Interdisciplinary Foundation Subject
100-186: Globalisation
This subject is offered in semester two.
Subject Description
This subject introduces students to contemporary debates about globalisation and global culture. It will map the social, political, economic and ethical dimensions of globalisation through a series of case studies focusing on new forms of cultural exchange and cultural belonging. Major issues to be examined include: the relation between the global and the local; the transformation of everyday life by global flows; power and inequality in global culture; global networks and social mobility; identity and the role of the nation in global society. Through critical engagement with a variety of forms of contemporary cultural production, students will gain insight into the key concepts for understanding global culture.
Subject Objectives
Students who complete this subject should:
- Be equipped with ways of thinking that allow them to reason about social changes brought about through globalisation;
- possess a critical understanding of globalisation as a socially transformative and disruptive phenomenon;
- be able to provide a multi-disciplinary account of the interplay between global and local social phenomena;
- understand the broad ethical, social and political implications of globalisation;
- be able to draw on scholarship from regional studies, cultural studies, media and communications, development studies, and future studies.
Interdisciplinary Foundation Skills
Students who complete this subject should:
- understand a range of disciplines and methodologies appropriate to the texts, artefacts, theoretical structures and social practices with which they are concerned;
- have developed a capacity for critical thought and analysis through the construction and articulation of lucid, logical arguments;
- have developed oral and written skills through essay writing and tutorial participation;
- have acquired the tools for independent and targeted research, using library and other information services;
- have the ability to organise and manage their time through the planning of class assessments and the meeting of set due dates.