About

Talking beyond boundaries

We work in a moment when culture has become the site of polarising debate and intensifying divisions, whether these follow the contours of national, political, linguistic, disciplinary, sexual, racial or other forms of difference. In this moment, cultural boundaries begin to take on the character of heavily policed borders.  What might we do to find routes around, over or through these obstructions?  How might we set about undermining them, and the national and international institutions and systems by which they are sustained? Are there ways in which, to begin with, we might continue to converse across these boundaries, or at least to map and thus understand them? 

The Global Cultures Institute exists to address these challenges, through research, education, and public and community engagement. It draws on and fosters extensive interdisciplinary networks within King’s and beyond, as well as our expertise in arts and humanities, and the work of our research centres, Queer@King’s, Language Acts and Worldmaking, and the King’s Race and Research Network. 

Through the work of our Fellows and Centres, and our programme of reading groups, film-screenings, talks, workshops, conferences and engagement activities, we:

• Develop understandings of cultural practices, cultural institutions and cultural boundaries, interrogating their varied definitions and meanings, both for individuals and for different sections of society. 
• Undertake research that examines the origins of today’s divisions in events and experiences of the past. 
• Create opportunities to reflect on what cultural crossing might mean and how it might be enacted. 
• Shape a space at King’s for debate that is both generous and robust, and for research that reaches out to confront the challenges of a globalised world.

Research Centres

Language Acts and Worldmaking

Flagship AHRC-funded project aimed at transforming modern language learning.

Queer@King’s

A centre for research and teaching in gender and sexuality studies.

Leadership Team

Steering Committee

Representatives from Dickson Poon School of Law, King's Business School, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's Foundations, and more are currently being appointed.

Institue Fellows 2024-25