Suchergebnisse

The concept of axial ages, when civilizations are exploring new terrains, interacting in a sustained way with strangers, and imaging the other and better, is used to trace the development of transnationalism through the ages. The problem of asymmetric contact between colonizers and colonized, historically and in the present, limits the two-way dialogue and learning processes that give rise to great periods of civilization flowering. Twentieth century global social change organizations (GSCOs) not limited by state interests and national boundaries, are helping to open up the two-way learning process and inspire new visions of possible futures for the whole of humankind. In particular, it is proposed that GSCOs are one of the most important vehicles in existence for crafting the world civic culture. The article concludes with several propositions for future research regarding the core contributions of GSCOs. These contributions are: (1) providing society with longer-term time horizons and visions; (2) lobbying for constructive foreign policies of national-states; (3) serving as educational forums for world citizenship; (4) expanding conceptual innovations and state-of-the art expertise; (5) integrating knowledge vehicles across disciplines; (6) creating and maintaining information channels; and (7) offering action as an antidote to despair.

When I completed my doctorate in 1987, postcolonial studies was not a clearly defined field. I (like other diasporic Third World academics of my generation) applied for jobs in literature, to which we introduced the critical frame of Empire. And, like them, I began to shift my research and teaching away from European literature and toward the cultures of the ex-colonies. This shift occurred in response to the limitations of identifying colonial structures of power and knowledge without providing alternative frames of reference. But even as I say that my turn toward Third World literatures was in response to the demands of the classroom, I must also admit that I cannot disentangle my personal decision from the institutional demand for diasporic Third World intellectuals to teach what has come to be known as "postcolonial literature."