What Is Global Studies?

Manfred B. Steger is Professor of Sociology at the University of Hawai’i-Manoa, Honorary Professor of Global Studies at RMIT University-Melbourne, and a globalization consultant for the US State Department.Amentahru Wahlrab is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Tyler.

With the astounding success of the emerging field of global studies in universities around the world, questions arise about what it is and whether there are central intellectual issues at its core. This book provides those answers by tracing the historical development of the field and showing that there are central pillars in the study of the "global imaginary." This thoughtful book provides the roadmap for what global studies is and what it promises to become, and is required reading for anyone interested in this flourishing field.Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara; Author of Thinking Globally: A Global Studies ReaderManfred Steger and Amentahru Wahlrab have given us the most comprehensive discussion about the multiple origins of global thought and research that I know of. It sets a new standard for what it means to analyze the very diverse theorizations and debates that have generated this field.Saskia Sassen, Columbia University; Author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global EconomyThis is a very exciting book. It is a major discussion of the field of global studies, an arena that is rapidly becoming a crucial domain of academic work. The authors are enviably fair, address the most vital themes in the discourse of global studies, and express their views with admirable clarity. Of particular interest to readers will be the exploration of disciplinarity, the relationship between the study of globalization and global studies, the exploration of global studies as a mode of critical inquiry, and the general organization of the field.Roland Robertson, University of Pittsburgh and University of AberdeenSteger and Wahlrab have produced a book that simultaneously introduces, describes, and interprets the new field of global studies in relation to its theories, concepts, and research methods. What is Global Studies? is thus a masterful survey of the global mentalité or "imaginary" that informs the field, including the "significations and articulations" that have enabled it to escape the gravitational pull of more familiar, local imaginaries. The writing is everywhere inclusive, balanced, and clear, and the structure of the whole designed to satisfy—and this is no mean feat—both the beginning student and the seasoned scholar.Giles Gunn, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Introduction: Global Studies and the Global Imaginary The Intellectual Origins and Evolution of Global Studies The First Pillar of Global Studies: Globalization The Second Pillar of Global Studies: Transdisciplinarity The Third Pillar of Global Studies: Space and Time The Fourth Pillar of Global Studies: Critical Thinking Appendix A: Global Studies Research: Three ProjectsAppendix B. Global Studies Course Syllabi: Three SamplesAppendix C: Global Studies Journals, Academic Programs, and Online Resources