Culturally and politically, we now inhabit the realm of the global-popular. And yet, the two terms whose hyphenated conjugation names our contemporaneity remain notoriously vague and widely contested. This course will examine this conjugation: not as an additive model, but in terms of a historically informed approach that does justice to the fundamental transformations that have led to this moment. Our objective is to develop the categories and frameworks that capture the multi-sited and multiscalar fecundities of the global-popular without capitulating to a universal teleology or resorting to simplistic binaries of general/particular, center/periphery, and complicity/resistance.

Course readings will be posted shortly. The class will also be expected to attend The Global-Popular Workshop, April 22-23, featuring speakers on topics relevant to the seminar.