"Introduction to The Monstrous Global: The Effects of Globalization on Cultures"

Abstract

This special issue on "The Monstrous Global: The Effects of Globalization on Cultures" explores representations of the monstrous effects and products of globalization. The monstrous (as in The Monstrous Feminine by Barbara Creed) in this sense alludes to the ways in which local or national displays of fear and anxiety about the Other are embedded in struggles and tensions of global scale; the inability to cognitively map the effect of such global forces on local/national problems produces monstrous representations of the global. Global forces such as neoliberalism and reactionary nationalism, technology, climate change, migration and displacement lead to accelerating instability and proliferating problems without local solutions, thus leading to growing fear and anger in search of targets. The term "monstrous" also implies that the unruly and uncontainable forces of globalization can generate zones of undecidability that can precipitate formations of new identity and solidarity across race, class, and gender. This special issue is organized around monsters, both symbolic and literal, whose representation makes visible the changes, anxieties, and political responses generated by invisible global forces.