Chair's Message

 
Welcome to the new 2023 academic year which promises to be a very exciting one. We welcome our fourth cohort of doctoral students as well as three new faculty with wide-ranging expertise in issues of comparative racial politics, Black political thought, diaspora, political sociology, urban studies, global environmental justice, and US militarism. These outstanding scholars have deep field experience in Africa and Latin America and will help the department’s mission in broadening inclusive scholarship and decolonizing knowledge production within the academy. They also underscore the leadership role our department is taking in the field of Global Studies as we build out our interdisciplinary curriculum that engages with the pressing issues of the 21^st century. I am thrilled to welcome everyone to the new academic year and embrace the opportunities ahead.

Eve Darian-Smith
Department Chair

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What is Global Studies?
Global Studies is a fast-growing field of inquiry dedicated to understanding pressing global issues such as rising authoritarianism, climate change, human rights, ethnic conflict, inequality, immigration, global health, global governance, and more. Scholars of global studies explore and develop theoretical and empirical models with the aim of analyzing and critiquing process of globalization in social, cultural, economic, political, legal and historical contexts. While the nation-state undoubtedly remains a crucial terrain of political, economic and cultural contestation, global studies seeks to move beyond methodological nationalism, deploying a multi-scalar lens to examine social relations across a local-global continuum. Because the "global turn" emerged out of a transdisciplinary conversation exceeding the focus of any single discipline or methodology, we engage a holistic approach and pluralist analytical framework. As scholars and teachers, we interrogate taken-for-granted concepts and relations of power while foregrounding the deep historical legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

Goals of the Department

1) Linking teaching and scholarly work with inclusive social transformation.
2) Promoting dialogue between different geo-historical societies with diverse systems of knowledge and understanding.
3) Building collective futures no longer imagined from one single and overarching western perspective.
4) Training students to be social engaged, sophisticated, innovative and globally aware citizens of the world, competitive in the job market and well prepared for graduate and professional training.

Undergraduate Major in International Studies
International Studies majors acquire twenty-first-century analytical skills and knowledge that enable them to understand and contribute to shaping the rapidly evolving global community. The degree in international studies equips students for professional careers in a variety of fields such as international affairs and public policy, international business and finance, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academic research and teaching. The department has a track record of placing its majors in a wide range of exciting careers and graduate programs.

In addition to their coursework, students in the Department of Global and International Studies at UCI are encouraged to engage globally in a variety of ways: involvement in student organizations, residency in the International Peace and Conflict Studies (IPACS) House, study abroad, UCDC, and internships (local and international).

Graduate Degree in Global Studies
Our new PhD program leads the emerging field of Global Studies with its cutting-edge curriculum, faculty, and embracing of scholarship from across the social sciences and humanities. Our transdisciplinary curriculum engages multiple theoretical perspectives and critical methodologies. We emphasize the importance of engaging global south scholarship and non-western epistemologies that broaden the base of knowledge production and bring new perspectives to bear on the pressing global issues impacting us all. With close mentorship from our outstanding faculty, graduate students are prepared to develop sophisticated interdisciplinary research on global issues that are relevant in today's world. Our goal is to produce excellent scholars that are professional, productive, innovative, insightful, and ready to compete in today's job market.