This exam is worth 15% of the final course grade. Please turn in typed answers, no later than the exam date of Monday, April 28, 2008 at 7 p.m. (note that the time is different from our class). Please answer three of the following questions (each question has equal weight), in no more than 500 words per question (include word count). If you answer more than three, I will only grade the first three. You can use the readings for the course (i.e., any of the papers we used in class, or the Appadurai or Steger book), or any other sources that are relevant.
1. Define globalization in the humanities and/or religious studies, and relate your definition to at least 2 of the following. Be sure that you are focusing on the humanities or religious studies aspects in these examples, even though there might be other aspects at work (e.g., political, economic). Be specific as to your definition and sources.
2. Compare one of the papers you presented in class to one that you did not present, on the question of the nature of globalization. Do the two authors define or understand the concept in the same way? Give an outline of what might happen if the two authors were in a debate over the nature and prospects of globalization.
3. The theorists we used at the beginning of the term were Kant and Hegel. Kant gave an account of cosmopolitanism, and Hegel gave an account of development through history. Choose one of these and assess their argument in light of one or more of the readings we did in the course. Are things coming to pass as they suggested they should?
4. Is cultural globalization just another word for Americanization, Westernization, or modernization? Using the readings from the course, answer this question by analyzing an example of your choice that we did not discuss in the class or use on this test, which you find in the newspaper or elsewhere in a current affairs source.
5. Manfred Steger lists five ideological claims about globalization (Steger, 97ff). Choose at least two of these claims. Using the readings from the course, evaluate them. You can agree, disagree, or partially agree with the claims, but you need to use evidence or reasoning from the readings to support your response. Do not use Steger himself as a source for this reasoning (in other words, don’t just paraphrase his response to these questions).