GLOBALIZATION AND THE HUMANITIES IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE 1990s

The essay presents an overview of two processes unfolding in the 1990s in the U.S. academic space: the growing awareness of a changing historical dynamic dubbed as "globalization", and the shifts in scholarly preoccupations attendant on the perception of globalization. The essay argues that globalization discourse allowed for a restoration of history-minded analysis during a period dominated by a historical critical discourse. While insisting that a decade is a problematic framework for historical analysis, the author suggests that some of the corollaries of globalization talk at the time can be found in a renewed interest in analyses with a long-term historical perspective (as in Arrighi's work) and in reflection on disciplinary issues inthe academic world (as in Guillory's work).