Assignments Page - Spring 2009

"Final" Assignment #6: due class time Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Your assignment is to write a 800 word position piece reflecting upon one of the presentations at the Missouri State University Public Affairs Conference.

1. Select and attend one of the presentations, preferably one having some connection with a topic of global interest. A detailed schedule can be found here.
2. Discuss how the presentation addresses globalization, global studies, and/or the topic of global interest addressed.
3. Discuss how the presentation addresses the Public Affairs Mission of Missouri State University.

"Midterm" Assignment #5: due class time Thor's Day, 02 April 2009

Your assignment (1000 words) is to construct your own daily working definition of globalization. Ideally, this definition will be something you will revisit and refine as you progress through your Global Studies classes and your life as an active, culturally informed citizen.

Scholte's comprehensive definition of globalization, with its daunting erudition and exhaustive analysis, provides an excellent academic reference point. At the same time, its "WTFF" factor renders it but marginally useful as a daily working definition. Your daily working definition should possess these characteristics:

• The barest minimum of unnecessarily sesquipedalian verbiage
• Brief, but clear, examples of what you're talking about
• Hyperlinks to at least ten ScholteSpeak Aarticles: let the Wiki do your footnotes
• A shout out to the University's Public Affairs Mission and how globalization relates to it
• Evidence that you have comprehended (if not necessarily adopted in all of its particulars) Scholte's definition of globalization.

Keep in mind that you are trying to create a sustainable definition, not a peer-reviewed intellectual tour de force.

Your assignment (1000 words) is to envision the current global economic crisis through the eyes of someone who is as little like you as possible. That is, attain the perspective of (apply as many of these as possible) someone from

• a different country
• a different continent
• a different socio-economic background
• a different level of education
• a different religious background
• a different citizenship status

Do not feel obligated to write as someone of the opposite gender, although you are more than welcome to do so. Also, feel free to add additional layers of "difference."

Assignment #3: due class time Tuesday, 10 March 2009

Your assignment (800 words) is to contribute an Aarticle to the Scholte Speak project.

Assignment #2: due class time Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Your assignment (800 words) is to respond to one of the following issues raised by McKibben's Deep Economy. The questions, as phrased, are merely suggestions. If you want to write on something substantially different, please check with me first.

1. McKibben raises the question of More versus Better. How do you see the relationship between More and Better in your own life? How do you think the question of More versus Better works at a global level? How can an indvidual address question of More versus Better in his or her own life?
2. McKibben suggests in "All For One, Or One For All," that hyper-individualism has a negative impact on the Better life. Yet the attainment of individual prosperity (what McKibben terms More) is a key component of the so-called American Dream. Can one be a "productive" citizen and a "good neighbor?"
3. In "The Durable Future," McKibben offers the Indian state of Kerala (see pp. 218-221) as an example of how More and Better could possibly be reconciled. Given your understanding of how the world works, could such a "utopia" take shape in a larger, developed country? And if so, could it be sustainable?

Assignment #1: due class time Thursday, 22 January 2009

Your assignment is to create your own EefyWiki homepage and write a brief essay. Here are the instructions.

1. Log in. Your username is 08xxx, with xxx being your last name. Coleman Zemos's username is 08zemo. Your username also serves as your password, but you are advised to change that after your first login.
2. Create a new page. You will be asked to select a new name for your page: type in your username. Then select the "Home Page Template" and hit "Save."
3. Once you have saved your new page, hit "Edit" and then fill out the personal information. Don't be afraid to play around with the Wiki software. You can always go back to the original version.
4. Now write your first essay. Tell why you are interested in Global Studies, what experiences you have had with Global Studies already, and what you would like to get from GBL 250.