Abstract
New York University is transforming itself into a “Global Network University” (GNU), which comprises three “portal campuses” in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai and a network of study-away sites that currently includes Accra, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, London, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Sydney, Tel Aviv, and Washington DC. In his “Global Network University Reflection,” NYU president John Sexton argues that universities that “reshape themselves [as] ‘global network universities’ – can influence globalization positively and, thereby, foster the advancement of humankind in special ways.”
This paper explores the opportunity that the establishment of the GNU has created for rethinking the practice of American Studies at the NYU portal campus in Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). From the vantage point of a region that is a political, economic, and cultural crossroads in the early years of a century that promises to be marked by accelerating technological change, the faculty of NYUAD seeks to rethink “American Studies” as “US Global Studies,” training the “area studies” lens that US universities developed during the twentieth century back on the US in this moment when US political, economic, and military power seems to be on the verge of a reconfiguration within a revised world order. “US Global Studies” promises to provide new insights into the flow of people, ideas, and commodities to, from, and within the United States.
The paper will report on the progress of NYU’s GNU, as well as on the curricular initiative to create a major in US Global Studies and, eventually, a research center.
This paper explores the opportunity that the establishment of the GNU has created for rethinking the practice of American Studies at the NYU portal campus in Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). From the vantage point of a region that is a political, economic, and cultural crossroads in the early years of a century that promises to be marked by accelerating technological change, the faculty of NYUAD seeks to rethink “American Studies” as “US Global Studies,” training the “area studies” lens that US universities developed during the twentieth century back on the US in this moment when US political, economic, and military power seems to be on the verge of a reconfiguration within a revised world order. “US Global Studies” promises to provide new insights into the flow of people, ideas, and commodities to, from, and within the United States.
The paper will report on the progress of NYU’s GNU, as well as on the curricular initiative to create a major in US Global Studies and, eventually, a research center.
Original language | English (US) |
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State | Unpublished - Sep 22 2012 |
Event | The American Studies Association of Korea 2012 International Conference - Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of Duration: Sep 21 2012 → Sep 22 2012 |
Conference
Conference | The American Studies Association of Korea 2012 International Conference |
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Country/Territory | Korea, Republic of |
City | Seoul |
Period | 9/21/12 → 9/22/12 |