Introduction - Cultural Studies

Introducción – Estudios Culturales

In 2008 the Research Group on Cultural Studies in the Americas of the University of California at Davis and the Master in Cultural Studies of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá started a joint work, tending to put our practices in conversation in particular local contexts and , at the same time, reflections on aspects of cultural studies that refer to hemispheric problems. This alliance was consolidated in the second half of 2008 through two activities that allowed its participants to share concerns and also ongoing research: on the one hand, a seminar on cultural studies research developed simultaneously in Davis and Bogotá, as a videoconferencing, and, on the other hand, the participation of six students of the University of California in the Javeriana University Master's Colloquium.

One of the paths of reflection opened in this scenario is linked to the political role of cultural studies in social transformation, based on the relationships between academia and social movements that they allow and their impact on the configuration of the university as a place for debate, criticism and articulation - or not - between political subjects. It was within the framework of these concerns that in 2009 we conducted the Cultural Studies Symposium in the Americas: Commitment, Collaboration, Transformation, with which, in addition to strengthening the alliance of our universities and relations with other institutions and researchers in the hemisphere, we contributed in the reflection line noted above.