Hi all, At the suggestion of a colleague in the English Department, I foolishly agreed earlier this year to develop a new course for our embryonic Sustainability Studies minor, "The Global Politics of Everyday Things." The basic idea is to present the students with innocuous items that they use every day, and then to trace the commodity chains backwards and forwards to illustrate various aspects of global politics, such as human/children's/women's/labor rights, trade and outsourcing, violent conflict, property rights, environmental protection, functional cooperation, etc. I doubt that there is any aspect of international relations that cannot be approached in this way. Now I only have to prep the course, which brings me to you!
Questions: (1) Have any of you ever taught a course along these lines, and if so could you share your syllabus and lessons learned? (2) Do any of you know of good websites where my students (and their instructor) could trace the commodity chains of multiple products? (3) Any suggestions for really surprising "everyday things"--that is, items that no one would ever associate with global politics, but which in fact have quite striking connections? Many thanks! I will certainly share the syllabus when I'm ready to roll. Best, Rob Associate Professor of Political Science Associate Director of the Honors Program University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
