WTO – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Review of 2018, Part 3 (July–September): The Trade War plus Cold War II

JULY June was a month so heavily saturated with key turning point events, that it seemed like the longest month of the year—but then July came. Already, on the first day, we were treated to a very unusual sight: an obviously chastened and tamed John Bolton, just back from his visit with Vladimir Putin in […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Neoliberalism, Brexit, and Higher Education

Is Brexit bad for UK universities? This appears to be the question at the centre of an article from the Times Higher Education titled “UK researchers face uncertainty over EU grant applications” (David Matthews, June 29, 2016), which was approvingly reprinted in the Bulletin of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (Vol. 63, No. 7, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The World Changed Overnight

The European Union is now to be written as a postscript. Thanks to British voters, who were given an extremely rare chance to have a say on one of the biggest issues affecting their lives, who were allowed a rare vote on the fate of globalization and neoliberal practice, we are treated to the celebration […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Globalization: Beyond Discontent

On Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2003). Globalization and its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. “Today, globalization is being challenged around the world….for millions of people globalization has not worked. Many have actually been made worse off, as they have seen their jobs destroyed and their lives become more insecure. They have felt increasingly powerless […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Wall: A Monument to the Nation-State

Reaction against globalization often takes a visceral nationalist turn in many parts of the globe, no less in the US where the impacts of globalization are increasingly registered as an increased “Third Worldization” of large parts of the society and economy. The nationalist reaction to peripheralization within the centre takes shape in ideas of “taking […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

US Sovereignty and Economic Exceptionalism

The following is an extract from Karine Perron’s chapter, “The International Economic Sovereignty of the United States of America: Integrating the Exception to our Understanding of Empire,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 105-120: Overview: Karine Perron addresses the scope of US capacity to influence and […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Retreat of Globalization? The Possible Impacts on the Future of Anthropology

Before beginning, more than the usual word of caution to readers: added to the usual grain of salt, one should keep in mind that what follows is speculation based on current trends and news, a scratching of the analytical surface that is not intended to pose as a summary derived from an extensive research project. […]