Background
The Globalism Institute undertakes engaged research
into globalization, transnationalism, nationalism
and cultural diversity. It seeks to understand
and critically evaluate current directions of global
change, with an emphasis on the cultural implications
of political and economic transformation.
The Globalism Institute is the public face of
a university-wide research strength in globalization
and cultural diversity at RMIT University, Melbourne.
It was initiated in 2000 with an extended period
of consultation and development. It was formally
inaugurated in 2002 with the brief to initiate
and manage research projects involving consortia
of academics, researchers and consultants from
diverse backgrounds.
These collaborative projects draw on expertise
from across the university and beyond, in fields
such as global politics, international relations,
community studies, cross-cultural communication,
international education, international trade, productive
diversity, global English and media studies. Our
emphasis is on critically understanding the culture
and politics of global change.
Our Aims and What We Do
At a time of acute sensitivity to questions of
social dislocation, economic inequity and political
upheaval, the Globalism Institute is committed
to rethinking the relationship between the global
and the local. Its primary intellectual task is
to understand the processes of change and continuity,
and to think through cultural-political questions
about sustainable living in a globalizing world.
In particular, it is concerned to facilitate and
enhance activities of cultural dialogue across
the continuing and positive boundaries of cultural
diversity in the world today.
This entails responding to key political issues
of the new century across all levels of community
and polity: from the remaking of institutions of
global governance and the reconstitution of the
nation-state to the re-formations of local regions
and communities. It entails working across the
divide between abstract theory and applied research.
We begin with the place in which we live—Melbourne—and
seek to draw lines of co-operation and reciprocal
connection locally, regionally, nationally and
internationally.
The Globalism Institute: - Undertakes engaged
research into globalization, transnationalism,
nationalism and cultural diversity. It seeks
to understand and critically evaluate current
directions of global change, with an emphasis
on the cultural implications of political and
economic transformation.
- Builds transnational links with other world-centres
of excellence.
- Educates the community, both local and global,
about both the difficulties and the possibilities
of globalization and cultural diversity.
- Provides research consultancy to all levels
of government, industry and community, from the
local to the international.
- Provides a forum for analysing the role of
Australia’s culturally diverse diasporic
communities in the processes of globalization.
- Sponsors conferences, forums and seminars to
debate and formulate critical analysis and policy
both for government bodies and for world and
regional organisations and agencies.
- Offers a rich research milieu for postgraduate
study in the fields of globalism, transnationalism,
multiculturalism, nationalism, identity politics
and cultural diversity.
Key areas of research include the following:- Structures
of globalization, both past and present.
- Formations of nationalism and the nation-state,
and their continuing though changing relevance.
- Configurations of transnationalism—the
changing nature of diasporas, migrant communities
and refugees.
- Relations of integration—from indigenous
and traditional face-to-face communities to
the extended relations of mass broadcasting
and electronic communication.
- Discourses of critical engagement, such as
cosmopolitanism, postcolonialism, communitarianism,
and multiculturalism.
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