Location
Lowey International Center Dining Hall
Start Date
11-8-2010 8:30 AM
End Date
11-8-2010 10:00 AM
Description
There is universal consensus that we are at the end of an historical cycle. But the consensus vanishes when you try to identify the corpse: we cannot accept that it is not just another business cycle, as the pundits still proclaim, but neither can we assume the end of globalization, neoliberalism, capitalism or the modern era, as many critics currently argue. Raised with a promise of infinite prosperity, beyond business cycles, at 'the end of history' after the marriage of capitalism and liberal democracy, our students have suddenly entered an era of decreasing expectations and increasing uncertainty. How to reformulate their hope, any hope? How can they be inspired by what the people are doing, all over the world, when they take again in their hands their own lives and destinies, reclaiming their own definition of the good life?
Founder of the Universidad de la Tierra, Gustavo Esteva is also an SIT Study Abroad lecturer; and director of the International Honors Program called Rethinking Globalization. He has received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Vermont, the Premio Nacional for Political Economy, and the Premio Nacional de Jornalismo.
Esteva.notes.docx
The Meaning of the Global Crisis and "Recovery" for Study Abroad: What Are We Preparing Students For?
Lowey International Center Dining Hall
There is universal consensus that we are at the end of an historical cycle. But the consensus vanishes when you try to identify the corpse: we cannot accept that it is not just another business cycle, as the pundits still proclaim, but neither can we assume the end of globalization, neoliberalism, capitalism or the modern era, as many critics currently argue. Raised with a promise of infinite prosperity, beyond business cycles, at 'the end of history' after the marriage of capitalism and liberal democracy, our students have suddenly entered an era of decreasing expectations and increasing uncertainty. How to reformulate their hope, any hope? How can they be inspired by what the people are doing, all over the world, when they take again in their hands their own lives and destinies, reclaiming their own definition of the good life?
Founder of the Universidad de la Tierra, Gustavo Esteva is also an SIT Study Abroad lecturer; and director of the International Honors Program called Rethinking Globalization. He has received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Vermont, the Premio Nacional for Political Economy, and the Premio Nacional de Jornalismo.
Comments
Keynote Speech Part 1
Keynote Speech Part 2