Chair's Message
Welcome to the new 2024 academic year which promises to be a very exciting one. We
welcome our fifth cohort of doctoral students to the department and are excited to
engage with their research interests. We also welcome a new faculty member, Dr. Ka-eul
Yoo, who brings expertise on disability justice, public health policy, and the US
military empire in Asia and the Pacific. With a total of seventeen faculty, our thriving
department is fast becoming a leader in the field of Global Studies with its unique
interdisciplinary curriculum that spans the social sciences and humanities and engages
the pressing issues of the 21st century. I am thrilled to welcome everyone to the new academic year and embrace the
opportunities ahead.
Eve Darian-Smith
Distinguished Professor and Department Chair
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
- Linking teaching and scholarly work with inclusive social transformation.
- Promoting dialogue between different geo-historical societies with diverse systems of knowledge and understanding.
- Building collective futures no longer imagined from one single and overarching western perspective.
- 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, 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.