1. ASIA SEMINAR:
The Asia section examines globalisation as a regional, uneven, and socially embedded process. Drawing on Shannon K. O’Neil’s The Globalization Myth (2022), Joe Studwell’s How Asia Works (2013), and Rhacel Salazar Parreñas’s Servants of Globalization (2015), the block analyses Asia through three interconnected lenses: regionalisation, developmental transformation, and labour migration. O’Neil shows that globalisation does not erase regions, but often deepens regional economic integration. Studwell explains why some Asian economies were able to use global markets for industrialisation, while others experienced more limited or uneven development. Parreñas shows that globalisation is not only about trade, investment, and states, but also about migrant workers, gendered labour, care chains, and unequal mobility.
2. LATIN AMERICA SEMINAR:
Globalisation is often presented as an economic process driven by markets, trade, and technological integration. Latin America offers a different perspective. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the region became a site where competing projects of political modernity were tested: mass incorporation through populism, authoritarian modernisation, negotiated democratisation, participatory institutions, constitutional innovation, and, more recently, new forms of democratic backlash. Rather than asking whether Latin America adapted to globalisation, this seminar explores how the region repeatedly generated political responses to global transformations.
3. AFRICA SEMINAR:
Pre-colonial Africa, African Empires, and the Beginnings of Colonialism (13th–19th centuries)
Colonialism and the Emergence of African Political Elites (1880–1945)
African Nationalism and Independence Struggles (1945–1960)
Pan-Africanism and Continental Building: From the OAU to African Currents (1960–1975)
African Socialisms and Liberation Struggles (1960–1985)
African Crisis, Debt, and Neoliberalism (1980–2000)
African Thought, Postcolonialism, and Cultural Critique (1960–present)
The final grade will be calculated as follows:
* Final examination: 50%
* Attendance and active participation: 15%
* Global Week activities: 5%
* Africa Seminar activity: 10%
* Asia Seminar activity: 10%
* Latin America Seminar activity: 10%
The final examination will assess the student’s understanding of the theoretical and conceptual contents of the course. Continuous assessment activities will evaluate participation, critical engagement, and the ability to apply course concepts through the different seminars and academic activities.
Where the teaching staff has doubts about the authorship of any assessed work, the student may be called to attend an in-person or synchronous interview (which may be recorded), in order to verify their knowledge and competences and confirm the authorship of the work. If authorship cannot be confirmed, the assessment will receive a failing grade.
Criteris específics de la nota «No Presentat»:
Students who do not sit the final examination will receive the grade absent (“Not Presented” (NP)), regardless of the marks obtained in the continuous assessment activities.
Avaluació única:
Single Final Exam (100%)
Requisits mínims per aprovar:
To pass the course, students must obtain an overall final grade of at least 5.0/10.
Continuous assessment activities contribute to the final grade but are not individually subject to a minimum passing mark unless otherwise specified during the course.
Tutorials are intended to support students throughout the course by providing academic guidance on course content, assessment activities, and learning strategies. Students may request individual or group tutorials during the lecturer’s scheduled office hours or by prior appointment.
Communication with students will take place primarily through the University’s official Virtual Learning Environment and institutional email. Course materials, announcements, assessment information, and feedback will be made available through these channels. Students are expected to check these communication platforms regularly and to actively participate in class discussions and learning activities.