Aboim, Sofia2014-06-022014-06-022014Aboim, S. (2014). Globalization and Identity: reassessing power, hybridism and plurality. Lisboa: Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboahttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/11070Globalization has been a disputed concept among social theorists who diverge in defining the time-line, the contents or even the consequences of global processes, whether they refer to transnational capitalism, to liberal democracy, to cultural encounters, mass-media, fashion or the internet. Traditionally, globalization has been either viewed as the spread of western modernity, as an eroding force against the nation-state or, perhaps more importantly, as an uneven and contradictory system of fluxes between centre and periphery, which is often associated with the historicallybounded dichotomy between the west and the rest. Rather than a reified substance, contemporary globalization is broadly the heuristic device which connects the global and the local supporting the continued relations between old colonizers and postcolonized societies. From imperialist days to nowadays, globalization brings into play a history of violence and domination, but also of resistance, change and creativity, a history of civilizational encounters but also of inner transformation and permanent recreation of modernities. The purpose of this paper is to rethink the nature of the global context and its significance for local experiences of culture, power and identity, departing from the timeless structure/agency problem. I argue that the historical construction of the post-colonial society and of the individual self are not separate processes nor suffer differently the impact of local and global forces; on the contrary, they establish a relation of complicity marked by openness, indeterminacy and ambiguity. Hence, I discuss three main problems in order to establish the relation between globalization, agency and the constitution of modernities.porGlobalizaçãoHibridismoIdentidadeother