Course Description

The term globalization refers to the increased interpenetration of international economic, legal, social, and cultural systems. With the aid of faster and better technologies of communication and transportation, people, money, goods, images, and ideas now circulate around the world at lightening speed, changing our perceptions about space, place, and identity. If you play poker on the internet, your opponent may "feel"like she occupies the same room with you though she may actually be located in China or India or Australia. Communication systems, like telephones, satellites, and computer networks, overcome geographic barriers to social exchanges of all types. Our national boundaries no longer feel as well-defined, as thousands upon thousands of border crossings like this occur every day. As our sense of temporal co-presence with others in the world eclipses our sense of geographical rootedness, what happens to our notions of collective identity? What defines "America" in such a context? Is "America"a place or a set of free-floating values and beliefs? Is it the property of citizens of the United States alone, or has the global circulation of American culture opened the term up to new users? Can the US control the uses people in the world make of our national images, ideas, and ideals? How must we begin to think about culture and society differently in the age of globalization? These are the questions we will tackle in this course. Assessment for the course will consist of two exams, a series of responses to course readings, and a research project related to course topics. 

Required Texts

Reinhold Wagnleitner and Elaine Tyler May, eds. Here, There, and Everywhere: The Foreign Politics of American Popular Culture

Patrick Neate, Where You're At: Notes From the Frontlines of a Hip Hop Planet

A selection of readings available in the "Course Materials"folder of Blackboard. These will be marked with an asterisk in the schedule of readings.

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Course Policies and Requirements

Attendance and Participation: Students are expected to attend every class and participate actively in class discussions, both real and virtual. I want to be able to remember each and every one of you from something you have said in class, office hours, e-mail, or on-line that makes a constructive contribution to the class. 

Excessive absence may result in a failing grade for the course. Absences will be excused only for dire illness and family emergency, both of which must be substantiated by documentation (a Dr's note, a funeral notice, etc.). If you accumulate more than one unexcused absence, you forfeit the right to earn extra-credit points.

Active participation means:

• You will have read the materials and completed any writing assignments, including on-line assignments, before you arrive in class.
• You will bring the day's reading materials with you to class so that you may refer to them.
• You will engage with and respond to your peers during both large and small group discussions and during on-line assignments.
• You will listen attentively to every speaker and respond respectfully to the ideas of others.
• You will exhibit a deliberate effort to apply, extend, and challenge concepts that we generate in class. 
• You will demonstrate your curiosity and willingness to ask questions, advance comparisons, and make observations.

On-Line Discussion Postings: Over the 15 weeks of this course, you must post 10 brief responses to comprehension questions about the assigned readings. You may decide which 10 assignments to respond to out of the 15 available, but you may submit only one response per week. The questions will be posted in the "DISCUSSION BOARD" section of the Blackboard (http://blackboard.okstate.edu), and your responses should also be posted there (do not email them to me or submit them in hard copy). These assignments will always be due before you come to class. There will be no late postings accepted. Each assignment will be worth ten points, and together they will comprise 10% of your course grade. These are easy points so don't forget about them! Students with excellent attendance (1 absence or less) may earn up to 20 extra credit points by posting two additional messages (though you still may submit only one response per week).

Research Project: The assignment will be worth 300 points, and will comprise 30% of your course grade. You will select a topic related to either the global export of US culture or the US import of cultural products/ideas from other nations. You will be asked to analyze this topic in relation to particular questions outlined on the assignment sheet. The final product may be in the form of an essay or a website (if you have web-building skills and access to the technology). See the Assignments Folder for full details and the schedule for due dates.

Exams: There will be one mid-term and one final exam in this class. The exams will consist of identifications, short-answer responses, and/or essay questions and will cover the course readings, lectures, and discussions in equal measure. Check the course schedule to determine the exam dates. There will be a study guide offered for each exam; it behooves you to use these. Make-up exams will be given only in cases of documented emergency and only if I am notified of said emergency well before the scheduled date and time of the exam. If you contact me after you miss an exam, I will be unable to help you, and you will receive a grade of zero. The exams will be worth 300 points each, and together will comprise 60% of your course grade.

Extra Credit: Those of you who maintain excellent attendance (1 or fewer absences) will have the opportunity to earn Extra Credit points for up to (but not exceeding) TWO show and tell performances in class. Bring in an object, text, or experience of global cultural exchange or interaction and explain its history and significance in relation to our course topics for ten points of extra credit. For example, you might bring in and share a clip from a Hong Kong action film on the day we are discussing the appropriation of Asian cultures in the US. You would want to show the clip, discuss its production history or a little information about Hong Kong cinema, and connect the clip to a concept we are using in class (like "appropriation" or "hybridity" or "traveling cultures"). The performance must be brief (no more than 5 minutes), and it must have a point. Performances that do not critically analyze or contextualize the object, text, or experience will not receive any credit (i.e. you must do more than "show;" you must also "tell" us why this matters or how it relates to our class discussions). You may do these at any time, but I urge you to consult the Schedule of Readings and introduce your "Show-and-Tell" piece when it is most relevant to the day's discussion topic. In addition to these Show and Tell performances, those with excellent attendance may post up to (but not exceeding) two additional discussion postings (see "Discussion Postings" description for details). That would make a total of 40 additional points for those who choose to pursue them.

Academic Honesty: All work you turn in for this class must be your own work. Unintentional, or accidental, plagiarism due to faulty citations or improper use of sources will result in (a) a course of remediation designed to correct problems with your use of source materials at the drafting phase and (b) a failing grade for the assignment (if the problems persist). Intentional plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the course and possible referral to the Dean's office for disciplinary action. Consult OSU's Code of Student Conduct for more information on Academic Misconduct.

Special Needs and Disabilities: Please feel free to contact me with any special needs that you may have related to a physical or mental disability; I'll be happy to work with you to accommodate your needs. NOTE: If you have a disability, physical or otherwise, you must register with the appropriate liaison in the Student Services Center, North Hall.

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Grading:

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Course Schedule

• Do all assigned reading before you come to class and be prepared to discuss with questions or comments in mind.
• Selections starred with an asterisk can be found in the "Course Materials"folder of Blackboard.

Weeks 1-3 | Weeks 4-5 | Weeks 6-9 | Weeks 10-12 | Weeks 13-16

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