The Centre

BACKGROUND AND IDEOLOGY SYNOPSIS

The Centre for Global Studies (CEG-UAb) has as its general aim to contribute to the adequate understanding of the processes and dynamics of globalisation, focusing on the complex relationships between local, national and international contexts, in order to research for a more human globalisation and to contribute to a more sustainable development, in cultural, social, economic and environmental terms. As a new centre that is part of the spirit and dynamics of its time, it assumes among its values a strong commitment to the respect for human rights, the freedom of peoples and the fight against imbalances, inequalities and violence. Thus, the Centre aims to contribute by responding to the major risks and challenges facing humanity today, including the destruction of ecosystems and cultural heritage, climate change, the effects of pandemics, growing economic inequalities, technological developments and the digital transition, totalitarianism and other threats to democracy, terrorism, religious intolerance and armed conflicts. Although these are very different issues, they all involve major risks for individual and collective life, implying a truly “global” type of knowledge and action, in the sense that it transcends local and national borders, while taking into account the singularities of different territories.

The CEG-UAb proposes to foster an emerging area of studies in Portugal and in Portuguese-speaking countries, taking as reference the area of “Global Studies”, in accordance with the recommendations of international institutions such as UNESCO. Its field of action will be the production of knowledge, in an interdisciplinary context, about the phenomena resulting from globalization, stimulating and consolidating research on global structures, processes and dynamics.

The creation of the new centre stems from the research work carried out over the last five years within the FCT Infante D. Henrique Chair for Insular Atlantic Studies and Globalisation (CIDH), which is part of the CLEPUL Center in Aberta University, currently continued in the CIPSH Chair for Global Studies, and intends to frame and enhance the research being developed in the scope of the PhD Programme in Global Studies. This is being done in cooperation with other advanced training programmes of Aberta University, and taking into account its international partnerships in operation and its scientific and pedagogical initiatives, by carrying out research projects with the participation of researchers in advanced training, in close cooperation with national and international experts. It is also CEG-UAb’s goal to actively contribute to substantiate public policies and the democratic participation of citizens.

The emergence of Global Studies stems from the recognition that globalisation affects daily life and that the world needs innovative forms of reflection and action, promoting the capacity for international cooperation in order to solve problems from an international and global perspective. This major goal is based on a multifaceted and non-hegemonic programme applied to global contexts in which societies are viewed as subsystems of the interdependent global world, with a view to social justice. Globalisation refers to a process that brings economies and societies closer together, influencing political and cultural processes, and presupposes complex thinking which, according to Edgar Morin, instead of overlapping, articulates knowledge and reconnects theory and practice in a transdisciplinary approach.

The teachers and researchers involved in the creation of CEG-UAb consider innovation to be the main feature of its activities, in line with Aberta University’s scientific development strategy. The University’s distance learning model allows a commitment to the new dynamics of open science and favourable conditions for research in a global context, enabling the creation of a network of stakeholders in this emerging area.

 

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

  • To deepen, broaden and systematize knowledge about the phenomenon of globalization, articulating political, economic, social, cultural and educational dynamics in local, national and international contexts.
  • To critically reflect on global issues according to innovative epistemological perspectives, contributing to determine the role of societies and people in the globalization process.
  • To identify research needs in Global Studies and disseminate the research produced to peers and the wider community.
  • To implement appropriate research methodologies and actions that contribute to the resolution of global problems.
  • To develop interdisciplinary concepts, perspectives and discourses about global identity processes on history, religions, culture, politics, law, society, education, economy and environment.
  • To contribute with research and reflection to guide public policies in various fields (e.g. educational, economic, social, cultural, linguistic and environmental policies).
  • To innovate towards improving people’s living conditions by creating sustainable relations between culture, economy, society and environment, in a global perspective.
  • To promote the articulation of the research objectives from the different doctoral programmes at the UAb, from a collaborative and interdisciplinary perspective, as well as the construction of global research networks, aiming at the development of theoretical-methodological models that are adequate to the different contexts and supporting research in contexts where it is particularly difficult or scarce.
  • To promote advanced training actions that prepare staff to deal with the issues, problems and alternatives associated with the globalization process, creating critical knowledge and the capacity to intervene in the construction of a sustainable global society from a socio-cultural and ecological point of view.
  • To promote projects that link the local and the global, with respect for human rights and sustainable development, throughout the world.

 

MAJOR ISSUES/PROBLEMS

The CEG-UAb will guide its research work according to problems and challenges that are in the process of identification and deepening at all times by its body of researchers, namely:

  • How to construct the history of communities, peoples and countries in order to assume a critical knowledge of the past according to an integrative perspective of human interactions in an open logic, breaking with the closed circles of revisiting the past and carried out in an interspatial and transtemporal perspective?
  • How to study, understand and give an understanding of cultural, literary and artistic heritages and creative dynamics in the present in the light of a global reading key?
  • How can we analyse and anticipate individual and social lifestyles to ensure a more sustainable and ecologically and socially balanced future on planet Earth, starting with the city and country where we live?
  • How can organisations in general, and business organisations in particular, sustainably promote a society that is more concerned with its future, based on effective universal values, and on the basis of a true purpose oriented towards the common good?
  • How can we work legally and politically to build societies and institutions that are open to the world and respect the rule of law?
  • How can we devise educational ideas, strategies and methods that contribute to the integral development and fulfilment of individuals, to the recognition and dialogue between cultures, and to the construction of global citizenship?
  • How to understand and intervene in truly global phenomena/challenges such as religious, political and social radicalisation, the effects of pandemics, migrations or digitalisation of the economy?

 

ORGANIZATION CHART

Diretor

José Eduardo Franco

College of Coordinators

João Relvão Caetano (Coordinator of G6: Global Politics and Law)
Jorge Trindade (Coordinator of G1: Anthropocene, Sustainability and Development)
José Eduardo Franco (Coordinator of G4: Global History: Themes & Approaches)
José Porfírio (Coordinator of G3: Management, Entrepreneurship and Governance for Development)
Pedro Abrantes (Coordinator of G2: Global Education: Connectivity, Complexity and Diversity)
Rosa Sequeira (Coordinator of G5: Literature, Arts and Transcultures)
Steffen Dix (Coordinator of G7: Religion, Globalization and Local Dynamics)

Assessment and Advisory Board

Fabrice d’Almeida (University Panthéon-Assas, France)
Inma Rodriguez Ardura (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain)
José Casanova (University of Georgetown, USA)
Tom Conley (University of Harvard, USA)
Viriato Soromenho-Marques (University of Lisbon, Portugal)

Management Advisory
Cristiana Lucas Silva

Secretariat
Milene Alves