1. Why Warren blame certain US academic disciplines for failed development projects? Elaborate.

Economics, poli sci, theory imagining modernity in the singular: Epistemology of modernity cuts across western thought
culture is categorized as tradition which is oppositional to modernity, so traditional cultures disappear as modernity occurs (IRAQ)
FROM these disciplines people learn to only make their decisions from rational choice, not considering the culture of the place, because that is
how they are taught to do so in those disciplines. Rational choice leads to aculturalism
The neocons assumed US capitalism, political systems could be copied and emulated in Iraq without consideration to local contexts (it will work
because it works here, if it doesnt work we must get rid of traditional culture to make way for modernity).
Instead, those scholars should just focus on America, their cosmopolitan impulse was not helpful to Iraq
Charles Taylor: western thought conceptualizes modernity as a theory of convergence, we are all moving toward ONE modernity
2. Cultural work advance social capital in Brazil? *JW wants us to draw from the reading (applied side of cultural analysis)
No love of nation (idea not emotionally appealing), so no feeling for making it (including poor) good, where ppl lead good lives.
Elites reinforce position of poor by not investing in social capital because the poor are considered evil, lazy, worthy of their societal rank and
standard of living because of biases and discourses that frame their situation (and KEEP them there)
Harmful crime narratives. Laws selectively enforced based on social rank. To our friends everything, to our enemies the law!
Honor codes in brazil must be aligned with the legal/ethical codes, favorism needs to stop, trust between strangers needs to increase
Corruption linked to social capital: lower level of corruption (part of the Brazilian character, considered inevitable, helpless)
then, the (perception is that their) option is to sink or swim, join and be corrupt, or choose to be morally superior and be naive and fail bc you didnt
do anything; 94% of people dont trust strangers, need to increase TRUST
Valuing the local culture, redefining national ideals to have race cognizance
3. How is racism in Mexico, Brazil or the US example of hegemony? how antiracism best be advanced?
In Mexico, Hegemony: social orders are often maintained/reproduced by people embracing, defending or unwittingly reproducing various
discourses, symbols, aesthetics, and identities which lead, in many cases, to their own marginalization. The elite are not manipulating or managing
marginal sectors so much as people are managing themselves.
Antiracism would be best advanced through addressing it: acknowledge existence of heightened white privilege and racial inequality.
Recognize institutional and coded forms of racism. REDEFINE what it means to be Mexican; the government has change the
national ideas of antiracism/racial democracy and antiblackness need to change Race must become an acceptable topic to discuss.
LOTCR: blackness always distanced to another state oh its not black here
4. According to Kwame Appiah, what leads to conflict, what should be the point of global engagement?
According to Kwame Appiah, conflict is caused by differing meanings/interpretations of the same values, rather than from differing values alone.
Idea of habitus: people feel resistant to change, not because you cant convince them logically, but because you cant change their opinion by
listing facts; you must change their EMOTIONS about it queer politics: people can feel ok with it, but still are resistant to change or accepting it
because they are not used to it (Appiah)
Like in Jerusalem, both Jews and Muslims value site of the Second Temple and Dome of the Rock, but argue on meaning and importance of the site.
The point of global engagement (cosmopolitanism) is to understand the global, so that incorrect assumptions are disrupted:
We should learn about people in other places, take an interest in their civilizations, their arguments, their errors, their achievements, not because that
will bring us to agreement, but because it will help us get used to one another. - AGREEMENT NOT REQUIRED
Hard to sustain clichs if you know people personally. If you get to know people instead of making assumptions from afar you empathize
5. The trend expand STEM and deemphasize a liberal arts education. will likely impede economics, innovation. What else is at risk?
And we will never square our moral progress through STEM courses. We will simply have improved means to destroy, enslave, incarcerate,
dehumanize, plunder. It is through a study of literature, the arts, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, theology, in short culture, that we have a
chance of moral and spiritual growth -JW moral progress at risk
Humanities degrees seen as expensive luxuries in todays world, liberal education seen as irrelevant while technical is worthwhile
More perceived economic opportunity and progress with STEM degrees; but tech w/o discussion of ethics wont save us/do us good
question of vision, imagination, values. We assume truth, that we are objective with STEM
STEM work seen as more legitimate/real/pragmatic than soft science/art, is believed to lead to better, more gainful employment, better economy.
6. Taylor: error to presume modernity will convergence. evidenced in Iraq? Democracy effective Brazil?
institutional monocropping encouraged by the WESTs economy
Charles Taylor: western thought conceptualizes modernity as a theory of convergence, we are all moving toward ONE modernity
Western thought was assumed to improve everything it touched. Because a form of modernity imbued with rational choice theory and capitalism
succeeded in the West (to some extent; the West and USA are fraught with problems within this system still), it was assumed to be the solution and
way through which to modernize throughout the world (by westerners accustomed to this system of thought).
There cannot be a convergence or a singular modernity through western thought; it has worked in the west because the culture there is a specific
one, with specific values that Western modernity has been tailored to. Epistemology of modernity cuts across western thought
Different values in Iraq, as the culture is very different in the Middle East, especially in that Islamic nation.
The neocons needed to use their expertise regarding America; their cosmopolitan impulse was not helpful to Iraq, as they did not understand the
way Iraqs culture would relate to Western thought.
assumed US capitalism, political systems could be copied and emulated in Iraq without consideration to local contexts (it will work because it
works here, if it doesnt work we must get rid of traditional culture to make way for modernity).
Democracy came with the idea that metis local values will affect and influence the public policy this didnt happen because of hegemony,
cultural influences on how people vote (voting alone wont work against the monocropping)
This institutional monocropping is the wrong way to go about it; democracy has proven ineffective remedy because even the free market and
elections cant effect positive change if the culture is not conducive to creating social capital Vietnam didnt just copy West, tailored it to itself
7. Paul Farmer: reduce inequalities voice to the poor? Why in ineffective remedy in parts of the world?
This is apt to be an ineffective remedy in many parts of the world because people are not necessarily rational actors, and this assumes they are.
The poor be can complicit in their own marginalization because they will reproduce and perpetuate the popular ideologies (of the wealthy/those
with power in society) because they assume it to be good/it is the *normative* way of society.
In societies in which being rich is equated with being intelligent, good, productive members of society, the poor within those societies will want to
emulate the ideologies of the rich.
 If they are given a voice, their own struggles and the causes of those struggles will not be expressed; the discourse surrounding the poor is often
that they are deserving of their societal station, because being poor is equated with being evil, lazy, unproductive in many societies.
Jonathan Warren argued that therefore Farmers argument is incorrect, at least in Brazil, as he said that there, he poor have internalized notions
of black inferiority, whitening, favelado as criminal, and littleness
**Simply giving these people a voice does not change the culture, which determines how interpretations of race/class saturate (Brazilian) society.
8. Indonesia: rebuild accountability and trust after genocide? Lecture 5
Rather than work to build or rebuild accountability by holding those responsible for the genocide accountable, the World Bank
compounded the silence/impunity by embracing/imposing a modernizationist type solution of improving local culture by introducing Western-
inspired administrative procedures into village organizational life.
People went from productive to passive after genocide
These were rules and ways of working in a community that were brought in from the outside, institutionally monocropped, without regard to: the
local culture, ways of dealing with conflict, existing counterpublics that could have been more successful in their implementation of policy, as they
would have been more attuned to the needs/lives of their fellow countrymen.
Need to not celebrate killers, undermine the celebration of the killers through following actions
JW: to deal with a society that has experienced violence:
create purposive narratives, document, honestly understand, deal with the violence that took place, DO NOT BE SILENT
be like the documentary from Cambodia, where the man interviewed the perpetrators TO RECONCILE WITH THE PAST
talk about the things that ARENT being talked about, document what happened to CALL PEOPLE OUT to find some atonement, reckoning
Have the conversations, dont pretend the things didnt happen TEACH PEOPLE about them to achieve accountability and TRUST!
World bank contributed to the SILENCE by doing this work to achieve trust and accountability
Should have let it be up to the victims/survivors instead of PRETENDING it would achieve those things
Dont try to change peoples values (Roberts rules of order/institutional monocropping); rather, come to an understanding to respect people
Reconciliation in Rwanda worked Create a community of friendship, understanding each other as fellow humans
9. Why white researchers see Brazil racial democracy? What demonstrate truth/culture? positivism?
A) Assumptions and experiences shape what we see and how we interpret what we see.
Racial Democracy: idea that there is no prejudice against non-whites (in Brazil)
Contemporary US white scholars continued to either state or imply that racism was of minimal signicance in Brazil.
They experience white privilege in brazil, as there, white people experience race as insignificant or something positive.
They delude themselves they are not white, just an individual
In Brazil, lack of the cues that Americans recognize as racist, so white researchers experience Brazil as a racial democracy because racism isnt
perpetuated like it is in the USA, so when they speak with non-white Brazilians, racism is never mentioned:
-In the USA, racism is noticing race, and in Brazil, Their language of race is typically color- and power evasive. PEOPLE AVOID TALKING
ABOUT RACE, WHITE SUPREMACY, because that, in itself, is considered racist
-They can feel their race is irrelevant, because their (American learned) markers of racism (tension) are not present.
B) This demonstrates that truth is subjective, and the culture within which a person is raised and educated affects their perception of the truth of an
ideal or social value (racism/racial democracy) can be understood
C) positivism: assumes science, among other things, can be objective and truly known as fact. Idea that we can see things unfiltered, gather the truth,
and know this empirical reality.
BUT YOU CANT KNOW REALITY IN AN UNFILTERED WAY, positivism is a myth because our values infiltrate everything we do, so nothing
can truly be objective; we see things through cultural lenses (maybe academic discipline, religion, nationality) that shapes the evidence we look for,
the evidence we ignore, interpretations of the evidence we FIND/obtain
10. Warren: culture isnt sacrosanct? How affect cultural change? Similar/different from modernizationist?
Sacrosanct: too important or valuable to be interfered with ; Modernizationist formula: JW - Local culture is disparaged as a backward
impediment to progress and Western culture is idealized, homogenized and packaged as a modernizing elixir.
Professor Warren argues that the cultures of various societies are not sacrosanct because to enact the positive change in society that people want, it
requires changing culture to transform the facets of society that result in the negative ideologies that people dont like, which is necessary to create
ideologies in the society that people DO LIKE
JW says to affect cultural change in a foreign country when it is deemed important or necessary
the non-locals need to have self-awareness, and consider their own assumptions and biases (and recognize them)
RECOGNIZE CULTURE MATTERS, do work to know what matters to the people and place in depth
realize there is not a singular modernity, and their culture or societal values will not necessarily do well if superimposed onto another society
need to understand the specific socio-cultural context well, HAVE RESPECT FOR THE LOCAL CULTURE AND PEOPLE
racial idioms need to change! Colorblindness race cognizance
These things require Area Studies
professional development of teachers, education within infrastructure so that those in power perpetuate new ideologies
building on existing counterpublics! Support them via funding, lending legitimacy THERE
Dont just cook something up in the US or foreign, SCALE UP WHAT IS THERE BECAUSE IT WAS CREATED IN THAT
CONTEXT, will be the most effective in convincing people THERE
Anthropology to mid 20th century: document savage, primitive communities before they disappear. Held idea that we must protect non-modern
cultures from disappearing, buffer against change cultural imperialism (equated with pollution), have islands of non-modern culture
Rather should create stake holding in cultures to preserve parts people value
Anthropologists have been concerned with cultural imperialism in recent decades to ensure nothing changes, change is equated with pollution,
LOCAL CULTURE WAS SEEN as sacrosanct
JW thinks that facets of society need to be wildly transformed (people's narrative of nation, their identities, aesthetics, idioms of race, understanding
of history) ... and if parts of culture are sacred, then those changes cant be made to achieve other values that are desired by society (or USA social
imperialists) like race cognizance/literacy
MODERNIZATIONIST FORMULA: JWs idea of how to affect change is like the modernizationist formula in that local culture isnt inherently
valued like it was to earlier anthropologists. But Jonathans way of change requires changing culture first, not just doing institutional monocropping
and expecting local culture to adapt...