Summaries literature
7332C004AY: Globalizing cultures (2024/2025)
Week 1: Introduction
1.1 Time, sugar and sweetness ~ Mintz_________________________________________ 3
1.2 Globalization I: Liquids, flows, and structures ~ Ritzer___________________________ 5
Week 2: When and why does globalization lead to convergence?
2.1 Imperial screens: The illusion of cosmopolitanism in the Netflix documentary genre ~
Enzerink________________________________________________________________ 10
2.2 Expanding world culture: Pentecostalism as global movement ~ Lechner & Boli______13
2.3 Global cultures and cultural flows ~ Ritzer___________________________________ 16
Week 3: What happens when cultures mix?
3.1 Studying at the source: Ashtanga yoga tourism and the search for authenticity in Mysore,
India ~ Maddox___________________________________________________________ 21
3.2 Global culture and cultural flows ~ Ritzer____________________________________ 26
3.3 Transnationalism, localization and fast foods in East Asia ~ Watson_______________ 30
Week 4: Understanding globalization through colonial, anti-colonial and
indigenous discourses
4.1 Discourse on colonialism ~ Cesaire________________________________________ 35
4.2 Precipitating evaporation (on racial Europeanization) ~ Goldberg_________________ 37
4.3 Memorializing colonial power: The death of Frank Paul ~ Razack_________________ 41
Week 5: Globalizing progressive values and manufacturing global
enemies
5.1 Epilogue, queer lovers and hateful others ~ Haritaworn_________________________ 46
5.2 Diplomacy and transnational LGBTI rights ~ Lalor_____________________________ 49
5.3 Rethinking homonationalism ~ Puar________________________________________ 52
Week 6: Contemporary movements: Globalizing resistance to
oppression, discrimination, and violence
6.1 The SlutWalk movement ~ Carr___________________________________________ 55
6.2 Global black lives matter ~ Gaines_________________________________________ 58
6.3 Metoo has the sisterhood finally become global ~ Ghadery______________________ 60
1
, Week 1: Introduction
Mintz and Ritzer
1.1 Time, sugar and sweetness ~ Mintz_______________________________________ 3
1.1.1 Overview_________________________________________________________ 3
1.1.2 Comprehensive summary____________________________________________ 3
1.1.3 Connection to globalization___________________________________________ 4
1.2 Globalization I: Liquids, flows, and structures ~ Ritzer_______________________ 5
1.2.1 Overview_________________________________________________________ 5
1.2.2 Comprehensive summary____________________________________________ 5
2
,1.1 Time, sugar and sweetness ~ Mintz
1.1.1 Overview
Sidney Mintz explores how sugar evolved from a luxury to a staple in European diets,
particularly in Britain, and uses it to examine broader themes of capitalism, colonialism, and
globalization. He shows how sugar’s rise was tied to the Atlantic slave trade, plantation
economies, and the industrial working class. As sugar became widely consumed, especially
with tea and jam, it reshaped social habits, diets, and labor patterns. Mintz argues that to
understand what sugar meant to people, we must connect how it was produced (often
through exploitation) to how it was consumed (as a symbol of comfort and modern life).
1.1.2 Comprehensive summary
Introduction
Sidney Mintz’s work repositions food, particularly sugar, as a critical lens through which to
understand broader social, cultural, and historical dynamics. Traditionally, anthropology
studied food in exotic or taboo contexts, like cannibalism or dietary taboos, but more
recently, food has been examined as a central component of everyday life, especially among
marginalized populations such as women, laborers, and enslaved people. Food is not merely
sustenance; it forms a system of meanings: communicative, cultural, and symbolic.
History of sugar
Sugar serves as a prime example of how a single commodity can reflect global
transformations. Initially cultivated in South and Southeast Asia, sugar entered the
Mediterranean world by the 8th century AD. It was once a luxury good and medicinal
substance for elites, but over time, especially through colonial expansion and
industrialization, it became a staple of the European, and particularly British, diet.
The sharp increase in British sugar consumption between 1663 and 1775 far exceeded
population growth, highlighting sugar’s shift from luxury to necessity. This shift mirrored
broader societal changes, including changes in class structure, labor, and consumption.
Sugar and colonialism
Sugar’s meteoric rise was fueled by colonialism and enslaved labor. Caribbean plantations,
worked by enslaved Africans, supplied European markets, particularly the metropolis of
Britain. Mintz situates sugar among several “tropical drug foods” like tea, coffee, tobacco,
and rum: products that sustained the rhythms of industrial and urban life by providing cheap
energy and brief moments of pleasure and escape.
Sugar’s production also reflects primitive accumulation: a process described in Marxist
theory where producers are forcibly separated from their means of production, creating a
dependent labor force and enabling the accumulation of capital. The brutal systems that
underpinned sugar production were central to the rise of capitalist economies in Europe.
Sweetness and symbolism
While sugar’s caloric value made it useful, Mintz emphasizes its symbolic and ritualized
roles. Ritualization refers to how actions or behaviors (such as serving sweet tea or
3
, celebratory cakes) become patterned and socially meaningful. Sweetness is globally
associated with affection, joy, and festivity. Although there may be biological roots to our
preference for sweet tastes, cultural context shapes how sweetness is experienced and
understood.
Sugar’s versatility enhanced its significance: it preserved food, enhanced flavor, acted as a
medicine, and provided quick energy. It displaced honey and enabled new culinary practices,
especially among Britain’s working class, whose diets transformed with industrialization.
Industrialization
With industrial capitalism came major dietary shifts. As people moved into cities and worked
longer hours, home-cooked meals declined. Instead, they consumed quick, energy-dense
foods like sweetened tea and jam: often their only affordable source of calories. Sugar
became central to working-class survival under industrial conditions.
The spread of sugar consumption from elites to the working classes illustrates how tastes
and desires are not just passively imitated but constructed through socio-economic systems
and cultural messaging. Advertising and social norms helped democratize sugar
consumption, but Mintz cautions against oversimplifying this as mere emulation. It’s part of
deeper shifts in how capitalism organizes demand and desire.
Meaning and anthropology
Mintz insists that anthropological analysis must link production and consumption. The
meaning of sugar in Britain, as a symbol of comfort or celebration, was disconnected from
the brutal reality of its production by enslaved workers in colonies. Understanding sugar’s
significance requires attention to its global, historical, and material conditions.
Finally, Mintz critiques traditional anthropology for treating cultural meanings as static.
Instead, he calls for a historical and materialist anthropology that sees meanings as
dynamic, shaped by capitalism, colonialism, and historical change. Sugar is not just sweet: it
is a politically and historically charged substance.
1.1.3 Connection to globalization
Mintz uses sugar to illustrate early globalization: how one commodity connected distant parts
of the world through labor, trade, and culture. It was grown in colonies (like the Caribbean)
by enslaved Africans, then sold in European markets. This system laid the groundwork for a
global capitalist economy. Sugar’s mass production relied on the transatlantic slave trade,
showing how global labor systems were built on exploitation and racial hierarchy. It became,
along with tea and coffee, part of everyday life across Europe. These “drug foods” helped
standardize taste and daily habits globally. A rising demand in Europe fueled global
production and trade networks, making sugar one of the first global consumer goods.
European consumers rarely saw the suffering behind their sugar. This distance (economic,
geographic, and moral) is a key feature of globalization that Mintz critiques.
4
7332C004AY: Globalizing cultures (2024/2025)
Week 1: Introduction
1.1 Time, sugar and sweetness ~ Mintz_________________________________________ 3
1.2 Globalization I: Liquids, flows, and structures ~ Ritzer___________________________ 5
Week 2: When and why does globalization lead to convergence?
2.1 Imperial screens: The illusion of cosmopolitanism in the Netflix documentary genre ~
Enzerink________________________________________________________________ 10
2.2 Expanding world culture: Pentecostalism as global movement ~ Lechner & Boli______13
2.3 Global cultures and cultural flows ~ Ritzer___________________________________ 16
Week 3: What happens when cultures mix?
3.1 Studying at the source: Ashtanga yoga tourism and the search for authenticity in Mysore,
India ~ Maddox___________________________________________________________ 21
3.2 Global culture and cultural flows ~ Ritzer____________________________________ 26
3.3 Transnationalism, localization and fast foods in East Asia ~ Watson_______________ 30
Week 4: Understanding globalization through colonial, anti-colonial and
indigenous discourses
4.1 Discourse on colonialism ~ Cesaire________________________________________ 35
4.2 Precipitating evaporation (on racial Europeanization) ~ Goldberg_________________ 37
4.3 Memorializing colonial power: The death of Frank Paul ~ Razack_________________ 41
Week 5: Globalizing progressive values and manufacturing global
enemies
5.1 Epilogue, queer lovers and hateful others ~ Haritaworn_________________________ 46
5.2 Diplomacy and transnational LGBTI rights ~ Lalor_____________________________ 49
5.3 Rethinking homonationalism ~ Puar________________________________________ 52
Week 6: Contemporary movements: Globalizing resistance to
oppression, discrimination, and violence
6.1 The SlutWalk movement ~ Carr___________________________________________ 55
6.2 Global black lives matter ~ Gaines_________________________________________ 58
6.3 Metoo has the sisterhood finally become global ~ Ghadery______________________ 60
1
, Week 1: Introduction
Mintz and Ritzer
1.1 Time, sugar and sweetness ~ Mintz_______________________________________ 3
1.1.1 Overview_________________________________________________________ 3
1.1.2 Comprehensive summary____________________________________________ 3
1.1.3 Connection to globalization___________________________________________ 4
1.2 Globalization I: Liquids, flows, and structures ~ Ritzer_______________________ 5
1.2.1 Overview_________________________________________________________ 5
1.2.2 Comprehensive summary____________________________________________ 5
2
,1.1 Time, sugar and sweetness ~ Mintz
1.1.1 Overview
Sidney Mintz explores how sugar evolved from a luxury to a staple in European diets,
particularly in Britain, and uses it to examine broader themes of capitalism, colonialism, and
globalization. He shows how sugar’s rise was tied to the Atlantic slave trade, plantation
economies, and the industrial working class. As sugar became widely consumed, especially
with tea and jam, it reshaped social habits, diets, and labor patterns. Mintz argues that to
understand what sugar meant to people, we must connect how it was produced (often
through exploitation) to how it was consumed (as a symbol of comfort and modern life).
1.1.2 Comprehensive summary
Introduction
Sidney Mintz’s work repositions food, particularly sugar, as a critical lens through which to
understand broader social, cultural, and historical dynamics. Traditionally, anthropology
studied food in exotic or taboo contexts, like cannibalism or dietary taboos, but more
recently, food has been examined as a central component of everyday life, especially among
marginalized populations such as women, laborers, and enslaved people. Food is not merely
sustenance; it forms a system of meanings: communicative, cultural, and symbolic.
History of sugar
Sugar serves as a prime example of how a single commodity can reflect global
transformations. Initially cultivated in South and Southeast Asia, sugar entered the
Mediterranean world by the 8th century AD. It was once a luxury good and medicinal
substance for elites, but over time, especially through colonial expansion and
industrialization, it became a staple of the European, and particularly British, diet.
The sharp increase in British sugar consumption between 1663 and 1775 far exceeded
population growth, highlighting sugar’s shift from luxury to necessity. This shift mirrored
broader societal changes, including changes in class structure, labor, and consumption.
Sugar and colonialism
Sugar’s meteoric rise was fueled by colonialism and enslaved labor. Caribbean plantations,
worked by enslaved Africans, supplied European markets, particularly the metropolis of
Britain. Mintz situates sugar among several “tropical drug foods” like tea, coffee, tobacco,
and rum: products that sustained the rhythms of industrial and urban life by providing cheap
energy and brief moments of pleasure and escape.
Sugar’s production also reflects primitive accumulation: a process described in Marxist
theory where producers are forcibly separated from their means of production, creating a
dependent labor force and enabling the accumulation of capital. The brutal systems that
underpinned sugar production were central to the rise of capitalist economies in Europe.
Sweetness and symbolism
While sugar’s caloric value made it useful, Mintz emphasizes its symbolic and ritualized
roles. Ritualization refers to how actions or behaviors (such as serving sweet tea or
3
, celebratory cakes) become patterned and socially meaningful. Sweetness is globally
associated with affection, joy, and festivity. Although there may be biological roots to our
preference for sweet tastes, cultural context shapes how sweetness is experienced and
understood.
Sugar’s versatility enhanced its significance: it preserved food, enhanced flavor, acted as a
medicine, and provided quick energy. It displaced honey and enabled new culinary practices,
especially among Britain’s working class, whose diets transformed with industrialization.
Industrialization
With industrial capitalism came major dietary shifts. As people moved into cities and worked
longer hours, home-cooked meals declined. Instead, they consumed quick, energy-dense
foods like sweetened tea and jam: often their only affordable source of calories. Sugar
became central to working-class survival under industrial conditions.
The spread of sugar consumption from elites to the working classes illustrates how tastes
and desires are not just passively imitated but constructed through socio-economic systems
and cultural messaging. Advertising and social norms helped democratize sugar
consumption, but Mintz cautions against oversimplifying this as mere emulation. It’s part of
deeper shifts in how capitalism organizes demand and desire.
Meaning and anthropology
Mintz insists that anthropological analysis must link production and consumption. The
meaning of sugar in Britain, as a symbol of comfort or celebration, was disconnected from
the brutal reality of its production by enslaved workers in colonies. Understanding sugar’s
significance requires attention to its global, historical, and material conditions.
Finally, Mintz critiques traditional anthropology for treating cultural meanings as static.
Instead, he calls for a historical and materialist anthropology that sees meanings as
dynamic, shaped by capitalism, colonialism, and historical change. Sugar is not just sweet: it
is a politically and historically charged substance.
1.1.3 Connection to globalization
Mintz uses sugar to illustrate early globalization: how one commodity connected distant parts
of the world through labor, trade, and culture. It was grown in colonies (like the Caribbean)
by enslaved Africans, then sold in European markets. This system laid the groundwork for a
global capitalist economy. Sugar’s mass production relied on the transatlantic slave trade,
showing how global labor systems were built on exploitation and racial hierarchy. It became,
along with tea and coffee, part of everyday life across Europe. These “drug foods” helped
standardize taste and daily habits globally. A rising demand in Europe fueled global
production and trade networks, making sugar one of the first global consumer goods.
European consumers rarely saw the suffering behind their sugar. This distance (economic,
geographic, and moral) is a key feature of globalization that Mintz critiques.
4
