ONE Introduction

one Introduction
Lauren grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While an under-

graduate, she arranged with one of her professors to conduct an indepen-
dent research project and traveled to Liberia in West Africa for a summer.
Upon her return, she worked as an intern for an international nongov-
ernmental agency and, as she completed a political science degree, made
plans for a career in the areas of philanthropy and leadership. Following
graduation, she joined the Peace Corps and traveled to Cape Verde, where
she worked in family health. These experiences helped her choose to earn
a graduate degree in public health, as well as a graduate certificate in non-
profit management. In graduate school, she met her future husband, an
Indian national. She is now part of a bicultural family in which she and
her husband both are working to expose their children to the plethora of
cultures around the world through travel and education. She also remains
deeply engaged in international philanthropy. Lauren had not initially
known where her undergraduate program of study would lead her; she
knew only that she thrived on making contact with individuals from other
cultures, even as she came to know her own culture better.
Fekade is Ethiopian. His parents emigrated to the United States when
Copyright © 2015. University of North Carolina Press. All rights reserved.
he was eight years old. Raised bilingually and biculturally, he attended

public elementary and high schools in the Pacific Northwest. His original
intention was to find a way to return to Ethiopia to work in some type of
international service. Following his undergraduate work in international
studies, he has since decided to focus his graduate work on public health
and immigrant communities in the United States. He has organized stu-
dents at his university to participate in activities that focus on the United
Nation’s Millennium Development Goals and to try to make informed
choices about everything they do. Contact with other cultures has trans-
formed both his education choices and career choices.
The life trajectories of Lauren and Fekade (whose stories are real
but whose names have been changed here) are not unusual. Many
people are profoundly touched by their concern for international
questions. Perhaps you will also find your life transformed by your
cultural contacts and program of study. But whether or not you
Smallman, Shawn C., and Kimberley Brown. Introduction to International and Global Studies, Second Edition, University of
North Carolina Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ed/detail.action?docID=4322241.
Created from ed on 2020-01-01 06:41:39.
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4 Introduction
choose to look for international career opportunities, your life will be af-
fected by global trends. Some issues, such as those surrounding epidemic
disease, may impact you on a deeply personal level. For example, as new
strains of influenza emerge, you and your family may have to make choices
about finding a vaccine. Similarly, your life is influenced by changes in the
global economy. The Chinese government owns a substantial portion of
the U.S. government’s debt. That means that decisions made in Beijing
shape the interest rate that someone in the United States pays for a student
loan or their mortgage. And whether you live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, or
Manchester, England, a global recession, or changes in trade patterns, may
impact the company you work for by opening up new opportunities for
sales or moving jobs overseas. When you purchase foods, you are making
a choice that impacts people you will never see in other parts of the globe,
whether you decide to buy shade-grown coffee or fair-trade chocolate. Com-
modity chains for other products—such as energy—also shape our daily
lives. If political unrest closes the Strait of Hormuz, oil importers could
see gasoline rationing. At the same time, European wind companies may
invest in turbines that appear near you in Kentucky or Calgary, whether
you view this positively or not. Security concerns also will impact your
life, perhaps when friends or family are deployed overseas or when you
encounter frustration with security measures while traveling.
With cultural globalization, our literature, art, music, trade, and tech-
nology are impacted by flows of information. You may follow a celebrity
twitter in Los Angeles, Skype your grandmother in Hong Kong, and check
your friend’s Facebook page in London. Or you may listen to a West African
fusion band that has been influenced by Celtic music. You may emigrate
someday, or immigrants may shape your community. Perhaps no age has
been as touched by global trends as the one you live in. For this reason, it
is important for you to study international studies, the multidisciplinary
field that examines major international issues.
What Is International Studies?

International studies is an increasingly common major, not only in liberal
arts colleges but also in public institutions. What unites all of these pro-
grams is that they try to interpret major global trends in a manner that is
multidisciplinary; that is, they draw on faculty and ways of looking at the
world that come from many different areas (Ishiyama and Breuning 2004;
Hey 2004). A scholar in international studies might utilize the writing
Introduction 5
of political philosophers to describe the global economy or consider how

films reflect new trends in cultural globalization. This cross-pollination
among multiple disciplines is central to the field. International studies
programs also share certain common characteristics, such as an emphasis
on language competence and various dimensions of globalization.
The related term “global studies” is preferred by some scholars because
it removes the focus on the nation-state and places it instead on the trans-
national processes and issues that are key in an era defined by globaliza-
tion. Global studies programs also often stress the importance of race,
class, and gender in international affairs, as well as the importance of so-
cial responsibility. Both international studies and global studies programs
share a commitment to interdisciplinary work, a focus on globalization
and change, and an emphasis on how global trends impact humanity. They
both also differ from international relations, an older discipline within
political science that emphasizes ties between nations and topics with
clear importance to nation-states, such as war, economics, and diplomacy.
Finally, both international and global studies share a concern with global
citizenship.
Global Citizenship
During the 2008 election campaign in the United States, then presidential
candidate Barack Obama declared himself to be a “citizen of the world.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticized this position as “intellec-
tual nonsense and stunningly dangerous” (Gerzon 2009). This exchange

encapsulated a debate about the nature of citizenship that stretches back
to ancient Greece. The philosopher Socrates (469–399 b.c.e.) allegedly
said, “I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world.” His stu-
dent Aristotle thought seriously about the meaning of citizenship, as did
the Stoic philosophers. At the core of this idea of world citizenship was
the idea that individuals have a duty to other people outside of their state
because of their shared humanity. This debate about the nature of citizen-
ship—and the ideal of cosmopolitanism, the belief that we need to view
affairs from our perspective as global citizens—has been a thread through
the writing of many scholars. It was central to the thinking of Enlighten-
ment philosophers such as the German Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who
spoke of an individual’s membership in a universal community as a basis
for global peace (Kant, “Essay on Theory and Practice,” in Brown, Nar-
din, and Rengger 2002, 441–50). It even shaped the thought of European
6 Introduction
philosophers during the Age of Empire. For example, the Italian thinker
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72) wrote at length about an individual’s duties
to humanity and the fact that an individual’s loyalty cannot be determined
by his or her nationality alone (Mazzini, On the Duties of Man, in Brown,
Nardin, and Rengger 2002, 476–85). Recently, Martha Nussbaum (1998)
and Kwame Anthony Appiah (2006) have written influential works in de-
fense of cosmopolitanism.
While this ideal has been enduring, it has also been contested, because
global citizenship is not a legal status. Critics argue that it is a vaguely de-
fined term that appeals to people’s sentiments and emotions but has little
meaning in an anarchical world—that is, in an international order that
lacks a central power to impose law. This book is not the place to encapsu-
late this broader debate. But global citizenship remains a powerful idea,
and as authors we believe it has deep meaning. As a citizen, you will face
complex global issues from trade to war, commanding your attention and
calling for you to make decisions. One goal of this text is to help you criti-
cally reflect on global issues and identify the contexts where your loyalty,
responsibility, and connection to others will make a difference. Perhaps the
notion of global citizenship seems too strong or exclusive to you. If this is
so, what about the notion of being a globally minded individual?
While there are many definitions of global citizenship, one author sug-
gests that a global citizen possesses six capacities of mind: “(1) the ability
to observe oneself and the world around one; (2) the ability to make com-
parisons and contrasts; (3) the ability to ‘see’ plurally as a result; (4) the
ability to understand that both ‘reality’ and language come in versions;

(5) the ability to see power relations and understand them systemically; and
(6) the ability to balance awareness of one’s own realities with the realities
of entities outside of the perceived self” (McIntosh 2005, 23). As you look
over these capacities, you may notice some overlap between them and
our descriptions of our goals for you with this text. You are living in what
Pratt (1996) terms a “contact zone”; that is, your ideas come in contact
with other people and other ideas all the time. In order to negotiate this
space, you have to be able to “imaginatively step into the world view of the
other” (Bennett 1998). In a sense, this mindset will mean that you will
have a bigger “tool kit” to deal with problems. Much like the astronauts
on Apollo 13, when someone is faced with a crisis, they respond best when
they have more tools to work with. While you will not likely ever face such
an emergency, if you have a rich, global perspective, you will be better able
to take advantage of opportunities, such as the chance to work overseas or
Introduction 7
with people from different cultures. A global perspective changes not just
what you think, but what you do.
The Authors and International Studies

We are both faculty members who have taught international studies for
over a decade and served as director of an international studies program at
a large, urban institution. Kim Brown became interested in international
studies as an undergraduate while studying anthropology, French, and ge-
ography at Macalester College. During that time, she was able to coteach an
international studies senior seminar with a visiting German Fulbrighter,
Dr. Gotz von Houwald, whose area of specialization was Central American
indigenous peoples. This experience led her to become passionate about
the international learning experience. She is now a professor of applied
linguistics who has expertise in world Englishes—the different forms of
English spoken globally—as well as intercultural communication and
education and development. She lived and worked in Iran during the late
1970s, a time of turmoil that included the 1979 Revolution, the begin-
ning of the decade-long Iran-Iraq war, and the now-infamous takeover of
the U.S. Embassy and ensuing hostage crisis. She has maintained a close
cultural connection to Iran ever since.
Shawn Smallman became interested in international affairs while he
was an undergraduate at Queen’s University, where he became fascinated
with Latin America during a history class taught by Catherine LeGrand.
He is now a professor of international studies who has published books

examining the history of military terror in Brazil and the evolution of the
AIDS pandemic in Latin America. For the latter project, he carried out
fieldwork in Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico, during which he interviewed drug
traffickers, crack addicts, sex workers, transvestites, doctors, and gay lead-
ers. More recently, he has done work on influenza and global health, with a
focus on ethical issues related to pandemics in such countries as Indonesia
(Smallman 2013).
We have both taught outside of our own countries (in Germany and
Iran) and have traveled widely. From this background, we have the ex-
perience of crossing cultural boundaries from Rio de Janeiro to Tehran.
Together, we speak or read Farsi, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. We
have also served as administrators: Brown was vice provost for interna-
tional affairs, while Smallman was the dean of undergraduate studies
and vice provost of instruction. Currently, Smallman is the director of an
8 Introduction
international studies program. Both of us have worked to internationalize

undergraduate education and have presented the results of our work at
professional meetings. Our teaching, travel, disciplines, work experience,
and language competence have shaped how we have written this book.
Finally, we have a shared belief in the value of a liberal arts education and
the importance of clear learning outcomes.
Learning Outcomes and Competing Worldviews

We want you to finish this text having achieved a number of learning
outcomes: to see yourselves as members of global as well as local com-
munities, to be aware of major world regions and the nation-states within
them, to be open to intercultural contact, to place issues in historical and
ideological context, and to be able to judge information about major global
trends and issues. In essence, after you have read this book, we hope that
you will possess the comprehensive set of skills and understandings en-
visioned by Howard Gardner in his exploration of what it means to be a
global citizen: “(1) understanding of the global system; (2) capacity to think
analytically and creatively within disciplines; (3) ability to tackle problems
and issues that do not respect disciplinary boundaries; (4) knowledge of
and ability to interact civilly and productively with individuals from quite
different cultural backgrounds—both within one’s own society and across
the planet; (5) knowledge of and respect for one’s own cultural tradition(s);
(6) fostering of hybrid or blended identities; and (7) fostering of tolerance”
(2004, 253–55). We hope that as you engage with this text, you will come
to understand key global issues, the perspectives of different cultures, and
the responsibilities of global citizenship. We also want you to be able to
think critically about competing worldviews. This goal is critical to many
disciplines, but it is particularly essential in international studies. For this
reason, you will see global issues presented from different perspectives
throughout this text.
In the chapters that follow, we will introduce material from all major
world regions. You will see ideas and information from scholars whose
ideas conflict with each other as well as from scholars whose ideas re-
inforce common understandings of particular issues. You will not see
chapters on every global issue, although there are many key topics that
might have filled entire sections, such as water, religion, and women. No
comprehensive selection of chapters was possible because of the breadth
of international issues. Instead, chapters 2 through 7 focus on history, glo-
Introduction 9
balization (economic, political, and cultural), development, and security to

give you a broad understanding of the context of global issues. The second
block of chapters focuses on global topics in which you may more readily
see yourself as an actor who may be impacted by a commodity chain for
food or energy. The subjects covered in these chapters are, in order, food,
health, energy, and environment. Chapter 12 considers the many career
opportunities in international fields, and the conclusion will place what
you have learned in context and ask you to reflect again on the meaning
of global citizenship.
References
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Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press.
Appiah, K. A. 2006. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a world of strangers. New York:
W. W. Norton.
Banks, J. A. 2001. Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and
teaching. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Bennett, J. 1998. Transition shock: Putting culture shock in perspective. In Basic
concepts of intercultural communication, ed. M. Bennett, 215–24. Yarmouth,
Maine: Intercultural Press.
Boulding, E. 1988. Building a civic culture: Education for an interdependent world.
Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.
Brown, C., T. Nardin, and N. Rengger, eds. 2002. International relations in
political thought: Texts from the ancient Greeks to the First World War. New York:
Cambridge University Press.

Carter, D., and S. Gradin. 2001. Writing as reflective action: A reader. New York:
Longman.
Gardner, H. 2004. How education changes: Considerations of history, science,
and values. In Globalization: Culture and education in the new millennium,
ed. M. Suarez-Orozco and D. Qin-Hilliard, 235–58. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Gerzon, M. 2009. Going global: The Gingrich-Obama “global citizen” debate.
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global-citizen%E2%80%9D-debate.
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Hey, J. 2004. Can international studies research be the basis for an undergradu-
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10 Introduction
Ishiyama, J., and M. Breuning. 2004. A survey of international studies programs

at liberal arts colleges and universities in the Midwest: Characteristics and
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education. Boston: Harvard University Press.
Pike, G. 2008. Reconstructing the legend: Educating for global citizenship. In
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October 3. Conference Plenary: First Annual IDI Conference, Minneapolis,
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one Introduction

Lauren grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While an under-

he was eight years old. Raised bilingually and biculturally, he attended

40° United States Portugal Spain

Western Sahara Alg

Jamaica Haiti Puerto

Hawaiian Rico Mauritania

Map 1 The World (Steph Gaspers 2008)

I ta Black Sea Geo Uzbek Kyrgyzstan

n ce Armenia Turkm n Korea 40°

Egypt Arabia G ulf India

United Arab India Taiwan

Arab ian Myanmar

African Sudan Palau Marshall

Benin Sri Lanka M a Brunei Islands

Namibia Mauritius New

Black Sea 60°

Italy Bulgaria Geo

Lebanon Syria Iraq

Antarctica 120° Alg Sea West Bank

What Is International Studies?

of political philosophers to describe the global economy or consider how

tual nonsense and stunningly dangerous” (Gerzon 2009). This exchange

ability to understand that both ‘reality’ and language come in versions;

The Authors and International Studies

He is now a professor of international studies who has published books

international studies program. Both of us have worked to internationalize

Learning Outcomes and Competing Worldviews

balization (economic, political, and cultural), development, and security to

Cambridge University Press.

Ishiyama, J., and M. Breuning. 2004. A survey of international studies programs

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