Whether it’s the war on terrorism, global markets, tourism, or population diversity, we can’t escape the effects of globalization; they are indeed everywhere. This course will trace the rise of globalization as written about by early and late 20th and 21st century writers. For writers in the so-called third world, globalization often means a very different experience from that represented in the U.S. and European media. This course will first explore how early twentieth-century writer Joseph Conrad saw empire and globalization and then how contemporary writers from the Caribbean, West Africa and South Asia negotiate between the lived effects of globalization and the failed dreams of liberation. How are they reimagining history so as to create new possibilities and communities for an alternative future? What is our role in the first-world university as readers of these texts? What critical opportunities do they afford us?