This book guides the reader through the many complications and contradictions that characterize popular contestation today, focusing on its socio-political, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions. The volume recognizes that the same media and creative strategies can be used to pursue very different causes, as the anti-gay marriage Manif Pour Tous movement in France makes clear. The contributors are scholars from the humanities and social sciences, who analyze protests in particular regions, including Egypt, Iran, Australia, France, Spain, Greece, and Hong Kong, and transnational protests such as the NSA-leaks and the mobilization of migrants and refugees. Not only the specificity of these protest movements is examined, but also their tendency to connect and influence each other, as well as the central, often ambiguous role global digital platforms play in this.

Heritage practices often lead to social exclusion, as such practices can favor certain values over others. In some cases, exclusion from a society’s symbolic landscape can spark controversy, or rouse emotion so much so that they result in cultural contestation. Examples of this abound, but few studies explicitly analyze the role of government in these instances. In this volume, scholars from a variety of academic backgrounds examine the various and often conflicting roles governments play in these processes—and governments do play a role. They act as authors and authorizers of the symbolic landscape, from which societal groups may feel excluded. Yet, they also often attempt to bring parties together and play a mitigating role.

Much has been written about the economic and political implications of the contemporary process of globalization. Much less has been written about the specific cultural implications. Previously published as a special issue of Globalizations, this book seeks to add to our knowledge of the latter by bringing together researchers from different disciplines with the common goal of exploring the emerging cultural relations among groups and individuals in terms of coherence and hybridity, identity and allegiance, and cooperation and conflict. As the world’s peoples increasingly travel, work, trade, recreate, and otherwise communicate with each other, relative cultural isolation (and isolationism) is becoming less and less possible. What does this mean for cultural coherence, stability and identity across the planet? What have been the cultural implications of, and reactions to, this increasing global interdependence among peoples? From more global and theoretical perspectives to more empirical and case-specific approaches, the various authors attempt to come to terms with the ever evolving and complex cultural content of contemporary globalization.

Ethnic conflict often focuses on culturally charged symbols and rituals that evoke strong emotions from all sides. Marc Howard Ross examines battles over diverse cultural expressions, including Islamic headscarves in France, parades in Northern Ireland, holy sites in Jerusalem and Confederate flags in the American South to propose a psychocultural framework for understanding ethnic conflict, as well as barriers to, and opportunities for, its mitigation. His analysis explores how culture frames interests, structures demand-making and shapes how opponents can find common ground to produce constructive outcomes to long-term disputes. He focuses on participants' accounts of conflict to identify emotionally significant issues, and the power of cultural expressions to link individuals to larger identities and shape action. Ross shows that, contrary to popular belief, culture does not necessarily exacerbate conflict; rather, the constructed nature of psychocultural narratives can facilitate successful conflict mitigation through the development of more inclusive narratives and identities.

In this book leading social scientists from many countries analyze the extent to which we are seeing a globalization of culture. Is a unified world culture emerging? And if so, how does this relate to existing cultural divisions and to the autonomy of the nation state? Differing explanations are offered for trends towards global unification and their relation to an economic world-system. Will the intensification of global contact produce increasing tolerance of other cultures? Or will an integrating culture produce sharper reactions in the form of fundamentalist and nationalist movements? The contributors explore the emergence of `third cultures', such as international law, the financial markets and media conglomerates, as

A series of essays by internationally known artists, scholars, and critics in the growing field of cultural theory, Culture and Contestation in the New Century examines the conditions of cultural production in the first decade of the twenty-first century. With an emphasis on how current neoliberal policies have affected institutions of cultural production and dissemination, it emphasizes the ensuing changes to critical theory. The contributors here are among the most respected scholars in art, art criticism, and cultural studies, and this powerful analysis poses important questions about cultural democracy and social change.

We offer in this book a collection of chapters that reflect a broad range of issues linking globalization to education in an accessible yet theoretically grounded and detailed form. The authors analyze phenomena on the global plane, in local spaces, and in the connections between the global and the local. New developments such as the growing impact of technology on education, the emergence of new policy actors, the growing expansion and segmentation of higher education, the salience of human rights, among others, are emerging as powerful agendas shaping all levels of education. In fundamental ways, the forces of globalization challenge the previous approaches and theories of national development. Recognizing the areas of convergence, dissonance, and conflict should help us grasp with greater clarity the implications of globalization for education and knowledge in the XXI century. The contributors to this book include both well-known scholars in the field of comparative education as well as young scholars. The chapters present a balanced geographical coverage in terms of authors and the countries/regions examined. The second edition has been thoroughly updated throughout and contains seven new chapters. The expanding interest in the intersection of education and globalization has brought up several new topics, including: the salience of global education policies, notably EFA; the expansion and differentiation of higher education; the emphasis on work-related training; the increasing role of non-state actors such as the transnational corporations; and greater attention to human rights. Also in this new edition is a chapter on qualitative methodologies especially suitable to the understanding of the intersection of globalization and education.