disruptive and/or harassing behaviour by students in
academic situations is available at - http://secretariat-policies.info.yorku.ca/policies/disruptive- andor-harassing-
behaviour-in-academic-situations-senate-policy/

Turnitin
To promote academic integrity in this course, students will be normally required to submit their written assignments
to Turnitin (via the course eClass) for a review of textual similarity and the detection of possible plagiarism. In so
doing, students will allow their material to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database,
where they will be used only for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University’s use
of the Turnitin service are described on the Turnitin.com website.

In addition to above course policies, please familiarize yourself with the following:

• Student Rights & Responsibilities

• Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities

Available resources to support research and citation:

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 • SPARK Student Papers & Academic Research Kit
• Chicago Style Overview, YorkU Libraries
• MLA Style Overview, YorkU Libraries
• APA Style Overview, YorkU Libraries
• Drop-in Research Support, YorkU Libraries
• Writing Centre

A Word on Course Content

As we work towards our learning objectives in this course, you may find some readings and other materials
to be intellectually and emotionally challenging. You may sometimes be out of your comfort zone. Each
student must take responsibility for their conduct towards themselves and others. Please read titles,
abstracts and introductions of articles, chapters, and books carefully before launching into them.

For Syllabus, Assignments and Other Materials, See

https://eclass.yorku.ca/course/view.php?id=82182

Schedule of Readings and Activities

All Readings will be available on eclass.

Capitalism, Global Political Economy, and Colonialism

September 7th Introductions.
Please read the course outline and presentation guidelines carefully.

September 14th Eric Wolf, 1986, Europe and People Without History. Chps. 1, 3.

September 21st Carl A. Trocki, 1999, Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of
the Asian Opium Trade 1750-1950. Introduction & Chp. 3. (Online, Scott. Lib.)

September 28th Carl A. Trocki, 1999, Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of
the Asian Opium Trade 1750-1950. Chps. 4 & 5 (Online, Scott. Lib.)

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 Film: ‘From Opium Wars to Opioid Crisis, Amitav Ghosh Tells Us How the Poppy
Made and Unmade West and East’.

October 5th Sidney Mintz, 1986, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History.
Introduction, Chp.2. (Online, Scott. Lib.)

October 12th Reading Week

October 19th Sidney Mintz, 1986, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History.
Chps. 3, 4. (Online, Scott. Lib.)

October 26th Arjun Appadurai, 1996, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Chps. 1, 6. (Online, Scott. Lib.)

Film: ‘How Does Colonialism Shape the World We Live in?’ Al-Jazeera, The Stream.

Culture, Class, and Colonialism

November 2nd Davis W. 1989. ‘Buddhism and the modernization of Japan’. History of Religions
28(4): 304-339.

Charles F. Keys, 1996, ‘Being Protestant Christians in Southeast Asian World’, Journal
of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2. pp. 280-292.

November 9th Arjun Appadurai, 1996, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Chps. 5 & 9. (Online, Scott. Lib.)

November 16th Arjun Appadurai, 1996, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Chp. 7.
(Online, Scott. Lib.)
Ijaz Ahmad, 2000, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures. London: Verso. Chp. 2.
Film: TBD

November 23rd The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Classes in the Age of Empire, 2019,
Christof Dejung, David Motadel, and Jürgen Osterhammel. (Online, Scott. Lib.).
Chps. 2, 5.

November 30th The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Classes in the Age of Empire, 2019,
Christof Dejung, David Motadel, and Jürgen Osterhammel.
(Online, Scott. Lib.) Chps. 6, 8.

WINTER TERM
Colonialism, Race, and Land
January 11th Neeladri Bhattacharya, 2019, The Great Agrarian Conquest: The Colonial
Reshaping of a Rural World. ‘Introduction’ and ‘Part I: Governing the Rural’.
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January 18th Nancy Rose Hunt, 2016, A Nervous State: Violence, Remedies, and Reverie in
Colonial Congo. Duke University Press. Introduction, Chp. 3.

Film: TBD

January 25th Eve Troutt Powell, 2023, A Different Shade of Colonialism: Egypt, Great Britain, and the
Mastery of the Sudan. (Online, Scott. Lib.) Introduction and Chp.1.

February 1st Eve Troutt Powell, 2023, A Different Shade of Colonialism: Egypt, Great Britain, and
the Mastery of the Sudan. (Online, Scott. Lib.) Chps. 4, 5.

Self and the ‘Others’

February 8th Benedict Anderson, 1983, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and
Spread of Nationalism. (Online, Scott. Lib.) Introduction – Chp.3.

February 15th Partha Chatterjjee, 1993, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial
Histories. (Online, Scott. Lib.) Chps. 1, 2.
Film: TBD

February 22nd Reading Week

February 29th Mahmood Mamdani, 1996, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the
Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Introduction, Chp. 3.
(Online, Scott. Lib.)

Final Research Paper Topic and Literature Review Due.

March 7th TBD

March 14th Hagar Kotef, 2020, The Colonizing Self: Or, Home and Homelessness in Israel/Palestine.
Durham Duke University Press. Introduction, Chp.

Film: TBD

March 21st Hagar Kotef, 2020, The Colonizing Self: Or, Home and Homelessness in
Israel/Palestine. Durham Duke University Press. Chps.

Development and Underdevelopment

March 28th Artauro Escobar, 2011, “The Problematization of Poverty: The Tale of Three
Worlds and Development,” In Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the
Third World. (Online, Scott. Lib.) Chp. 2.

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 Samir Amin, 1974, ‘Accumulation and Development: A Theoretical Model’
Review of African Political Economy, No. 1, pp. 9-26.

April 4th Final Research Paper Due