Chancellor's
Speech
Dr. Winfred
L. Thompson
American
University of Sharjah
On behalf
of the American University of Sharjah, I am pleased
to welcome you to this conference on “Globalization
and the Gulf,” organized jointly by the university
and the Sociological Association of the U.A.E.
I would especially like to express our sincere gratitude
to His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi,
Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah and president
of the American University of Sharjah, for honoring
us with lending his scholarly support to this conference.
Like the university itself, this joint endeavor between
the Association and the University is something of an
experiment, the fruit of a collaboration that is only
a few years old. I am confident that this fruitful collaboration
is in the process of attaining the same outstanding
level of success experienced by the university in such
a short duration of time. I congratulate both organizations
upon your success in organizing the conference.
The word “globalization,” considered in one
light, may seem a rather antiseptic term, well suited
for dispassionate analysis by sociologists, political
scientists, economists, and others in the academic world.
At the same time, the word has come to carry great emotional
weight as well, implying change in the lives of individuals
and the defining characteristics of nations. Many people
are very uncomfortable with such changes and many are
passionately, even violently opposed. Some identify
the word – wrongly in my judgment – with an
unwanted and perhaps even deliberate encroachment by
powerful economies upon smaller ones.
In my view, globalization is an almost inevitable process
and one which has been going on for a very long time
indeed. What distinguishes the process in our lifetimes
is the rapidity with which it occurs and, therefore
the dramatic, sometimes stressful changes it may bring.
Best wishes for a fruitful discussion as you consider
the impact of these profound changes on the people and
nations of the Gulf Region.
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