Reflective Essay

“The term globalization can be so broad, it can carry many definitions and can be understood in many different ways. When I begin Anthropology: Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Living I thought I had the term “Globalization” understood and defined. Being a International Studies major, I have studied the concept surrounding its development. However, it wasn’t until I started reading and participating in discussions that I realized it was much more to the term I needed to learn. It was very insightful to learn to identify and understand concepts in readings from an Anthropological perspective. I used to think as humans, ecology, nature, culture, and environment individually. What I mean is, I understood that each of this terms individually can directly affect our environment. However, during the course of the class I learned to see the connections between each other and how the changes between them affect one another. I can honestly say it was difficult to break from the mold I had set to identify the different terms. In the beginning the term human ecology was very elusive to me, I knew that it referred to human an its environment, however I didn’t know how this entail and that culture and nature were a big part of it.

As the class progressed, I found that each reading would take me deeper into the subject. Some of the reads were easy to understand at first glance, others took more than few. But with each reading and the following discussion, I realized that human ecology was a lot more complex that I initially thought. It is not only the study of individuals and their environment, but the relationships they forge with their environment. How the way they live, interact with one another, and with the environment itself leads to the evolution of their society. The reads offered insights into the way anthropology sees the world. My favorite reads always were those which direct their focus on the effects of women inequality and the environmental ramifications of it. Such as the article by Dianne Rocheleou et. al. Gender and the Environment, which I found extremely interesting. The idea that your sex determine your success or failure as well as determines If you will enjoy of limited resources or the sky is the limit. One of the reads I found most challenged was A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century by Donna Haraway although I struggle to decipher the author’s argument, at the end I found it most informative. Haraway argument of male domination over women’s bodies and minds was complicated to understand but I found it to have the most substance.

I decided on presenting an article on the inequalities that industrialized companies have on the environment on Mexico, and expand to include my specialty area which is “Maquiladoras and Gender Inequality” . My thought in regards of my initial assumptions on the topics have actually changed, I am able to think from a different prospective. I believe the way the course is set up helped me to realized that no concept in one dimensional. I have gain more confidence and to open my mind to be able to see the big picture and not fixate in one issue.