International Studies examines the origins, processes and contestations of globalisation in the contemporary world. Ordinary people's experiences and responses to global integration are at the centre of our inquiry. It examines how local communities around the world embrace but also challenge aspects of globalisation, in four interlocking spheres of the human condition:
- Global health and disease
- Environment, cities and sustainability
- Crisis, conflict and disaster
- Commerce, technology and consumption
Global Health and Disease
The ways in which people experience good health or disease are increasingly influenced by global factors, such as the growing movement of people and animals, the spread of pollution and pathogens, the development of new medical technologies and treatments, and international institutions that coordinate health and security responses to disease outbreaks. Where and how people live and die - local matters - determines their access to primary healthcare, so an understanding of culture, global wealth distribution, and development is an essential component to studying global health and disease in this stream.
Environment, Cities and Sustainability
By the end of this century, the majority of the world's population will live in cities. Meanwhile, climate change is in progress, and the way we live within our natural and built ecosystems, among people and with animals, is inherently interconnected and subject to new pressures. This stream focuses on the impacts of a changing environment in an increasingly urbanised world. It provides students with the means to critically examine ways in which a more sustainable mode of living on the planet are being devised by researchers in a range of disciplines, and why the humanities and social sciences bring an important set of analytical skills to understanding the challenges of sustaining a just, prosperous life for all on the planet.
Crisis, Conflict and Disaster
Crises in our contemporary world take many forms - in the movement and displacement of people, discrimination, poverty and injustice, violence and suffering. War and political conflict, pollution and exploitation, natural and industrial disasters, and biological catastrophes like pandemic disease outbreaks, are among the many topics examined here. This stream brings these realms of human experience, as well as the increasingly internationalised responses to them, together in one stream to examine the causes and consequences of global crises.
Commerce, Technology and Consumption
Global trade, the production and consumption of commodities and culture, and the uptake of new technologies are among the primary ways that ordinary people experience and are drawn into globalisation. Flows of trade, money, ideas, entertainments and people are fundamental to an integrated world, and yet are also basic to how questions of justice, development and difference are negotiated and disputed. The tensions between the agency of individuals and the power of commercial and corporate entities - and between the local and the global - are core queries we pursue in this stream.
Compulsory overseas study component
A minimum of 18 points must be chosen for study abroad from the units listed below or an overseas partner institution. For more information go to Arts study abroadArts study abroad (http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/study-overseas/).