Last class we only had a chance to watch one of the videos I had planned to watch during our discussion of the globalization, hip hop, and the politics of resistance. (I would say it was unfortunate we only watched one video, but the reason was discussion was lively enough we didn’t have time, which is a good thing!). We did watch the Queen Latifah video “Ladies First”, which is discussed in the Kelley reading, and is posted on the weekly schedule page. Here are the other videos and clips I was planning on showing, as well as a could suggestions from students in class:

– A Way of life (by Industry #1) – A story of hip hop globalization
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A07y03t-pJ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a471cR-QAng

– Grandmaster Flash – The Message, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4o8TeqKhgY

– Lupe Fiasco – Words I never said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22l1sf5JZD0

– MIA – Bad Girls, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uYs0gJD-LE

I’ve had some of you ask my about my readings response numbering system that I use for the “my grades” section on Blackboard. I have simply sequentially numbered the 21 possible readings responses, with the date they were due listed after the number. So, for example, “RR 15, Nov 5” is the 15th readings response, which was due on November 5th. If you look at the course schedule, you’ll see this was the first part of Dave Zirin’s book.

I’ve also made up a reference list of the RR#, the due date, and the associated readings. You can access it here or also on the course documents page of this website.

TED talk by Chrystia Freeland on ” The rise of the of the new global super-rich:

“Piers Morgan on …” episode on the luxury life of Dubai

Here is the CNN report on the 2022 Qatar World Cup that a couple people mentioned in class:

An article about the recent re-election of Brazilian president Rousseff. As discussed in class, she is from the left leaning Worker’s Party, which took a lot of criticism from it’s supporters during the World Cup  – http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/26/dilma-rousseff-brazil.html

An article about the militarization of the police in Brazil during the World Cup, which makes an interesting argument about exporting the “Gaza Security Model” – http://socialistworker.org/2014/07/07/exporting-gaza-to-the-favelas

Images of graffiti street art in Brazil that is critical of the World Cup – http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/27/football/gallery/brazil-graffiti-world-cup/

Images from protests outside of the stadiums during the Brazilian World Cup – http://upsidedownworld.org/main/brazil-archives-63/4916-qworld-cup-for-whoq-photo-report-from-outside-the-stadiums

Information about students who are asking for transparency about corporate money coming into GMU, including lots of Koch Brothers money – http://www.wearepowershift.org/blogs/gmu-students-question-koch-funding

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Student Debt – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8pjd1QEA0c

A social democratic view of student debt, and it’s connection to larger systems of neoliberal capitalism – https://www.jacobinmag.com/2012/12/the-soul-of-student-debt/

A series of striking images taken along the border are here – http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/on-the-border/100510/

An article about the song we listened to in class called “La Bestia” (translation “The Beast”). It’s a song commissioned by the U.S. government to try to discourage Central Americans from taking the train (a.k.a. “La Bestia”) through Mexico to the U.S. border – http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/12/how-the-government-is-using-subliminal-songs-to-scare-central-american-immigrants.html

A series of images of retablos, or the devotional painting done by Mexican migrants to express gratitude for what they see as divine intervention that helped them across the border. The Camacho article opens with a discussion of one of these retablos – http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/mexico/retablos.html

Three excellent Vice Guide videos about the U.S. Mexico border.
1) Undocumented and Underage: The Crisis of Migrant Children – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVHqV0ibCWI
2) Mexico’s Immigrant Oasis: Last Stop Before the Border – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB_66Z7G7_Y
3) Illegal Border Crossing Park (where tourists can “play migrant” by pretending to experience the dangers of crossing the border) – http://www.vice.com/video/illegal-border-crossing-park

Here are a few video clips I was going to show in class during our slum tourism discussion, but didn’t get a chance. If you are interested in this topic, take a look.

A brief video Bloonberg News story about tourism in Rio Favelas – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P_3atNAPDM

We viewed the website of the Emoya Hotel and Spa in South Africa in class and their fake “Shantytown” accommodations. You can view a video of the hotel here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5vhgHbr0e0

The British news show Fast Track did a segment on the ethical issues of slum tourism a couple years ago. What’s especially interesting is that they talk about it in both the British context and in “developing” countries. And they talk to a homeless British woman who makes her living off of giving tour of a poor area of London. The video is here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVOd3ua_v8 . The segment runs from about 1:10 to 9:05.

Finally, we unfortunately didn’t get to talk in class about “disaster tourism” in New Orleans post-hurricane Katrina, and whether this was a similar or different phenomenon than slum tourism. This is a video from one of the tourism companies that offers a “Katrina tour” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9nHG6Pt50M . So is something similar being offered here as a slum tour in a “developing” country?

Welcome to the course website for CULT 320 Globalization and Culture for Fall 2014. Take a look around a bit to familiarize yourself. The SCHEDULE section is where find the course reading and assignment schedule, listed by week, as well as links to specific readings. COURSE DOCUMENTS is where I’ll post the syllabus, copies of assignments, and other documents that are not readings. ABOUT gives a general description of the course, as well as information about myself, including my office hours and contact information. (You can also find this information on the syllabus.) READINGS QUESTIONS is where I will post questions for you to think about to help guide your reading of specific books and articles.

Looking forward to a great semester!