Posted on Oct. 4: Globalization and autonomy experts convene at McMaster

Globalization and autonomy scholars from Canada, China, Taiwan, Europe and the United States will converge at McMaster this weekend to help set the agenda for a major collaborative research project.

Under the auspices of McMaster's Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, team members will explore the terms “globalization” and “autonomy” during the institute's first full-team meeting, Oct. 4 to 6.

“One of our objectives is to create a virtual research centre on globalization and autonomy issues to which all team members will belong and which will become a leading research centre on globalization issues in North America,” says professor William Coleman, director of the Institute.

The meeting includes plenary sessions, sub-groups, discussions and presentations. Sub-groups will finalize the research for the project and agree upon the organization and content of the academic publications from the project.

“Although independent of McMaster's Globalization Institute, this virtual centre will be managed and maintained at the University,” Coleman says. “McMaster University's support for our efforts has been crucial to our receiving a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant and to our being able to embark on this initiative.”

Project team members will also be introduced to the 'Globalization Compendium', which will make findings available in accessible, multimedia formats to a wide public audience. There will be discussions based on papers prepared and submitted for the meeting from both Globalization and Autonomy literature. Presentations will be made by all of the project partners: Shishir Priyadarshi, The South Centre, Mark Hecht, executive director of Human Rights Internet, Roy Culpeper, president of North-South Institute and Lauren Posner, Rights & Democracy.

More information about the project, including the individual research proposals, can be found at http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~global/gaa.htm