The American-Style University at Large

Transplants, Outposts, and the Globalization of Higher Education

Edited by Kathryn L. Kleypas, James I. McDougall

Publication date:

30 December 2011

Length of book:

326 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

238x163mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739150207

The focus of research on the globalization of higher education has historically been on universities within the United States. More recently, the focus has shifted to the international scene, yet there remain few published works to document this phenomenon.
The American-Style University at Large: Transplants, Outposts, and the Globalization of Higher Education, edited by Kathryn L. Kleypas and James McDougall, is an intervention into current discussions concerning the role of the contemporary American-style university in a global context. The editors approach the subject from their own experiences as professors at an American-style university in the Middle East. They pull together essays from an impressively diverse list of contributors which examine the various ways that American models of higher learning have become instituted around the world. The authors then explore ways that these new configurations help to define the university as a force that organizes, develops, and controls methods of education, knowledge, power, and culture.

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction, James I. McDougall
Mapping the American-Style University
Chapter 1, “Globalization and the Geopolitics of Knowledge: The Role of the Humanities in the
Corporate University,” Walter Mignolo
Chapter 2, “American-Style Higher Education and the People of the Middle East,” Patrick
McGreevy
Chapter 3, “Soft Power Goes Abroad: The Transplant University as a Western Outpost in the
Arab Gulf States,” Mary Ann Tétreault
Chapter 4, “Out of the Open Admissions Contexts: Transplanting a “Clean” American
Community College Model to Postcolonial Hong Kong,” Ting Man Tsao
Chapter 5, “The Modern Knowledge Worker in the Global U: An Interview with Andrew Ross,”
James I. McDougall and Kathryn L. Kleypas
Performing the American-Style University
Chapter 6, “Performing the Global University,” Eng-Beng Lim
Chapter 7, “Notes on Non-Places and the Localization of the Global American-Style University,”
James I. McDougall
Chapter 8, “Nostalgia, Performance, and Pedagogy in the American-Style University,” Kathryn
L. Kleypas
Chapter 9, “Rhetorics of Diversity and Difference: Branding an American-Style University in the
Arabian Gulf,” Mary Queen
Chapter 10, “A Neocolonialist Invader or a Postmodern Exile?: the American-Style University in
the ‘Desert of the Real,’” Yulia Pushkarevskaya Naughton

Disciplining American Studies and English in the American-Style University
Chapter 11, “The Borders and Limits of American Studies: A Picture from Beirut,” Malini Johar
Schueller
Chapter 12, “Beyond These Shores: An Argument for Internationalizing Composition,” Mark
Schaub
Chapter 13, “Running Dogs and English Gods: New Challenges for Taiwan’s English
Departments,” Mary Goodwin
Chapter 14, “Critical Thinking, Critical Writing in Composition Courses at the American
University in Bulgaria,” Filitsa Sofianou-Mullen and John W. Mullen
Conclusion, Kathryn L. Kleypas
Index

Anyone interested in the future of higher education, the politics of teaching, globalization and its cultural impact, or the changing nature of universities (whether 'American-style' or not) will find this book an important read. The essays compiled provide extremely rigorous information and analysis about some of the most pressing issues concerning the future of what used to be known as ’liberal education.’ Indeed, the book’s timeliness consistently surprises, whether dealing directly with the politics of the Middle East, Asia, or the ongoing economic crisis and its impact on the university system. This should be an important book read by educators, scholars, and those concerned with critical thought. Indeed, what ties the various contributions together remains a concern with the highest ideals of education in the face of dark political and economic times.