Cultural studies and/in new worlds¹

This paper considers the impact on cultural studies of its increasing internationalization. It argues for a conception of cultural studies which will enable it to escape from the consequences of its links with "modern" forms of power. It proposes a spatial and machinic model of power and attempts to rethink the meaning and place of identity within the contemporary politics of culture. Notes This paper, and the ongoing work it represents, would not be possible without the help of Meaghan Morris. It attempts to extend the argument of my book We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. This paper was first presented at the Trajectories: Toward an Internationalist Cultural Studies Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, July 1992. I am grateful to Kuan Hsing Chen for having invited me and for permission to publish it here, prior to its inclusion in the first volume (Trajectories: The Formations of Cultural Studies) of the proceedings of this important conference, and in Race, Identity, and Representation, edited by Cameron McCarthy and Warren Crichlow (Routledge, 1993). I also want to thank May Joseph, Cameron McCarthy, James Hay and the students in my graduate seminar (Spring 1992) for all their help. Finally I would like to acknowledge that this revised paper reflects many of the discussions and comments of the various participants in the Trajectories conference. It is, therefore, in a very real sense, part of a collective and ongoing project.