In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Global Citizenship and the University: Advancing Social Life and Relations by Robert A. Rhoads and Katalin Szelényi
  • Brendan Cantwell
Robert A. Rhoads and Katalin Szelényi. Global Citizenship and the University: Advancing Social Life and Relations. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011. 327 pp. Paperback: $24.95. ISBN: 9780804775427.

During the 19th and much of the 20th centuries, universities were quintessential modern intuitions insofar as they were they dedicated to cultural formation and preservation and to the social and economic development of the nation-states in which they were located. While not unmoored from their national contexts, universities increasingly are now global institutions whose activities and influences are not confined by national boundaries.

The emerging global university is the empirical and conceptual site of Rhoads and Szelény’s Global Citizenship and the University. Rhoads and Szelény describe globalization processes as complex and heterogeneous but explain that globalization has been dominated by neoliberal economic orthodoxy, which imposes market supremacy, as [End Page 405] advanced by conservative political and cultural elites. The university, Rhoads and Szelény argue, is one of the few civic institutions not yet “entirely conquered” (p. 44) by neoliberalism. Given that the university is a partial holdout to the global neoliberal imperative, Rhoads and Szelény seek to understand how faculty and student identities as citizens either resist or reinforce neoliberal notions of citizenship in a globalized society.

The book is organized into six chapters including a theoretical introductory chapter, four empirical case studies, and a concluding chapter. The case study chapters report on research conducted at universities in China, the United States, Argentina, and Hungary.

Rhoads and Szelény tack back and forth from individual to structural analysis. This is because the conceptual model of citizenship they advance involves interconnections between local, national, and global spheres. Chapter 1 includes primers on globalization, with special attention given to neoliberalism, as well as on academic capitalism and the commercialization of universities. In describing these processes, Rhoads and Szelény argue that universities provide spaces in which individuals can develop and enact alternative, communitarian, and emancipatory understandings of global citizenship.

The authors argue that globalization demands new ways of thinking about citizenship. As they explain, “Globalization poses new and complex possibilities for conceiving citizenship and the rights and responsibilities as extended beyond the traditional boundaries of society and nation-state. Thus, we see the need to develop a particular notion of citizenship that incorporates a serious global component” (p. 29) Hence, Rhoads and Szelény offer a four-type global citizenship typology organized by a horizontal axis representing a spectrum from globally informed to locally informed, which is bisected by a vertical axis with collectivist and individualist identities at the poles. Type 1 is a locally informed collectivist conception of citizenship, Type 2 is a globally informed collectivist citizenship, Type 3 is a locally informed individualist conception of citizenship, while Type 4 is a globally informed individualist view of citizenship.

After a lengthy introduction addressing literature and theory the authors turn their attention to empirical case studies. Chapter 2 is a study of university life at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GUFS) in southern China. Through interviews collected over several visits, Rhoads and Szelény demonstrate that faculty and students at GUFS struggle to balance the preservation of Chinese culture and tradition with increased participation in the global economy in crafting citizenship identities to inform their work and lives. While many students are keen to use the university as a springboard into high-paying jobs and Western lifestyles, many faculty members are anxious to preserve the best of Chinese heritage and avoid wholesale Westernization while, at the same time, recognizing the need to become globally engaged.

Chapter 3 is a case study of graduate students from China, Brazil, and Italy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). UCLA, one of the world’s top universities with cutting-edge facilities and world-class professors, attracts thousands of international students each year. But the post-9/11 context means that international students are subject to increased scrutiny and surveillance. As a global city, Los Angeles is a cultural and economic hub, which provides opportunities for international...

pdf

Share