RIT’s Gannett Lecture Series Explores Globalization and Human Rights in Post 9-11 World

Over the last year, the term "globalization" has shifted from a mostly academic buzzword to center stage in the daily news.

In an effort to make sense of the complex political economics of globalization, Rochester Institute of Technology will explore Globalization, Human Rights and Citizenship during its 2002-03 Caroline Werner Gannett Lecture Series, free and open to the public. An accompanying movie series will examine globalization and human rights issues in the context of real people’s lives.

Part of RIT’s mandatory Senior Seminar in the Liberal Arts, the series kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, in Webb Auditorium with Globalization and Its Discontents, by Robert Manning, RIT’s Caroline Werner Gannett Professor of Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and coordinator of the Gannett lecture series.

Manning has written extensively on Mexican immigration and the North American Free Trade Agreement. A past senior Fulbright lecturer to Mexico and a specialist in comparative international development, Manning is editing a book on U.S. moral leadership in shaping the current phase of globalization.

"After 9-11, Americans have learned that our privileged position in the global economy has produced both admiration and disdain from citizens of other countries," Manning says. "Our goal is to provide a better understanding of the social conditions that both help and hinder a better understanding of our increasingly integrated global community."

The fall-quarter lectures will also include:

The Globalization of Nothing: So Many Making So Much out of So Little, by George Ritzer, on Thursday, Oct. 3. Ritzer, a distinguished professor from the University of Maryland, wrote The McDonaldization of Society and founded the international Journal of Consumer Culture.

Globalization: What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You, by David Reid, the Benjamin Forman Chair of International Business at RIT and director of the Center for International Business, and Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, on Thursday, Oct. 17.

Race to the Border: Globalization Collides with Human Rights and the Environment, by Saul Landau, author, filmmaker and political activist, on Thursday, Oct. 31.

Two complementary films will be shown each academic term as a new component of the Gannett lecture series, starting with:

Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, was filmed on five continents. To be shown on Thursday, Sept. 26, this series examines how the battle over the world economy will shape our lives in the 21st century.

Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos, by Saul Landau, shows the newly arrived workers, in the maquilas (foreign-owned factories), and portrays the indigenous Maya struggling to maintain their land and identity. To be shown on Thursday, Oct. 24.

The Gannett lectures will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Webb Auditorium, James E. Booth Building. The Gannett films will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in the George Eastman Building, room 2000. For more information, call 475-2057 or visit www.rit.edu/gannettseries.

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About the lecture series: RIT’s College of Liberal Arts began the Gannett Lecture Series in the mid 1970s, usually in two-year thematic blocks which have included environmental, Constitutional and millennial themes. The series coordinates with the university’s Senior Seminar, requiring all seniors to attend.