Schedule

View the original symposium program

Resources

Download selected readings by Kris Olds including:

  • Cultures on the Brink: Reengineering the Soul of Capitalism - On a Global Scale 
  • Researching Transnational Networks
  • Global Ideas: How Ideas, Objects and Practices Travel in the Global Economy
  Additional resources and discussion:

Global Studies at Brandeis

Global Brandeis Symposia

The Global: Implications for Research and the Curriculum 
April 8 & 9, 2008
Prof. Arjun Appadurai 

The Global: New Knowledge Spaces and Places 
November 2 & 3, 2009
Prof. Kris Olds  

The Global: Developing an Intercultural Mindset 
March 4 & 5, 2010
Prof. Darla Deardorff

Symposia Home

OGA

The Office of Global Affairs was created in 2007 to enhance collaboration between the Brandeis community and support international activities, programs, research and service. The OGA will build connections between the University's many ongoing activities in the international arena, strengthen the public profile of our global programs, identify new resources for international projects, and develop a strategic vision for "Global Brandeis." 



The Global: New Knowledge Spaces and Places

  
Kris Olds
University-wide symposium features Professor Kris Olds of University of Wisconsin-Madison

On November 2 and 3, 2009, the Office of Global Affairs hosted a University-wide symposium featuring Professor Kris Olds from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who delivered the keynote lecture:  “Cross-Border Higher Education, Authoritarianism, and the Global Governance of Academic Freedom.” The symposium featured the multi-dimensional work of Kris Olds, whose expertise is in global cities, urban planning, and knowledge industries.  He earned his PhD (’96) in Human Geography from the University of Bristol-England.  His current research primarily focuses on the geographical organization of power in relation to contemporary socio-economic and spatial transformations. 

The two-day series of events covered a range of topics on these implications. The program drew attention to the creation of new knowledge “spaces” – both physical and virtual – including global cities, education zones, branch campuses, and other forms of transnational and regional collaboration. 
 This symposium also helped launch the new graduate program in Global Studies.  The inaugural matriculating class attended a student and faculty response session to continue discussion of Prof. Olds’ keynote talk.  The second session included a group of faculty members from various departments across the University who discussed the connection between institutional configurations and forms of cultural production generated in transnational, diasporic, and global places.

Use the links at the right to access more information about the two-day symposium. 

Global Studies
Inaugural Global Studies MA '10 class, Back row: John Clark, Justin Phalichanh, Kayne Ryan, Charles Radin, Nina Kanakarajavelu, Prof. Parmentier, Prof. Rosenberger, Young-seok Kim, Front row:  Sarah Knight, Shelani Vanniasinkam, Ashley Borja, Anna Liao, Prof. Olds, Rebecca Gil 
 

Student Discussion 
Student and faculty response session


Symposium program

THE GLOBAL: NEW KNOWLEDGE SPACES AND PLACES
On November 2 and 3, 2009, the Office of Global Affairs hosted a symposium "The Global: New Knowledge Spaces and Places" to examine the effects of cross-border education (including branch campuses and distance learning) on everything from regional politics to academic freedom featuring visiting professor Kris Olds of University of Wisconsin-Madison.  


Plenary Talk by Professor Olds
"Cross-Border Higher Education, Authoritarianism, and the Global Governance of Academic Freedom" 

     Monday, November 2, 5:00 p.m.
     Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library

Professor Olds launched the symposium with a plenary talk intended for the broader Brandeis community to think about higher education, authoritarianism, and the global governance of academic freedom in an international context. This event was open to all faculty, students, and staff and a reception with refreshments was held afterwards.  

Access the streaming video clip of the introduction of the keynote talk.

Session 1 | The Global: Student and Faculty Responses
     Tuesday, November 3, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
     Faculty Club Lounge

Moderated by Chandler Rosenberger the first session provided an opportunity for students and faculty to continue the discussion of Dr. Olds' Monday lecture and to broaden the discussion by considering several of his recent papers on related themes. These papers were distributed in advance to students and faculty who participated.

Students and faculty discussed the complications of academic freedom in new knowledge spaces developing around the world.  As Singapore expands its relationships through partnerships with American universities, interconnected issues arise between politics, economics, and academia.  To compete with knowledge hubs in the United States, Singapore tries to establish an identity as a global resource in higher education to become the "Boston of the East."  Discussants focused on strategies important to Brandeis as a global institution.  Both rising global knowledge hubs and American universities continue to compete strategically, changing the landscape of higher education across the globe.  

Session 2 | The Global: Places of Knowledge, Forms of Knowledge
     Tuesday, November 3, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
     Brown 218

This session was moderated by Richard Parmentier.  Participants discussed the connection between institutional configurations (spatial, regional, architectural, etc.) and forms of cultural production (discourse, texts, images, etc.) generated in these transnational, diasporic, and global places. Faculty presenters included Mark Auslander, Elizabeth Ferry, Talinn Grigor, and Ulka Anjaria.

Faculty presentations covered a variety of critical global issues from many different disciplines.  Prof. Auslander discussed the identity of globalization by determining where the global emerges as being visible.  Prof. Ferry expertise in economic anthropology and Mexico & Latin America provided a unique perspective on "Mineralogical Species," discussing the role of Aguilarite and its influence and intellectual contribution.  Prof. Grigor discussed the Persian Past in the British Raj, and Prof. Anajaria highlighted the importance of novels as a form of multiple voices and influences in global communication.  Discussants learned about issues in relation to key formative moments:  how things get brought into being, how modernity is organized, and how to craft models relevant to 'the global.'   Higher education has become a global industry that requires an multidisciplinary approach.