Cultural Anthropology- Understanding Globalization

Like so many concepts in anthropology, the issue of globalization both informs and confounds the lives of my students. One quarter I had a very gifted student named Gombu who had studied contexts of globalization in Tibet. For his class project he developed a unique game that illustrated the problems with ‰supply side‰ arguments for globalization. His work included a complex game of exchange in which different social classes competed for markets at the expense of workers. The game was both unique and informative as it offered students a hands-on understanding of the economic disparity associated with globalization.

Visual Anthropology- Polaroid Project

In Strategies in Teaching Anthropology (second edition), I develop a pedagogical technique involving the emerging arena of visual culture; it involves the use of instant cameras. As I offer in the article:

The intent of the assignment is to stress the relationship between cultural content and representational method in anthropology.  In visual anthropology we analyze films as they relate to these two areas.  Recently I began to incorporate more media in our class considerations of visual culture.  In addition to working with the visuality of the World Wide Web, I ask my students to reflect on visual culture as it is manifested in everyday optical devices‰these the tools of what is sometimes called ‰camera culture.‰  The assignment involves the use of instant cameras.  I originally asked my class to purchase Polaroid Pop Shots cameras because I wanted to have consistency in the size and number of photographs as well as the level of photographic control available to the photographer.  Since its original inception, I have allowed students to use other cameras because of the expense of disposable cameras.  The students are asked to mount their photos on paper and, if they so choose, provide captions for the photos.  The captions may include personal statements, statements of informants or quotations from texts.  Regardless of the formal aspects of the assignment, students are requested to use the cameras to document one of the following options: (1) a cultural theme, (2) biography.  Especially when there is a balance of the two options, I ask my students to present their storyboards in class.  The opportunity for all of us to reflect on visual representation in the areas of biography and other cultural themes is invaluable.

As the examples of the final work illustrate, the important insights of visual anthropology can be understood in the context of experimenting with new media that are an intimate part of our students‰ lives. As an anthropologist I would like to develop a critical awareness in my students as it relates to the use of media in our culture. Of the two examples provided, one was an interesting analysis of the role of water in the visual culture of South Lake Tahoe, the other a focus on the visual construction of nature in the same city.