Global Cultures is a new initiative of USC College and linked with the Department of Comparative Literature. It takes as its starting point that globalization is as much a cultural phenomenon as an economic or political one. Despite an early focus in global studies on economic integration, promoted by the communications revolution and supra-national trade agreements, and on transnational flows of labor to global city-regions, contemporary scholars of globalization emphasize the cultural dimensions and drivers of globalization. Despite claims about cultural homogenization and the rise of a single "global culture," research on the evolution of contemporary as well as historical cultures highlights the extent to which local resistance to cultural dominants and the selective appropriation of cultural forms leads to an ever-changing mosaic of cultural identities and production. We believe that the cultural dimensions of globalization are best apprehended through close analysis of the visual, literary and material cultures that span divergent world regions. 

The Global Cultures Minor, a track within Comparative Literature currently under review will offer students the opportunity to focus on three crucial areas of research from a Humanities perspective:
*Human Rights

*Global Climate Change

*Migration and Diaspora

Check back soon for an update on the minor

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the College deans for our initiative.

upcoming events:

Film Screening:

March 12, 2008: Made in L.A., 4-6 pm, Ron Howard Screening Room, Zemekis Center, 3131 Figueroa Blvd, followed by a Q. and A. with director Alumedena Carracedo. Free and open to all. For more about the film, click here.

photo credit:  Ben Hoy.  Detroit.  View from the penthouse of the empty Broderick Tower looking south to the Renaissance Center during a rainstorm. 2004. We think this image is a powerful one for thinking about the cultural effects of globalization.