Cultural Identity in the Age of Globalization (Second Edition): A Historical Critique of Western Universalism Discourse

Author: Zhang Xudong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: This book is a systematic and thought-provoking monograph on the history of ideas and a critique of contemporary cultural theory. It represents an attempt to integrate foreign teaching and research with domestic contextual thinking, more specifically, an effort to bridge the academic norms, discursive boundaries, and ways of thinking between the East and the West. The content is derived from two graduate courses offered in the spring and summer of 2002. One was a special seminar titled "Modernity and Identity: Universalism and Its Discontent" (：) at the Department of Comparative Literature, New York University. The reading materials and teaching language were in English, targeting doctoral students in Comparative Literature and other humanities departments, with the aim of helping students systematically understand the conceptual history, social history, and political philosophical foundations behind contemporary theory. The other was a series of lectures titled "Cultural Identity in the Age of Globalization" () conducted at the Institute of Comparative Literature and the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University, from May to June 2002, targeting graduate and doctoral students in Chinese Language and Literature and other humanities departments. The reading materials and teaching language were in Chinese. This book is based on the materials and courses in both languages and has been organized and revised accordingly.