Caravanserai The Materiality of the 21 st Century Paul Ciccantell August 1 st 2026 I would first like to thank Devparna and Daniel for the opportunity to contribute to Caravanserai. Given the current antidemocratic actions of ASA leadership and the annual meeting boycott, I would also like to use this opportunity to provoke discussion and debate over the themes underlying my current book project, since I and many others will not be able to do so in person in New York. What year is it? Three decades ago, some posited the “end of history” (Fukuyama 1992) as old historical patterns ended and a new millennium loomed. Planetary economic integration via globalization would bring peace and prosperity as national economic and geopolitical competition and conflict of the Westphalian world was replaced with a “New World Order” (Dicken 2011). The transition to postindustrial information and technology economies (Castells 1996) led by the wealthy nations...