The "global village:" an evaporated dream turned nightmare. The original ambivalence of McLuhan's vision and its euphoric reception; Fulfillment of a prophecy and the crushing weight of reality: conceptualizing the current situation from an interdisciplinary perspective; Demystifying neoliberal myths related to prosperity and happiness; The environmental toll of short-sighted anthropocentric concerns; Conclusion
Defending the marginalized and disenfranchised inhabitants of the global village. The debasement of humanity as a commodity to be exploited : the dire working conditions of disenfranchised individuals in both emerging and developed economies; The sinister realities of human and sexual trafficking in the modern world; The immigrant as the face of contemporary human exploitation; Conclusion
Consumerism, the media, and the anonymous forces that sustain the modern world in Le Clézio's narratives. Consumerism, the new opiate of the masses: does the goods life = "the good life"?; The "liberal" or neoliberal media?; Sustaining the consumer republic through advertisement and marketing; The efforts of the "happy few" to silence the majority and to impose a monolithic culture in Le Clezio's narratives; Conclusion
Deconstructing the "genesis myth" and simulating cosmic empathy for the entire material universe; Combating the pervasive nature of the "genesis myth": (re)-conceptualizing a post-materialist world through the lens of philosophical materialism ; Cosmic humility and the existential nature of biotic egalitarianism in Le Clézio's narratives; Demystifying the values of renaissance humanism and envisioning a biocentric ethic; Conclusion
Resisting global hegemonic domination in Le Clézio's narratives and the importance of interculturality; Indigenous efforts at maintaining autonomy and traditional cultural identities in the face of globalization; What can be learned from modern failed utopias : intercultural dialogue, creolization, and hybridity; (Re)-appropriating technology to defend the oppressed and disenfranchised; Conclusion
Postscript. "Doubting must be the beginning of wisdom": a conversation with J.M.G. Le Clezio.
