INTL 488 - Senior Seminar: Universalism: Confronting Global Thought

Rapid globalization in all areas of modern life raises afresh the question of universalism: do we live in one world or many? This course reviews classic inquiries into attempts at thinking the world as one. Varying from year to year, the course ranges across world-historical studies, Russian “Eurasianism,” theories of Weltliteratur, debates in the Americas and the Caribbean, contemporary writing on global culture and business, and other topics. Throughout, we will ask: in whose interest is the universal? is there any local left? does global mean homogeneous? is it possible to be cosmopolitan? is there any center left, and if so, who or what occupies it? A course less about research or fact than about thought. (4 Credits)