Over the past several years, everyone engaged in the humanities and social sciences has had to assess the implications of globalization for their various disciplinary practices. This special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly explores the meaning(s) of globalization for the practice of literary studies and for the concept of literature itself. Focusing on the institutions and practices of English Studies--from the fate of British literature to the relationship between globalization and postcolonialism--the essays in this issue collectively offer a profound reimagination of the present and future of literary theory and criticism. This issues includes exciting new work by Nicholas Brown, Timothy Brennan, Simon Gikandi, Sneja Gunew, Peter Hitchcock, Caren Irr, Rosemary Jolly, Susie O'Brien, Paul Sharrad, and Imre Szeman.