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In today's era of economic globalization and restructuring,
the language of culture is increasingly heard in debates about
issues as diverse as nationalism, human rights, immigration,
trade, the environment, media, literacy, and education. In
the new millennium, it is of paramount importance to increase
our capacity to live with and to understand the heterogeneity
and flux that characterize global flows of people, culture,
and capital.
For residents in the Pacific, the effects of the rise and
current decline of Asian capitalism and the emergence of supra-national
configurations such as "Asia/Pacific" and "the new Europe"
pose challenges to the boundaries and identities of both local
communities and nation-states. Aided by new communications
technologies, such shifts have given rise simultaneously to
new forms of fundamentalism — which further politicize
ethnic, religious, and racial differences - and to emergent
communities that defy such identifications.
An understanding of the impact of such global transformations
on local and national communities requires an interdisciplinary
approach to the study of culture, especially in places such
as Hawai'i situated geographically and politically at the
intersection of U.S. and Asian spheres of influence. Changes
in global culture affecting local communities also require
rethinking the ways disciplines and universities conceive
of and organize existing forms of knowledge. Cultural studies
scholars concerned with the constraints particular to their
discipline often work in collaboration with those in other
fields of inquiry in order to account more fully for the complexity
of contemporary cultural phenomena.
The International Cultural Studies Certificate Program at
the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UHM) is an interdisciplinary
course of study designed to complement graduate degree programs
or to provide an independent course of study enhancing careers
in a variety of fields. It is supported by the East-West Center
(EWC) and the following academic units at UHM:
- College of Arts and Humanities;
- College of Social Sciences;
- College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature;
- School of Asian and Pacific Studies.
The program combines course work with independent research
drawing upon the resources of both the university and the
EWC. The program brings together faculty whose research and
teaching focus on the politics and production of culture in
the public sphere, with emphasis on the interpretive methods
of the social sciences, arts, and humanities.
The certificate can be combined with degree programs in the
humanities and social sciences, or with technical and professional
fields in the case of students who wish to locate their work
in an expanded framework of cultural and historical knowledge.
The certificate is also offered as an independent nine-month
course of study.
In addition to its educational goals, the program is an international
forum for dialogue on critical issues of culture and identity
as they affect local and international relations today. By
facilitating work among a diverse group of students and faculty
the certificate program seeks to place disciplinary approaches
to local/global issues in an ongoing dialogue.
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