Nature, Culture and Justice 

Rapid economic globalization has dramatically altered business paradigms and government policies with unprecedented effects on societies and cultures, ecosystems and health, justice and equality. These changes have precipitated a widening sense of urgency and a search for new economic, cultural and political options in the face of conflicting worldviews and increasing identity assertion.

Students in IHP's Rethinking Globalization program meet some of the world's most important critics of current patterns of development and connect with a diversity of social movements and individual initiatives that are confronting the consequences of a globalized economy. They experience firsthand a variety of contested development programs and projects, and witness the emerging alternatives being tried to recover and maintain a just and sustainable world.

From Tanzania to New Zealand, India to Mexico, students visit urban and rural landscapes and communities affected by globalization. Drawing on the fields of anthropology, ecology, economics, environmental policy and politics, they examine how globalization, development and progress affect the planet and its inhabitants.

Most important, students learn how to see and experience the rich diversity and plurality of the world and how to interact with others. Going beyond mere empathy, they try to find shared ground for the creation of equitable and sustainable alternatives, harmonious coexistence, and ways to make a difference in their own world.

Key Questions

• What are the alternatives and possibilities being regenerated, imagined, and implemented for a just and sustainable world?
• Which voices, social movements and ideas currently resist and challenge dominant development paradigms and policies?
• What are the pathways now opened for dignified work and meaningful life?
• What is the role and responsibility of each of us in addressing the broader human and ecological dimensions of globalization and in finding our own place and destiny?