Writing the World: On Globalization

by David Rothenberg (Editor), Wandee J. Pryor (Editor)

This collection of essays, memoirs, poems, stories, and artwork looks at globalization as a worldwide exchange of art and ideas. Writing the World focuses on the cultural realities of globalism -- the opportunities it provides to learn from other cultures. This knowledge, argue David Rothenberg and Wandee Pryor in their introduction, can be power: When all of us learn enough about our differences to respect the diversity that exists, we will be unable to pretend we are the same. We will never accept the old innocence and ignorance bred by oppression and exploitation. For the contributors to Writing the World, to dream of the global village is to see the world not as a vast market but as a place of shared values and linked wonder. It is time to listen to the many literate voices the world speaks, say Rothenberg and Pryor. The voices of Writing the World range from Arundhati Roy on the colonization of knowledge in her essay The Ladies Have Feelings, So... Shall We Leave It to the Experts? to Naomi Klein's meditation on fences, ownership, and property. They include Bill McKibben on women farmers in Bangladesh, Hannes Westberg's account of being shot by Swedish police at a demonstration, James Barilla on invading and indigenous plant species in The Aliens in the Garden, and many other vivid, compelling, and provocative writings that celebrate -- and illustrate -- the poetry of cultural contact. Artists and photographers whose work appears in the book include Adam Clayman, Jenny Matthews, Richard Robinson, and Arpita Singh.

250 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 2005

About the author

David Rothenberg is a professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His research investigates the musicality of animals and the role of nature in philosophy. He received his BA from Harvard College in 1984 and his PhD from Boston University in 1991.

Reviews

[Karla Kitalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It has some essays, some fiction, some poetry, some artwork.