Speaker: Michael D. Kennedy, professor of sociology and international studies, Brown University

As I write in Globalizing Knowledge: Intellectuals, Universities, and Publics in Transformation, “globalizing knowledge refers to the process by which distant regions’ knowledgeabilities are implicated in the particular cultures fusing those understandings. The form of globalizing knowledge will vary given the different historical and institutional contexts that shape such learning. Globalizing knowledge is, therefore, relationally composed. The sociology of globalizing knowledge concerns the conditions, manners, and implications of that fusion.”

Poland, Kosova, and Ukraine, and the University of Michigan itself figure prominently in that book. In this presentation, I consider the ways in which their presence shapes the particular fusion of horizons apparent in my approach to globalizing knowledge. In particular, I link my approaches to solidarity, difference, knowledge networks and public engagement to my learning in these four contexts.

Michael D. Kennedy (@Prof_Kennedy) is professor of sociology and international studies at Brown University. Throughout his career, Kennedy has addressed intellectuals and professionals in East European social movements, national identification, and systemic change. For the last fifteen years, he has also studied the sociology of public knowledge, global transformations, and cultural politics, focusing most recently on the European Union, energy security, universities, and social movements. Globalizing Knowledge: Intellectuals, Universities, and Publics in Transformation was recently published by Stanford University Press. Kennedy was the University of Michigan’s first vice provost for international affairs, in addition to being director of an institute and five centers and programs at U-M. He has also served as the Howard R. Swearer Director of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.