Essay #3 Instructions:

 

Question: How does historicizing globalization change the way we think about it? The goal of the question is to explain how examining the term “globalization” in historical perspective changes how we understand what it means. If you think back to the first module of the course most of what we read from the “pro-globalization” perspective was ahistorical and emphasized how unique globalization is. However, this module’s readings, in contrast, place emphasis on historical similarities to the way we’ve organized the economy for centuries. So, if by looking at globalization through this historical lens we see that globalization is not as new a social formation as we once thought it was, how, instead, do we understand what globalization is?

Certainly, this question is a bit more philosophical than the previous two essay questions which were much more straightforward. Perhaps we can think it through in the Jamaican case. In the documentary film we watched in class on Monday, we saw that Jamaica’s economy was structured for the export market when Jamaica was a British colony. Then, with Jamaica’s colonial independence, the economy was hampered by IMF debt restructuring and US influence within the IMF and WTO. While the film shows us through this one particular case how globalization hampered Jamaica’s economy with great human consequence, this process did not begin with globalization. Globalization was depicted in the film as a deepening of existing structures of the world-economy. So, if that’s the case, then what does this tell us about the concept of globalization?

Hope this helps with the essay question, and please feel free to email me with questions as you are writing. And also keep in mind that in order to get full marks, you must cite at least three readings from Module 3 of the course!