The conference is shaped by the profound shifts that have taken place from the post-COVID pandemic and the rapid push of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, leading to the rise in nuanced global and local conversations aimed at reimagining society, sustainability, and social transformation. These rapid shifts have reshaped the world, creating uncertainty and global challenges that demand a collaborative reimagining of society through academia. Anthony Giddens (2013), writing in his book The Consequences of Modernity, acknowledges the complex impact of globalization on society by defining it “…as the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.” While Giddens’ evocative presentation of globalization’s impact remains trenchant, it builds on the work of scholars such as David Held and Anthony McGrew (2007), Globalization Theory: Approaches and Controversies; Benedict Anderson (1983, 2016), Imagined Communities; Annabelle Sreberny (1997), The Many Cultural Faces of Imperialism; and many others.

However, a more seminal project whose import speaks to the crux of this conference finds its roots in Arjun Appadurai’s (1996, 2001) attempt to reimagine society and global transformations through five specific “scapes” or flows: ethnoscapes, technoscapes, ideoscapes, financescapes, and mediascapes. The need for a conference of this nature emerges from the ‘ashes’ of a pandemic, global conflicts, and the rise of powerful movements driven by the desire for justice, inclusion, sustainability, and human flourishing. It is at this juncture that the Arts, Education, and Social Sciences stand at the heart of transformative change. They offer not only tools for understanding the world, but also the vision and courage to reshape it.