Localizing Knowledge In A Globalizing World

The essays in this collection address the current crisis in area studies, a crisis that differs from its perennial struggle with the established academic disciplines. This crisis stems from the confluence of three related circumstances: the end of the Cold War; greater economic and cultural fluidity across political borders; and contradictory intellectual trends in the academy, which include on the one hand a renaissance of universalizing thinking in the social sciences and on the other .hand, the rise of post-colonial studies and debates about modernity, postmodernity, and cultural hybridization. Although the essays differ markedly in their focus and strategies, the authors all demonstrate that local knowledge, including serious study of individual cultures and proficiency in foreign languages, which are vital to understanding rapidly changing global patterns and to countering universal claims by the social sciences. While the authors also agree that area studies must reject their enthnocentric heritages and adopt inventive new contours, they present a diversity

Since the early 1990s, Southeast European studies have undergone profound changes, being shaped by the wars of Yugoslav succession and the ramifications of post-socialism, coupled with democratic deficiencies, which characterize most of Southeast Europe. The countries which it encompasses rest uneasily on the periphery of the developed variant of Western capitalism, but they have nonetheless to contend with the challenges of adjusting to a market economy. The imprint of these contexts on academic research has led to a discussion of the role of Southeast European studies. It is the task of this volume to summarize and raise awareness of this discussion. (Series: Studies on South East Europe - Vol. 16) [Subject: European Studies, Sociology, Politics]

The Oxford Handbook of Global Studies provides an overview of the emerging field of global studies. Since the end of the Cold War, globalization has been reshaping the modern world, and an array of new scholarship has risen to make sense of it in its various transnational manifestations-including economic, social, cultural, ideological, technological, environmental, and in new communications. The editors--Mark Juergensmeyer, Saskia Sassen, and Manfred Steger--are recognized authorities in this emerging field and have gathered an esteemed cast of contributors to discuss various aspects in the field through a broad range of approaches. Several essays focus on the emergence of the field and its historical antecedents. Other essays explore analytic and conceptual approaches to teaching and research in global studies, and the largest section will deal with the subject matter of global studies, challenges from diasporas and pandemics to the global city and the emergence of a transnational capitalist class. The final two sections feature essays that take a critical view of globalization from diverse perspectives and essays on global citizenship-the ideas and institutions that guide an emerging global civil society. This Handbook focuses on global studies more than on the phenomenon of globalization itself, though the various aspects of globalization are central to understanding how the field is currently being shaped.

This is the second of a two-volume work taking stock of the study of Africa in the twenty-first century: its status, research agenda and approaches, and place. It is divided into two parts, the first entitled Globalisation Studies and African Studies, and the second, African Studies in Regional Contexts. Topics addressed in part one include: trans-boundary formations and the study of Africa; global economic liberalisation and development in Africa; African diasporas, academics and the struggle for a global epistemic presence; and the problem of translation in African studies. Part two considers: African and area studies in France, the US, the UK, Australia, Germany and Sweden; anti-colonialism and Russian/soviet African studies; African studies in the Caribbean in historical perspective; the teaching of African history and the history of Africa in Brazil; African studies in India; African studies and historiography in China in the twenty-first century; and African studies and contemporary scholarship in Japan.

This is the second of a two-volume work taking stock of the study of Africa in the twenty-first century: its status, research agenda and approaches, and place. It is divided into two parts, the first entitled Globalisation Studies and African Studies, and the second, African Studies in Regional Contexts. Topics addressed in part one include: trans-boundary formations and the study of Africa; global economic liberalisation and development in Africa; African diasporas, academics and the struggle for a global epistemic presence; and the problem of translation in African studies. Part two considers: African and area studies in France, the US, the UK, Australia, Germany and Sweden; anti-colonialism and Russian/soviet African studies; African studies in the Caribbean in historical perspective; the teaching of African history and the history of Africa in Brazil; African studies in India; African studies and historiography in China in the twenty-first century; and African studies and contemporary scholarship in Japan.

Localization is a manifesto to unite all those who recognize the importance of cultural, social and ecological diversity for our future - and who do not aspire to a monolithic global consumer culture. It is a passionate and persuasive polemic, challenging the claims that we have to be 'internationally competitive' to survive and describing the destructive consequences of globalization. This book is unique in going beyond simply criticizing free trade and globalization trends. It details self-reinforcing policies to create local self-sufficiency and shows clearly that there is an alternative to globalization - to protect the local, globally.

Volume 2 of 6 of the complete premium print version of journal forum for inter-american research (fiar), which is the official electronic journal of the International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS). fiar was established by the American Studies Program at Bielefeld University in 2008. We foster a dialogic and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Americas. fiar is a peer-reviewed online journal. Articles in this journal undergo a double-blind review process and are published in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Knowledge matters, and states have a stake in managing its movement to protect a variety of local and national interests. The view that knowledge circulates by itself in a flat world, unimpeded by national boundaries, is a myth. The transnational movement of knowledge is a social accomplishment, requiring negotiation, accommodation, and adaptation to the specificities of local contexts. This volume of essays by historians of science and technology breaks the national framework in which histories are often written. Instead, How Knowledge Moves takes knowledge as its central object, with the goal of unraveling the relationships among people, ideas, and things that arise when they cross national borders. This specialized knowledge is located at multiple sites and moves across borders via a dazzling array of channels, embedded in heads and hands, in artifacts, and in texts. In the United States, it shapes policies for visas, export controls, and nuclear weapons proliferation; in Algeria, it enhances the production of oranges by colonial settlers; in Vietnam, it facilitates the exploitation of a river delta. In India it transforms modes of agricultural production. It implants American values in Latin America. By concentrating on the conditions that allow for knowledge movement, these essays explore travel and exchange in face-to-face encounters and show how border-crossings mobilize extensive bureaucratic technologies.