Five College African Scholars Program : Theme for Spring 2007

Theme for Spring 2007

Globalization & Development

For Spring semester 2007, the Five College African Scholars Program invites applications for Scholars in Residence focusing on the themes of globalization and development.

As the often difficult realities of post-colonial Africa have dampened the optimism of the early decades of independence, scholars and policymakers alike have had to re-envision the road to economic and political security for the African continent. Hopes for rapid European-style development have waned as the continent has struggled to negotiate the challenges posed by debt crisis, political upheaval, war, dependence on foreign aid, and enforced neo-liberal political and economic reform. In recent years, ever-accelerating, technologically-driven global circulation—flows of money, information, cultural forms, commodities, and people—has rendered more and more complex the landscape in which African citizens and governments must operate. Even as new opportunities open up for some, for others hardships grow all the more intractable.

For this residency, we seek applicants who work on issues related to these processes, broadly construed. Scholars should be from fields in the social sciences or humanities. Possible topics for investigation include, but are not restricted to:

• the tension between the government’s involvement in the provision of social welfare and its role in the enabling of markets
• the simultaneous, if contradictory, dynamics of cultural homogenization and identity-based politics
• the rise and significance of institutions of transnational governance
• the emergence and workings of new social movements
• the social or other impacts of immigration and refugee flows
• the local or regional appropriation, subversion, and transformation of global economic and cultural forms
• the efforts of artists or intellectuals to depict or comment on processes of development and globalization
• the forms and effects of violent conflicts shaped by cultural and geopolitical external influences and/or transnational commercial networks
• the differential effects of particular development paradigms or approaches on gender, age, ethnicity, and the like
• the historical roots or antecedents of contemporary processes of social change
• the possibilities and paradoxes of promoting post-conflict reconstruction and development in a globalizing world
• the question of the health and futures of both the nation-state and democratic forms of rule amidst globalization
• the situation of health care, education, judiciary, and civil liberties as state power increases while state support at the local level decreases
• the effects of globalized culture—religion, music, media, tourism, architecture—whether to threaten or reinforce state structures
• The issues of urban governance, voice, and poverty
• Identities, local governments, and the deconstruction of the state
• Migration or brain drain as a consequence of globalization
• Globalization and religious activism
• Globalization and environmental stress.

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	Theme for Spring 2007 Globalization & Development For Spring semester 2007, the Five College African Scholars Program invites applications for Scholars in Residence focusing on the themes of globalization and development. As the often difficult realities of post-colonial Africa have dampened the optimism of the early decades of independence, scholars and policymakers alike have had to re-envision the road to economic and political security for the African continent. Hopes for rapid European-style development have waned as the continent has struggled to negotiate the challenges posed by debt crisis, political upheaval, war, dependence on foreign aid, and enforced neo-liberal political and economic reform. In recent years, ever-accelerating, technologically-driven global circulation—flows of money, information, cultural forms, commodities, and people—has rendered more and more complex the landscape in which African citizens and governments must operate. Even as new opportunities open up for some, for others hardships grow all the more intractable. For this residency, we seek applicants who work on issues related to these processes, broadly construed. Scholars should be from fields in the social sciences or humanities. Possible topics for investigation include, but are not restricted to: • the tension between the government’s involvement in the provision of social welfare and its role in the enabling of markets • the simultaneous, if contradictory, dynamics of cultural homogenization and identity-based politics • the rise and significance of institutions of transnational governance • the emergence and workings of new social movements • the social or other impacts of immigration and refugee flows • the local or regional appropriation, subversion, and transformation of global economic and cultural forms • the efforts of artists or intellectuals to depict or comment on processes of development and globalization • the forms and effects of violent conflicts shaped by cultural and geopolitical external influences and/or transnational commercial networks • the differential effects of particular development paradigms or approaches on gender, age, ethnicity, and the like • the historical roots or antecedents of contemporary processes of social change • the possibilities and paradoxes of promoting post-conflict reconstruction and development in a globalizing world • the question of the health and futures of both the nation-state and democratic forms of rule amidst globalization • the situation of health care, education, judiciary, and civil liberties as state power increases while state support at the local level decreases • the effects of globalized culture—religion, music, media, tourism, architecture—whether to threaten or reinforce state structures • The issues of urban governance, voice, and poverty • Identities, local governments, and the deconstruction of the state • Migration or brain drain as a consequence of globalization • Globalization and religious activism • Globalization and environmental stress.