ABOUT US

Terrorism. Poverty. The dollar. Global warming. The World Cup. Immigration. MTV International. The United Nations. Ethnic cleansing. McDonald’s.

Almost every aspect of human existence has been touched by the dynamic of globalization, which may be the defining characteristic of the 21st Century.

Yet, the origins, history, evolution, and impact of globalization – even its very definition – are subject to intense debate. We can surely say, however, that every student leaving college and entering the workforce – the world – should have a fundamental understanding of globalization.

Such understanding will give students crucial knowledge and skills that will set them apart in this new world and help them succeed in an increasingly globalized context. It will help them anticipate the social, cultural, economic and political changes brought about by globalization -- and the resistance to globalization. It will better prepare students to draw connections in an interdependent and interconnected world. To address this need, in Fall 2006, the University founded the Globalization and Social Change Initiative and its major in Global Studies.

The GSCI

Why an initiative in “globalization and social change”? Why not a “globalization initiative”? Globalization, we feel, is not simply an economic phenomenon. We believe that globalization, while surely an economic process, is also historical, social, religious, cultural and political. For many in and out of the academy, however, globalization is understood primarily in economic terms. Globalization and Social Change makes plain our emphasis.

Other beliefs shape our work. The processes of globalization, we emphasize, are the result of human action and agency – not unknowable, inexorable forces of economics or technology. We study the human actions that have led to our current globalized state. We study warriors, merchants, preachers, and explorers, as well as diplomats, executives, monks, journalists, and immigrants. We study the returning solider, the head of the World Bank, the missionary, and the recent immigrant.  

Our work is often decidedly historical.We attempt to avoid the portrayal of globalization as a primarily modern project with the oft-accompanying Eurocentric implications that globalization has come about through the “rise of the West.”

We believe that the processes of globalization are uneven, offering immense wealth and power to some, hope and promise to others, and poverty and despair to still others.  Finally, we believe that growing interdependence and interconnection are slowly bringing about the rise of a global civil society, which will call upon individuals to work and act as global citizens.

No one discipline could, or should, possibly hope to cover the multiple processes of globalization.  The GSCI draws upon the resources from four colleges and more than a dozen departments and programs to form an interdisciplinary initiative for research and teaching that seeks to understand globalization and social change.

Special Message from the GSCI Director