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Award-winning author Pico Iyer to kick off 'Globalization and Belonging' series

Emily Crane, Campus Editor

Award-winning author Pico Iyer will be presenting a lecture called, "Global Souls: Fresh Pressures and Possibilities in Our New Age of Movement," 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10 in 102 Benton Hall.

His lecture is the first in a series called "Globalization and Belonging," presented by the Humanities Center's John W. Altman Program. This year, the program is focusing on questions of identity and belonging in a globalized world, according to Humanities Center Director Tim Melley.

"We're asking questions like, 'How did the Boston Marathon bombers decide they were enemies?'" Melley said. "What disrupted their feeling of belonging?"

When it comes to answering such questions, no one could be better suited for the task than Iyer, Melley said.

Born in England to parents from India, educated in the US and the UK and currently living in Japan, Iyer knows a thing or two about globalization. His travels across cultures have required him to think about where he belongs and how he should place himself in the world, he said.

"I'm really interested in the issue of home and what home means," Iyer said. "It's become invsible, portable, shifting."

Iyer has written 13 of books and hundreds of articles on this very subject, earning him a number of honors and awards. Yet, he loves speaking at universities and is especially fond of Miami he said because this will be his second speaking engagement here.

Prior to his lecture on Tuesday, he will be meeting with a number of different groups of faculty and students in smaller, more intimate settings. There will also be an open reception and book signing following the talk.

Iyer said he hopes to keep even the lecture as informal as possible by taking a "human approach" to looking at globalization.

"Globalization is far more interesting on the personal level," Iyer said. "I'll stress the human aspect in my talk."


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