20 September 2010

You, me, and s/he are the world: the ideological projection of the global imaginary at the 2010 Shanghai Expo

Building on Manfred Steger’s previous work around the rising global imaginary and its articulation by various competing global ideologies (globalisms), this presentation takes these macro-mappings of social space to the micro-level of representational urban spaces in the Asia-Pacific region.

The specific contexts of the larger research initiative (partnered with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences) are six global cities in the region: Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, and Los Angeles. Examining the crucial role of ‘condensation symbols’—ideologically colored text-images such as brand logos that help rearrange the local and national around the global—this presentation mines the rich symbolic environment of the 2010 Shanghai Expo for better explanations of how, concretely, a new global consciousness of the world takes shape in one of the most economically and culturally vibrant regions of the world.

For further information, please contact Michelle Farley on michelle.farley@rmit.edu.au.

Sponsored by the Globalism Research Centre, and the Globalization and Culture Program, Global Cities Institute