Beyond Discipline? Globalization and the Future of English

Economic and cultural globalization threatens the nation-state's ability to control institutions like the university, where a general emphasis on national subjectivities and ideologies is giving way to a focus on diasporic and postnational formations. Globalization challenges our tendency in literary studies to organize programs and curricula along national lines. This is particularly true for English literature, the contemporary production and consumption of which no longer take place within discrete national borders but unfold in a complex system of transnational economic and cultural exchanges. As we reorganize our approach to English in this context, we need to develop a thorough understanding of the key terms, issues, and debates that have marked the rise of globalization studies. Most important, we need to resituate English in a global framework without subjecting postnational literatures to the colonizing effects of some of our traditional hierarchies and practices.