Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o0pv6k37yE&eurl=http://musicandsports.bossaball.net/2007/haka-football-is-war-polynesian-tribal-chants.htm
Monday, March 31, 2008
Global exploitation of a fluid cultural form..
The Haka: Polynesian Tribal Chant
Music and cultural globalization accounts for an interesting and vibrant theme within international communication. What interested me most about this weeks topic and discussion was the idea of looking at music and sound as cultural medium that is fluid, unstable, transportable and mobile. The ideas of hybridity and authenticity engaged a lot of my attention as the fluidity and intermixing of various musical forms and participatory traditions evoke a lot of questions about purity, geographical location and origination. After thinking about music as a commodified product, the previous week, it seemed appropriate to turn to the issue of music as a cultural entity, reflecting certain traditions and indigenous ways of life. The article by Feld, illustrated quite well the types of problems and issues that can arise when battling with indigenous music as a transportable, fluid medium.
In lecture we discussed how musical traditions and genres have been historically formed through long and complex relationships of borrowing and incorporating with one another. As illustrated with the example of the slide guitar, musical instruments are one form of ‘music’ that has experienced somewhat of a global life, originating in one locale, and disseminating over time, throughout many regions, and within many musical domains. Flowing from initial Spanish origins to Hawaiian adaption, this global instrument was later utilized throughout the United States, incorporated into the genres of Country and Blues music and eventually taken up in a Nigerian and Indian context. This type of adaptation and innovation corresponds to many other musical instruments and technologies, and also illustrates what many indigenous harmonies, melodies, and practices of listening and participating have experienced throughout recent history.
Given the type of intermixing, music and musical traditions have undertaken throughout history, many heated and problematic issues concerning its rightful and authentic origins have come alongside (Afunakwa’s song is a prime example). With the expanding growth of the music and media industry, and the increased Western desire for non-Western and ‘authentic’ cultural forms, indigenous music and musical traditions have been exploited in many ways. One recent issue that demonstrates the type of struggle that indigenous cultural forms experience due to globalization, involves the New Zealand All Blacks and the Haka.
The Haka is a tribal song and dance of the Maori culture that has been most renown as the pre-game dance performed by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team (Bossaball 2007). Hakas traditionally have various uses in everyday life, but are best known in the aggressive form of a war dance to prepare for battle, garner strength, proclaim their powers, and triumph life over death. The dance consists of a combination of rough body movements, including body percussion and facial expressions, and rhythmically chanting vocals, including crying out loud and grunting. The indigenous dance, has been performed by the All Blacks rugby team for over a hundred years at all international and home games to represent their cultural heritage and local ancestral roots (Bossaball 2007). This dance however, has been recently exploited by an American College Football team from Hawaii, known as the Warriors. In 2006, the Warriors, performed the Haka before almost every game. Claiming that their cultural heritage coincided with New Zealand and the Maori tribes, they expressed that it was their right to perform the song and dance. This issue sparked much controversy in the press and the All Blacks, along with their New Zealand nation did not express much support. The team was eventually penalized by the league for using the dance which led the team to abandon the dance. However, the Warriors have not been the only ‘Western’ team to exploit this indigenous dance. Jefferson High-school in Oregon, also decided to perform the Maori dance before several games in 2007, which also lead their team to be penalized by the league (ONE News 2007).
In addition, sports teams have not been the only players to recently exploit the dance. The international car company Fiat, launched a very controversial advertisement in 2006 of women imitating the Haka (Ka mate’) (Pierard 2007). The car commercial portrayed women in an Italian street mimicking the Haka’s words and actions, with a voice over at the end proclaiming that modern women need to be more assertive. The advertisement was condemned for its exploitation without permission, criticized by the All Blacks coach, and even noted to have been aired despite caution from Foreign Affairs (Pierard 2007).
These strong examples raise issues about the fluidity of music, musical performance and the intensification that media and new technologies place on these types of cultural forms. These sports teams and this car company essentially took a dance they saw on television or heard about through other mass mediums and used it for their own purposes. They disregarded the original indigenous purposes and the meanings attached, and exploited the dance for their own gain. These football teams took something sacred and traditionally representative of Maori identity, and essentially recreated something inferior. Each essentially misrepresented an indigenous musical performance without permission and without any respect to accuracy. This, in my opinion, provides a perfect example of how globalization has led to the Western tendency to take primitive and pure forms of cultural expression and reproduce it for themselves. This type of cultural borrowing does produce many problems in my opinion, especially with regards to authenticity. Instead of preserving and exposing the authentic Haka, both Fiat and the sports teams performed an impure and disrespected version of the original. It is unfortunate, that this is only one of many instances where a traditional or indigenous cultural form has been exploited by the world market. Music and musical performance, as displayed within Feld’s article, is arguably one of the most fluid non material forms that faces incredible pressure due to globalization.
Bossaball. “Music and Sports; An Explanation of Crossroads: Haka, Football is War: Polynesian Tribal Chants.” 2007. 29 March 2008 < http://musicandsports.bossaball.net/2007/haka-football-is-war-polynesian-tribal-chants.htm>.
ONE News. “US highschool causes stir with haka.” 2007. 29, March 2008 < http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1459688>.
Pierard, Louis. “Hawke’s Bay Today: We are too precious about Haka.” 2007. APN News and Media. 29 March 2008.
Music and cultural globalization accounts for an interesting and vibrant theme within international communication. What interested me most about this weeks topic and discussion was the idea of looking at music and sound as cultural medium that is fluid, unstable, transportable and mobile. The ideas of hybridity and authenticity engaged a lot of my attention as the fluidity and intermixing of various musical forms and participatory traditions evoke a lot of questions about purity, geographical location and origination. After thinking about music as a commodified product, the previous week, it seemed appropriate to turn to the issue of music as a cultural entity, reflecting certain traditions and indigenous ways of life. The article by Feld, illustrated quite well the types of problems and issues that can arise when battling with indigenous music as a transportable, fluid medium.
In lecture we discussed how musical traditions and genres have been historically formed through long and complex relationships of borrowing and incorporating with one another. As illustrated with the example of the slide guitar, musical instruments are one form of ‘music’ that has experienced somewhat of a global life, originating in one locale, and disseminating over time, throughout many regions, and within many musical domains. Flowing from initial Spanish origins to Hawaiian adaption, this global instrument was later utilized throughout the United States, incorporated into the genres of Country and Blues music and eventually taken up in a Nigerian and Indian context. This type of adaptation and innovation corresponds to many other musical instruments and technologies, and also illustrates what many indigenous harmonies, melodies, and practices of listening and participating have experienced throughout recent history.
Given the type of intermixing, music and musical traditions have undertaken throughout history, many heated and problematic issues concerning its rightful and authentic origins have come alongside (Afunakwa’s song is a prime example). With the expanding growth of the music and media industry, and the increased Western desire for non-Western and ‘authentic’ cultural forms, indigenous music and musical traditions have been exploited in many ways. One recent issue that demonstrates the type of struggle that indigenous cultural forms experience due to globalization, involves the New Zealand All Blacks and the Haka.
The Haka is a tribal song and dance of the Maori culture that has been most renown as the pre-game dance performed by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team (Bossaball 2007). Hakas traditionally have various uses in everyday life, but are best known in the aggressive form of a war dance to prepare for battle, garner strength, proclaim their powers, and triumph life over death. The dance consists of a combination of rough body movements, including body percussion and facial expressions, and rhythmically chanting vocals, including crying out loud and grunting. The indigenous dance, has been performed by the All Blacks rugby team for over a hundred years at all international and home games to represent their cultural heritage and local ancestral roots (Bossaball 2007). This dance however, has been recently exploited by an American College Football team from Hawaii, known as the Warriors. In 2006, the Warriors, performed the Haka before almost every game. Claiming that their cultural heritage coincided with New Zealand and the Maori tribes, they expressed that it was their right to perform the song and dance. This issue sparked much controversy in the press and the All Blacks, along with their New Zealand nation did not express much support. The team was eventually penalized by the league for using the dance which led the team to abandon the dance. However, the Warriors have not been the only ‘Western’ team to exploit this indigenous dance. Jefferson High-school in Oregon, also decided to perform the Maori dance before several games in 2007, which also lead their team to be penalized by the league (ONE News 2007).
In addition, sports teams have not been the only players to recently exploit the dance. The international car company Fiat, launched a very controversial advertisement in 2006 of women imitating the Haka (Ka mate’) (Pierard 2007). The car commercial portrayed women in an Italian street mimicking the Haka’s words and actions, with a voice over at the end proclaiming that modern women need to be more assertive. The advertisement was condemned for its exploitation without permission, criticized by the All Blacks coach, and even noted to have been aired despite caution from Foreign Affairs (Pierard 2007).
These strong examples raise issues about the fluidity of music, musical performance and the intensification that media and new technologies place on these types of cultural forms. These sports teams and this car company essentially took a dance they saw on television or heard about through other mass mediums and used it for their own purposes. They disregarded the original indigenous purposes and the meanings attached, and exploited the dance for their own gain. These football teams took something sacred and traditionally representative of Maori identity, and essentially recreated something inferior. Each essentially misrepresented an indigenous musical performance without permission and without any respect to accuracy. This, in my opinion, provides a perfect example of how globalization has led to the Western tendency to take primitive and pure forms of cultural expression and reproduce it for themselves. This type of cultural borrowing does produce many problems in my opinion, especially with regards to authenticity. Instead of preserving and exposing the authentic Haka, both Fiat and the sports teams performed an impure and disrespected version of the original. It is unfortunate, that this is only one of many instances where a traditional or indigenous cultural form has been exploited by the world market. Music and musical performance, as displayed within Feld’s article, is arguably one of the most fluid non material forms that faces incredible pressure due to globalization.
Bossaball. “Music and Sports; An Explanation of Crossroads: Haka, Football is War: Polynesian Tribal Chants.” 2007. 29 March 2008 < http://musicandsports.bossaball.net/2007/haka-football-is-war-polynesian-tribal-chants.htm>.
ONE News. “US highschool causes stir with haka.” 2007. 29, March 2008 < http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1459688>.
Pierard, Louis. “Hawke’s Bay Today: We are too precious about Haka.” 2007. APN News and Media. 29 March 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
"Rip, Mix, Burn!"
(1) Music Industry, in need of a cultural turn.
(2) P2P downloading develops new love affairs with music..
This past week, we explored a topic that significantly affects our modern digital culture. As university students, and as media scholars, the topic of piracy lends a hand to a rich and passionate arena for discussion. With the development and recent global explosion of digital technology, control over information and cultural content has been severely displaced from producers to consumers. Music, film, video games and software along with almost any type of digitalized information, have ultimately been converted into something that can be ‘freely’ ‘shared’ on a global scale. Essentially, new technologies initiated by the internet, have allowed mass amounts of people around the world, to engage in the unauthorized reproduction and circulation of cultural and media products. The phenomenon of digital piracy, the stealing of digital information, has severely affected many cultural industries especially those involved in music and film.
This weeks readings in particular, proved to be very constructive. Each article contributed to expanding my current knowledge and understanding of a number of issues that greatly affect my generation of young adults. Specifically, music piracy is an issue that is central to my role as an avid music consumer. As bad as it might be to admit, I frequently engage in music piracy, downloading and sharing songs and albums free from the constraints of monetary expense. Out of the three articles assigned, I tend to favor the article by Ian Condry, entitled, “Cultures of Music Piracy” which focused on an ethnographic comparison of the US and Japan. Condry’s article was very thought provoking as he took an approach to the topic of music piracy in a way that I was not quite expecting. What was most interesting to me was how he discussed solving the issue, or the possible ways he thought would be most influential. He emphasized the struggles of protecting digital content these days and basically stated that he did not think stricter technologies would help resolve the issues of piracy. I definitely agree. Given the strength of our global network and the widening range of storage and transferring technologies, it seems more than unlikely that technology is the answer to combat a technological problem. What Condry emphasized, which really got me thinking, was whether or not the solution could be cultural. Could piracy be solved by some sort of cultural intervention or coerced cultural transformation? Can the industry essentially teach respect for property? I greatly believe this to be so, however the likelihood of this happening anytime soon, given its omnipresence and global scale, is far from realistic. Despite this justified pessimism, I think that this article provides a very informative review, outlining a number of ways that we can understand, and try to battle, the issue of music piracy (or at the very least, provide another way of looking at potential ways to counter some of its effects).
When looking at Japan in comparison to the US, Condry briefly discussed the effects that certain marketing techniques had on the falling numbers in CD sales and rising numbers in music piracy (Condry 2004). He mentioned that the way the music industry was promoting their products and the relationships they were developing was quite detrimental to their cause. Modern singers and bands have a tendency to be marketed to develop fan relationships with their songs, rather than with themselves as artists or individuals. With the overabundance of tie- ins with television commercials, and prime time dramas, featuring certain hit singles for example, audiences are led to associate mainly with that one song rather than with the band or singer (Condry 2004). Consumers then desire the song, not the full album and therefore download or burn that one song. And, the times they do decide to buy the album, they usually regret it, because the rest of the album is not what they were expecting, having heard only that one song. Condry articulated; instead of focusing on the hit songs and marketing them in such a way, they need to focus on building relationships between the fans and the artists (Condry 2004). Essentially, as a culture, consumers need to be taught that the music is not a simple commodity, rather music is a piece of the artist or groups soul. This might create an increased level of respect for the music and for the artists, which in turn might inhibit future piracy.
I specifically thought this was quite relevant to the way that music is viewed and consumed in Canada and the US. As a music consumer, I view most artists and bands, along with their music, as mere commodities, rarely viewing them as anything else (marketing has definitely contributed to this view). Although this type of a suggestion is by no means a solution to the pervasive problem of music piracy, I think it provides a way of looking at the problem that I think is crucial to ever improving it. I believe the problem cannot be remedied by stricter regulations, enforced government policies or increased taxation. I believe the problem is, like Codry says, cultural, and therefore can only be solved by instilling a different cultural mindset. By encouraging a variety of cultural values and attitudes associated with music, via marketing etc, I think that the industry can help redirect the current route that music piracy is taking.
Although I am ashamed of participating in the pirating of music, mainly using P2P’s, I do believe it to be very detrimental to the music industry in a number of ways. It obviously decreases music sales, disrupts the flow of music from the producer to the consumer, and generally creates many international hard-feelings and disputes, like the ones evident in the issue of Pirate Bay. However, given the number of negative implications associated with music piracy and P2P downloads, mainly on the side of the music industry, I do feel there is one major benefit. As Condry mentioned at the end of his article, P2P downloads develop new love affairs with music (Condry 2004). Although the piracy of music, via P2P downloading networks for example, provides an arena where most of the music industry is hindered, it also provides an arena where independent bands and artists can be heard and even flourish. The music industry is dominated by a select few of major players, making it incredibly hard for local, indigenous or indie artists to be heard on a large scale. P2P downloading and the copying and widespread distribution that new technologies provide, are a godsend to many artists that would otherwise only be heard on a remote scale. Independent music labels and artists are given the opportunity to find a place within the music market giving them an even greater probability of becoming mainstream and gaining popularity. We always talk about how cultural products are being exploited with these new technologies, and the emergence of indie artists via P2P networks proves this idea otherwise, as these independents prove to actually broaden the volume of cultural production rather than limit it.
A good example of a local indie label that supports and utilizes P2P sharing would be the Toronto-based Underground Operations. Underground Operations is, “an independent record label that puts out socially conscious, subversively political, and/or just strong hearted music, records, & art” (Underground Operations 2005). The label is home to six different bands and concentrates on helping the bands succeed in the local market. (If anyone cares: they often play shows in Toronto at smaller venues such as “El Mocambo” or “The Bovine Sex Club,” and once a year they embark on an Eastern Canadian Tour labeled the “Unity Tour” (Underground Operations 2005). The bands that Underground Operations supports strongly rely on music ‘piracy’, in a sense, for the distribution and successful dissemination of their music. Without these types of technologies, their music would essentially become unaccessible and unheard to many of their fans nationwide.
I guess my goal was to conclude my blog by illustrating the cultural benefits to music piracy, because I know there are so many drawbacks. Overall, I thought this week's lecture material and assigned articles lead to an exciting topic of exploration, a topic in my opinion, that could have been given more attention.
Condry, Ian (2004). ‘Cultures of Music Piracy: An Ethnographic Comparison of the US and Japan’. International Journal of
Cultural Studies, 7 (3): 343-363.
Underground Operations. “Artists.” Underground Operations Official Website. 2005.
20 March 2008 < http://www.undergroundoperations.com/artists>.
(2) P2P downloading develops new love affairs with music..
This past week, we explored a topic that significantly affects our modern digital culture. As university students, and as media scholars, the topic of piracy lends a hand to a rich and passionate arena for discussion. With the development and recent global explosion of digital technology, control over information and cultural content has been severely displaced from producers to consumers. Music, film, video games and software along with almost any type of digitalized information, have ultimately been converted into something that can be ‘freely’ ‘shared’ on a global scale. Essentially, new technologies initiated by the internet, have allowed mass amounts of people around the world, to engage in the unauthorized reproduction and circulation of cultural and media products. The phenomenon of digital piracy, the stealing of digital information, has severely affected many cultural industries especially those involved in music and film.
This weeks readings in particular, proved to be very constructive. Each article contributed to expanding my current knowledge and understanding of a number of issues that greatly affect my generation of young adults. Specifically, music piracy is an issue that is central to my role as an avid music consumer. As bad as it might be to admit, I frequently engage in music piracy, downloading and sharing songs and albums free from the constraints of monetary expense. Out of the three articles assigned, I tend to favor the article by Ian Condry, entitled, “Cultures of Music Piracy” which focused on an ethnographic comparison of the US and Japan. Condry’s article was very thought provoking as he took an approach to the topic of music piracy in a way that I was not quite expecting. What was most interesting to me was how he discussed solving the issue, or the possible ways he thought would be most influential. He emphasized the struggles of protecting digital content these days and basically stated that he did not think stricter technologies would help resolve the issues of piracy. I definitely agree. Given the strength of our global network and the widening range of storage and transferring technologies, it seems more than unlikely that technology is the answer to combat a technological problem. What Condry emphasized, which really got me thinking, was whether or not the solution could be cultural. Could piracy be solved by some sort of cultural intervention or coerced cultural transformation? Can the industry essentially teach respect for property? I greatly believe this to be so, however the likelihood of this happening anytime soon, given its omnipresence and global scale, is far from realistic. Despite this justified pessimism, I think that this article provides a very informative review, outlining a number of ways that we can understand, and try to battle, the issue of music piracy (or at the very least, provide another way of looking at potential ways to counter some of its effects).
When looking at Japan in comparison to the US, Condry briefly discussed the effects that certain marketing techniques had on the falling numbers in CD sales and rising numbers in music piracy (Condry 2004). He mentioned that the way the music industry was promoting their products and the relationships they were developing was quite detrimental to their cause. Modern singers and bands have a tendency to be marketed to develop fan relationships with their songs, rather than with themselves as artists or individuals. With the overabundance of tie- ins with television commercials, and prime time dramas, featuring certain hit singles for example, audiences are led to associate mainly with that one song rather than with the band or singer (Condry 2004). Consumers then desire the song, not the full album and therefore download or burn that one song. And, the times they do decide to buy the album, they usually regret it, because the rest of the album is not what they were expecting, having heard only that one song. Condry articulated; instead of focusing on the hit songs and marketing them in such a way, they need to focus on building relationships between the fans and the artists (Condry 2004). Essentially, as a culture, consumers need to be taught that the music is not a simple commodity, rather music is a piece of the artist or groups soul. This might create an increased level of respect for the music and for the artists, which in turn might inhibit future piracy.
I specifically thought this was quite relevant to the way that music is viewed and consumed in Canada and the US. As a music consumer, I view most artists and bands, along with their music, as mere commodities, rarely viewing them as anything else (marketing has definitely contributed to this view). Although this type of a suggestion is by no means a solution to the pervasive problem of music piracy, I think it provides a way of looking at the problem that I think is crucial to ever improving it. I believe the problem cannot be remedied by stricter regulations, enforced government policies or increased taxation. I believe the problem is, like Codry says, cultural, and therefore can only be solved by instilling a different cultural mindset. By encouraging a variety of cultural values and attitudes associated with music, via marketing etc, I think that the industry can help redirect the current route that music piracy is taking.
Although I am ashamed of participating in the pirating of music, mainly using P2P’s, I do believe it to be very detrimental to the music industry in a number of ways. It obviously decreases music sales, disrupts the flow of music from the producer to the consumer, and generally creates many international hard-feelings and disputes, like the ones evident in the issue of Pirate Bay. However, given the number of negative implications associated with music piracy and P2P downloads, mainly on the side of the music industry, I do feel there is one major benefit. As Condry mentioned at the end of his article, P2P downloads develop new love affairs with music (Condry 2004). Although the piracy of music, via P2P downloading networks for example, provides an arena where most of the music industry is hindered, it also provides an arena where independent bands and artists can be heard and even flourish. The music industry is dominated by a select few of major players, making it incredibly hard for local, indigenous or indie artists to be heard on a large scale. P2P downloading and the copying and widespread distribution that new technologies provide, are a godsend to many artists that would otherwise only be heard on a remote scale. Independent music labels and artists are given the opportunity to find a place within the music market giving them an even greater probability of becoming mainstream and gaining popularity. We always talk about how cultural products are being exploited with these new technologies, and the emergence of indie artists via P2P networks proves this idea otherwise, as these independents prove to actually broaden the volume of cultural production rather than limit it.
A good example of a local indie label that supports and utilizes P2P sharing would be the Toronto-based Underground Operations. Underground Operations is, “an independent record label that puts out socially conscious, subversively political, and/or just strong hearted music, records, & art” (Underground Operations 2005). The label is home to six different bands and concentrates on helping the bands succeed in the local market. (If anyone cares: they often play shows in Toronto at smaller venues such as “El Mocambo” or “The Bovine Sex Club,” and once a year they embark on an Eastern Canadian Tour labeled the “Unity Tour” (Underground Operations 2005). The bands that Underground Operations supports strongly rely on music ‘piracy’, in a sense, for the distribution and successful dissemination of their music. Without these types of technologies, their music would essentially become unaccessible and unheard to many of their fans nationwide.
I guess my goal was to conclude my blog by illustrating the cultural benefits to music piracy, because I know there are so many drawbacks. Overall, I thought this week's lecture material and assigned articles lead to an exciting topic of exploration, a topic in my opinion, that could have been given more attention.
Condry, Ian (2004). ‘Cultures of Music Piracy: An Ethnographic Comparison of the US and Japan’. International Journal of
Cultural Studies, 7 (3): 343-363.
Underground Operations. “Artists.” Underground Operations Official Website. 2005.
20 March 2008 < http://www.undergroundoperations.com/artists>.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Media's power to create panic and neglect tragedy:
This past week, which was designated to our last four presentations, provided a number of excellent group topics that heated the room with discussion. The groups who focused on India and Microsoft, developed several key arguments and avenues of thought that definitely aided in my understanding of both topics. India, as a recently expanding nation, involved in the IT revolution, has undergone a substantial and significant transformation. I learned that India has entered into an era not only characterized by rapid economic and political growth, but also by social, cultural and structural change. As an imminent global leader, it is interesting to analyze India and predict how it will adapt to its new position. It seems that India will definitely experience some internal and external struggle as it’s cultural, social and religious beliefs adjust to the effects of globalization. With the invasion of Western capital, and help from world organizations like the IMF and World Bank, there will likely come inevitable change. India is undoubtedly a country, impacted greatly on an international level. In my opinion, it is the most appropriate country in our modern world to be used as a case study to understand and analyze the various networks and profound implications of globalization.
Besides the interest that I had with the India presentation, the topic that was most thought provoking was the presentation on SARS. As one of the four groups that presented this week, I thought that the major underlying themes of our Rwanda presentation were also predominant in the groups presentation on SARS. The power of the media, and the overall control that the media possesses to set the public agenda proved to be the major mutual theme. The Rwanda genocide was a horrific tragedy that occurred in large part because of the lack of accurate and substantial international media coverage. To put generally, media outlets constructed the events of Rwanda in a certain way, (i.e.- representing it as civil war rather than genocide) which lead the public and international community to perceive the events in a particular light. The media essentially, holding great power, set the international agenda in 1994 with ‘the genocide of Rwanda’ remaining absent. In this instance, the media framed and constructed what was important, what was crucial and what was of greatest interest to the international public.
The SARS presentation allows us to examine a similar theme, however from a somewhat different angle. This is most interesting because, unlike the Rwanda case, as communication students, the majority of our time is directed to discuss the overabundance and concentration of media coverage of some events over others. The SARS case illustrates the media’s tendency to over-accentuate and sensationalize a certain issue over others. The media thrives off of highlighting risk and further dramatizing stories to gain ratings and increase public interest. McCleans even stated in an article discussing SARS “conventional wisdom holds that if the media are given an inch, they'll take 1,000 miles, sensationalizing stories in a drive to attract audiences” (Durbin 2003).
In my opinion, SARS, as an issue characterized as a ‘dangerous international epidemic’ that dominated the medias agenda, is nothing more severe than such health scares as Mad Cow Disease, West Nile, Bird flu and even the Spinach scare. Each of these issues or events, took on a similar role within the media, as they were all depicted in an exaggerated light.
When Mad Cow disease was first mediated within the UK, it was immediately described as an extremely dangerous and pertinent issue; it was forecasted to become an incredibly harmful and devastating international epidemic. Consequently, with the first cases uncovered in Canada, the media exploded to announce public health safety warnings about all beef and beef products. After many extensive investigations initiated by the government to ensure our industry’s safety, several cows on a local farm out West were found infected. The probability that our beef market was completely contaminated due to the identification of only several sick cows in a local Western town was incredibly low, yet the media exploited the issue and represented the event as a nation wide health scare. Beef was represented by the media with fearful connotations, and as a result our market severely suffered.
The meanings that various media outlets perpetuate, are incredibly potent in the realities that they construct. The terminology alone, as emphasized by the SARS group, such as ‘it strikes’, ‘it stalks’ and ‘it kills’, played a central role is framing the severity of the SARS issue. Specifically the metaphors and descriptions of war, the visual images of countless Asian civilians with masks etc all accumulated to frame the issue for the public to fear. One headline in particular that I remember from the media specifically during the SARS epidemic was “the headline at the Drudge Report that drooled, 'SARS Bug Said Deadlier Than AIDS!'" (Durbin 2003). These types of powerful statements, used by the media to attract audiences and readers, essentially create an unnecessary public panic, while constructing issues like SARS and Mad Cow Disease to be larger than life.
The Bird Flu, West Nile and the Spinach scare, are all other examples where the media utilized their power to initiate an international health scare, and alter the public’s perceived concern. In particular, I remember a couple of years ago, when the West Nile Virus was the topic of media discussion and I was up North at my cottage in Muskoka. People were so concerned and paranoid about the mosquitoes that you would see residents and visitors wearing long sleeve shirts, long pants, hats with nets, and gloves out at night around the camp fire. Ironically enough, as you probably already know, at that time there was probably no more than 2 documented cases of West Nile in all of Canada that year. With that said, even until this summer, I still had friends that would not go outside at night without multiple layers of clothing on, for fear they would contract West Nile. This honestly amazes me, as there has never been a case of West Nile in Muskoka, and the chances of contracting the virus in general is virtually slim to none.
However, given the amount of designated coverage and the way the media constructs and frames these issues, i guess its not that hard to see how the public gets sucked into the mediated realities associated with these health ‘scares’.
Given this blog about the previous weeks presentations, I think the most important theme that I wanted to stress was essentially the media's power to set the agenda and to construct and represent certain chosen realities. What I think is most detrimental about the media's tendency to accentuate certain news stories, is not so much the fact that they embellish certain issues, rather that these embellishments take away from the media’s concern for other more important news events, such as the Rwanda genocide.
When the media was directed to extensively cover SARS, were there other more important issues that should have been acknowledged by the media? These are the types of questions that concerned me during this presentation.....as I had the Rwanda genocide and the media’s agenda on my mind...
Durbin, Jonathan. “Fear Factory: Have the media overblown Canada’s Health Scares?” Macleans.ca. June 2003. Rogers Publishing. 17 Mar. 2008.
Besides the interest that I had with the India presentation, the topic that was most thought provoking was the presentation on SARS. As one of the four groups that presented this week, I thought that the major underlying themes of our Rwanda presentation were also predominant in the groups presentation on SARS. The power of the media, and the overall control that the media possesses to set the public agenda proved to be the major mutual theme. The Rwanda genocide was a horrific tragedy that occurred in large part because of the lack of accurate and substantial international media coverage. To put generally, media outlets constructed the events of Rwanda in a certain way, (i.e.- representing it as civil war rather than genocide) which lead the public and international community to perceive the events in a particular light. The media essentially, holding great power, set the international agenda in 1994 with ‘the genocide of Rwanda’ remaining absent. In this instance, the media framed and constructed what was important, what was crucial and what was of greatest interest to the international public.
The SARS presentation allows us to examine a similar theme, however from a somewhat different angle. This is most interesting because, unlike the Rwanda case, as communication students, the majority of our time is directed to discuss the overabundance and concentration of media coverage of some events over others. The SARS case illustrates the media’s tendency to over-accentuate and sensationalize a certain issue over others. The media thrives off of highlighting risk and further dramatizing stories to gain ratings and increase public interest. McCleans even stated in an article discussing SARS “conventional wisdom holds that if the media are given an inch, they'll take 1,000 miles, sensationalizing stories in a drive to attract audiences” (Durbin 2003).
In my opinion, SARS, as an issue characterized as a ‘dangerous international epidemic’ that dominated the medias agenda, is nothing more severe than such health scares as Mad Cow Disease, West Nile, Bird flu and even the Spinach scare. Each of these issues or events, took on a similar role within the media, as they were all depicted in an exaggerated light.
When Mad Cow disease was first mediated within the UK, it was immediately described as an extremely dangerous and pertinent issue; it was forecasted to become an incredibly harmful and devastating international epidemic. Consequently, with the first cases uncovered in Canada, the media exploded to announce public health safety warnings about all beef and beef products. After many extensive investigations initiated by the government to ensure our industry’s safety, several cows on a local farm out West were found infected. The probability that our beef market was completely contaminated due to the identification of only several sick cows in a local Western town was incredibly low, yet the media exploited the issue and represented the event as a nation wide health scare. Beef was represented by the media with fearful connotations, and as a result our market severely suffered.
The meanings that various media outlets perpetuate, are incredibly potent in the realities that they construct. The terminology alone, as emphasized by the SARS group, such as ‘it strikes’, ‘it stalks’ and ‘it kills’, played a central role is framing the severity of the SARS issue. Specifically the metaphors and descriptions of war, the visual images of countless Asian civilians with masks etc all accumulated to frame the issue for the public to fear. One headline in particular that I remember from the media specifically during the SARS epidemic was “the headline at the Drudge Report that drooled, 'SARS Bug Said Deadlier Than AIDS!'" (Durbin 2003). These types of powerful statements, used by the media to attract audiences and readers, essentially create an unnecessary public panic, while constructing issues like SARS and Mad Cow Disease to be larger than life.
The Bird Flu, West Nile and the Spinach scare, are all other examples where the media utilized their power to initiate an international health scare, and alter the public’s perceived concern. In particular, I remember a couple of years ago, when the West Nile Virus was the topic of media discussion and I was up North at my cottage in Muskoka. People were so concerned and paranoid about the mosquitoes that you would see residents and visitors wearing long sleeve shirts, long pants, hats with nets, and gloves out at night around the camp fire. Ironically enough, as you probably already know, at that time there was probably no more than 2 documented cases of West Nile in all of Canada that year. With that said, even until this summer, I still had friends that would not go outside at night without multiple layers of clothing on, for fear they would contract West Nile. This honestly amazes me, as there has never been a case of West Nile in Muskoka, and the chances of contracting the virus in general is virtually slim to none.
However, given the amount of designated coverage and the way the media constructs and frames these issues, i guess its not that hard to see how the public gets sucked into the mediated realities associated with these health ‘scares’.
Given this blog about the previous weeks presentations, I think the most important theme that I wanted to stress was essentially the media's power to set the agenda and to construct and represent certain chosen realities. What I think is most detrimental about the media's tendency to accentuate certain news stories, is not so much the fact that they embellish certain issues, rather that these embellishments take away from the media’s concern for other more important news events, such as the Rwanda genocide.
When the media was directed to extensively cover SARS, were there other more important issues that should have been acknowledged by the media? These are the types of questions that concerned me during this presentation.....as I had the Rwanda genocide and the media’s agenda on my mind...
Durbin, Jonathan. “Fear Factory: Have the media overblown Canada’s Health Scares?” Macleans.ca. June 2003. Rogers Publishing. 17 Mar. 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
1rst WEEK OF PRESENTATIONS:
DUBAI & STARBUCKS, my favourites...
This week's lecture was definitely a change of pace, providing quite a compelling class, and generating a lot of constructive discussion and debate. Four groups presented their own individual topics relating to the course material; Group 1 discussed Dubai’s Media City, Group 2 chose the corporate giant Starbucks, Group 3 focused on Cuba; mainly targeting Fidel Castro’s resignation, and Group 4 examined the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (aka the SPP). Each presentation proved to be quite unique in their scope and approach, as each focused on a different topic of interest. However, even given the uniqueness of each subject matter, the groups still managed to examine their topic with the use of several major underlying and pertinent themes. Globalization, homogenization, cultural imperialism and the role of the media all seemed to be common themes embedded within each.
The first presentation in my opinion was the most appealing, as I have always been fascinated in Dubai as a city, however have not had the opportunity to gain any concrete knowledge about its current global status or political structure. It was enlightening to learn not only about how technologically advanced it has become, but also about how its political infrastructure outside of ‘media’ city still remains to be quite primitive. The topic of censorship ( both self censorship and censorship of media) was raised and focused on throughout the presentation, and the lack of rights that Dubai citizens have as free agents really stuck with me. Living in such a democratic country as Canada, the ability to access information at no cost, and with incredible availability, makes me stop and cringe at the rights we take for granted. The most confusing part for me was the explanation of the divide between life in the media city and life outside. Its interesting for me to imagine a community like Dubai, in which there exists a miniature ‘global world’ within such a traditionally oriented geographic location. It just seems so bizarre. The issue of whether or not censorship will eventually ‘die’ in the United Arab Emirates was raised, along with several reasons supporting its death. I definitely believe, given the advancements in technology and the ever increasing global expansion of media and communications, formal censorship specifically within UAE will disappear. I am not as certain with regards to other surrounding nations, however given Dubai’s unique case, and its present position within the global media market, I think it’s nations censorship shift is imminent. Although the issue of religion and tradition, as it was brought up in class, plays a central role in determining the country’s reasons for upholding censorship, I still believe modernity and its corresponding values will supersede. Religion and tradition are obviously deeply embedded within Middle Eastern culture, however UAE it seems, has the ability, and the potential, to actively preserve its strong religious and traditional beliefs, while simultaneously enter the global democratic media arena. Essentially, in my opinion, if Dubai’s media city aims to survive into the next century as a global corporate centre, the UAE will need to embrace, as a nation, the forthcoming era dominated by free press and fluid communication networks.
On another note, the presentation that proved to exert the greatest amount of personal dissonance was the Group 2 who chose Starbucks. Besides the fact that it is another corporate media giant, whose success has exploded almost overnight, I honestly do not see the passion that lies beneath so many peoples hatred. The topic of cultural imperialism was raised as a topic of debate, an issue that lead to a long discussion that initiated a strong but silent personal reaction. As a communications student, I guess I am exhausted when I hear the same anti corporate, anti capitalist responses that I hear every time the topic centers on a major successful corporation. I am an advocate for scholarly analysis and I am an advocate for examining issues from a variety of angles and under the scope of an array of theoretical approaches, however, I get irritated, listening to the same redundant reasons why another corporation is the big bad imperialistic bully. In my opinion, Starbucks, in comparison to countless other corporately owned ‘restaurant chains’, is of least importance when it comes to the issue of cultural imperialism.
Starbucks is essentially a multinational coffee house that provides an extensive menu in a relaxing venue that grounds its superiority in the coffee market. Starbucks also does seem to replace smaller, more local coffee houses and put them out of business. Starbucks does offer an endless array of beverages, coffees, teas, shakes, and juices, to satisfy almost any consumer; however at very high prices. It does provide a casual, and comfortable environment in which customers can either enjoy their purchases or engage in other ‘coffee- house activities’. It also relies on a certain restaurant prototype in which the layout and visual structure of the store is essentially replicated for almost all its multinational locations. It does not completely adapt or mold to fit whichever country or city in which it is located. Starbucks also provides very friendly and attentive staff that are all oriented toward the goals inherent in traditional ‘American’ ideals of customer service. Starbucks is also suspect of utilizing unfair coffee trade methods, and scrutinized for it, although they communicate and advocate otherwise (for the anti-Starbucks individuals; where do you think smaller, more local coffee shops get their coffee? Do you think they get it from legitimate sources?). All of these issues were mentioned in class leading to the discussion that the company is indeed engaging in cultural imperialism.
In my opinion if Starbucks was not an American corporate giant, accumulating immense amounts of revenue, I do not think it would be pinpointed as a bad guy. I do not think that just because there is a Starbucks in Athens that it takes away from Greek culture. I also do not think that just because their is a Starbucks in London, that it places any pressure on English culture to adopt American ideals. As a tourist, and also as a local resident in any city in which a Starbucks resides, a choice is always provided; to go to Starbucks or not to go to Starbucks. Starbucks in my opinion does not over advertise and it does not over saturate the market with messages disseminating a certain lifestyle like many other multinational corporations. As of right now, I believe the expansion of Starbucks is not a bad thing at all, as it is just a coffee house, however if it does reach similar numbers to the fast food giant McDonald’s than there might be something to worry about. Then again, an invasion of caffeine doesn't seem as bad, as an invasion of cholesterol.
This week's lecture was definitely a change of pace, providing quite a compelling class, and generating a lot of constructive discussion and debate. Four groups presented their own individual topics relating to the course material; Group 1 discussed Dubai’s Media City, Group 2 chose the corporate giant Starbucks, Group 3 focused on Cuba; mainly targeting Fidel Castro’s resignation, and Group 4 examined the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (aka the SPP). Each presentation proved to be quite unique in their scope and approach, as each focused on a different topic of interest. However, even given the uniqueness of each subject matter, the groups still managed to examine their topic with the use of several major underlying and pertinent themes. Globalization, homogenization, cultural imperialism and the role of the media all seemed to be common themes embedded within each.
The first presentation in my opinion was the most appealing, as I have always been fascinated in Dubai as a city, however have not had the opportunity to gain any concrete knowledge about its current global status or political structure. It was enlightening to learn not only about how technologically advanced it has become, but also about how its political infrastructure outside of ‘media’ city still remains to be quite primitive. The topic of censorship ( both self censorship and censorship of media) was raised and focused on throughout the presentation, and the lack of rights that Dubai citizens have as free agents really stuck with me. Living in such a democratic country as Canada, the ability to access information at no cost, and with incredible availability, makes me stop and cringe at the rights we take for granted. The most confusing part for me was the explanation of the divide between life in the media city and life outside. Its interesting for me to imagine a community like Dubai, in which there exists a miniature ‘global world’ within such a traditionally oriented geographic location. It just seems so bizarre. The issue of whether or not censorship will eventually ‘die’ in the United Arab Emirates was raised, along with several reasons supporting its death. I definitely believe, given the advancements in technology and the ever increasing global expansion of media and communications, formal censorship specifically within UAE will disappear. I am not as certain with regards to other surrounding nations, however given Dubai’s unique case, and its present position within the global media market, I think it’s nations censorship shift is imminent. Although the issue of religion and tradition, as it was brought up in class, plays a central role in determining the country’s reasons for upholding censorship, I still believe modernity and its corresponding values will supersede. Religion and tradition are obviously deeply embedded within Middle Eastern culture, however UAE it seems, has the ability, and the potential, to actively preserve its strong religious and traditional beliefs, while simultaneously enter the global democratic media arena. Essentially, in my opinion, if Dubai’s media city aims to survive into the next century as a global corporate centre, the UAE will need to embrace, as a nation, the forthcoming era dominated by free press and fluid communication networks.
On another note, the presentation that proved to exert the greatest amount of personal dissonance was the Group 2 who chose Starbucks. Besides the fact that it is another corporate media giant, whose success has exploded almost overnight, I honestly do not see the passion that lies beneath so many peoples hatred. The topic of cultural imperialism was raised as a topic of debate, an issue that lead to a long discussion that initiated a strong but silent personal reaction. As a communications student, I guess I am exhausted when I hear the same anti corporate, anti capitalist responses that I hear every time the topic centers on a major successful corporation. I am an advocate for scholarly analysis and I am an advocate for examining issues from a variety of angles and under the scope of an array of theoretical approaches, however, I get irritated, listening to the same redundant reasons why another corporation is the big bad imperialistic bully. In my opinion, Starbucks, in comparison to countless other corporately owned ‘restaurant chains’, is of least importance when it comes to the issue of cultural imperialism.
Starbucks is essentially a multinational coffee house that provides an extensive menu in a relaxing venue that grounds its superiority in the coffee market. Starbucks also does seem to replace smaller, more local coffee houses and put them out of business. Starbucks does offer an endless array of beverages, coffees, teas, shakes, and juices, to satisfy almost any consumer; however at very high prices. It does provide a casual, and comfortable environment in which customers can either enjoy their purchases or engage in other ‘coffee- house activities’. It also relies on a certain restaurant prototype in which the layout and visual structure of the store is essentially replicated for almost all its multinational locations. It does not completely adapt or mold to fit whichever country or city in which it is located. Starbucks also provides very friendly and attentive staff that are all oriented toward the goals inherent in traditional ‘American’ ideals of customer service. Starbucks is also suspect of utilizing unfair coffee trade methods, and scrutinized for it, although they communicate and advocate otherwise (for the anti-Starbucks individuals; where do you think smaller, more local coffee shops get their coffee? Do you think they get it from legitimate sources?). All of these issues were mentioned in class leading to the discussion that the company is indeed engaging in cultural imperialism.
In my opinion if Starbucks was not an American corporate giant, accumulating immense amounts of revenue, I do not think it would be pinpointed as a bad guy. I do not think that just because there is a Starbucks in Athens that it takes away from Greek culture. I also do not think that just because their is a Starbucks in London, that it places any pressure on English culture to adopt American ideals. As a tourist, and also as a local resident in any city in which a Starbucks resides, a choice is always provided; to go to Starbucks or not to go to Starbucks. Starbucks in my opinion does not over advertise and it does not over saturate the market with messages disseminating a certain lifestyle like many other multinational corporations. As of right now, I believe the expansion of Starbucks is not a bad thing at all, as it is just a coffee house, however if it does reach similar numbers to the fast food giant McDonald’s than there might be something to worry about. Then again, an invasion of caffeine doesn't seem as bad, as an invasion of cholesterol.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Appadurai's Complementary Dimensions:
Apparadui’s article entitled, “Disjuncture and Difference In the Global Cultural Economy”, proves to be very enlightening as it adds a new way of conceptualizing the global cultural flows that influence our modern landscape. Globalization and cultural imperialism have been our most vital topics of discussion over these last couple weeks, as we have been learning alot about the various ways of understanding flows and counterflows. Unlike other models that describe the global cultural flow, he does not analyze culture in terms of a traditional core or periphery network, rather he conceives of global cultural flow in terms of five specific dimensions, which he refers to as: ethnoscapes, finanscapes, technoscapes, mediascapes, and ideoscapes.
Each concept in essence, refers to a type of movement. To put concisely, ethnoscapes refer to the flow of peoples (immigrants, refugees, tourists, exiles etc.) throughout the globe as we become increasingly mobile. Finanscapes involve the flow of money through currency markets and stock exchanges for example. An example of this would be foreign investments channeled through the World Bank for energy and transportation development projects in Brazil (Lull 2000). Technoscapes include the flow of machinery, hardware and software, through the production processes of transnational corporations, national corporations and governments. India, China, Russia and Japan for example, have all exported technology to Libya in order to construct a huge steel complex there (Lull 2000). Mediascapes consist of the flow of images and information from the various forms of mass media and growing interactive technologies. Viewers essentially use these images of the mediascape to construct cultural narratives of the ‘other’ (Lull 2000). Finally, ideoscapes are similar to mediascapes in that they are image-oriented, however they are more often political in nature and deal with the flow of ideology throughout the globe. Ideological arenas such as democracy, rights and freedom, equality, responsible etc, are all examples of common domains represented as part of these ‘ideoscapes’ (Lull 2000). Appadurai describes the relationship between these ‘scapes’ as deeply disjunctive and unpredictable and sees that they influence culture not by their hegemonic interaction, global diffusion, and uniform effect, but by their differences and ‘counter-tendencies’.
This line of thinking is very unique as he strays from more traditional views and focuses more on the complex set of interactions and contested relationships that occur between each. Basically its how people organize these cultural stresses that determines the key to understanding contemporary social stability on the whole. I find these concepts and their connection in understandings global cultural flows to be very useful in understanding a number of present day phenomenon's. This theoretical model, or conceptualization, provides us, as media scholars, with an additional avenue to further our understanding and analysis of our complicated cultural world.
The concept of deterritorialization, as discussed in Appadurai’s article, proved to catch my interest. It essentially refers to the loss of the natural relation between culture and its geographic and social territory, and has been described as bringing “ laboring populations into the lower class sectors of spaces of relatively wealthy societies, while sometimes creating exaggerated and intensified senses and criticisms to politics in the home state” (Appadurai 38). The migration of people from third world nations, to more developed countries, and their loss of a physical and cultural connection with their homeland, is essentially what this is referring to.
More specifically the corresponding concept of reterritorialization, as a more positive term leads to a good example of a disjuncture between ethnoscapes and finanscapes. Reterritorialization refers to the attempt by people to re-establish a new cultural home wherever they migrate.
Labeled as ‘ethonscapes’ in Appadurai’s terms, many cohorts of individuals migrate to Canada and the United States for example, for a variety of reasons, usually leading to a number of consequences. Alot of the time when people migrate to Western countries, with the use of modern media and communication technologies, they tend to engage in media and cultural consumption from their homeland. Culturally symbolic forms such as pop music, videos, newspapers, magazines, books and computer software are vital in the reterritorialization processes to establish diasporas communities. Essentially immigrants create a need for indigenous products from back home. These populations in turn create new business opportunities for entrepreneurs especially for those in the media and cultural industries of their homeland. This relationship I can see most related to the disjuncture or difference between finanscapes and ethnoscapes, where unequal or opposing flows become evident. Migrants move, or ‘flow’ into one country while at a very different rate and direction, their economic capital or finances move, or ‘flow’ outward in the consumption of indigenous cultural products from their homeland. In addition to the desire that these diasporas groups have for indigenous cultural products from home, there is also a growing market for videos, music, magazines, clothing and software produced in exile and sent back to their home countries. For instance, Vietnamese cultural materials produced in California sell well in Vietnam and Persian products exported from Los Angeles sell well in Iran (Lull 2000). These types of bi-directional cultural flows further show how Appadurai’s conception of ‘scapes’ can be used to explain these disjunctive global relationships.
It is evident that Arjun Appadurai deals precisely with the diverse global economic and cultural activity that threatens the nation state (Lull 2000). His theoretical concepts and five dimensions prove to compliment many of the theories we have concentrated on so far in the course, and it clearly adds a new ‘dimension’ to the way that I view global culture. His ideas, however, should not be used alone, rather I emphasize once more, that I believe they provide an additional way to further analyze global culture.
References:
Appadurai, A. “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” Modernity at Large:Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1996. 27-47.
Lull, James. Media, Communication, Culture: A global Approach. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
Each concept in essence, refers to a type of movement. To put concisely, ethnoscapes refer to the flow of peoples (immigrants, refugees, tourists, exiles etc.) throughout the globe as we become increasingly mobile. Finanscapes involve the flow of money through currency markets and stock exchanges for example. An example of this would be foreign investments channeled through the World Bank for energy and transportation development projects in Brazil (Lull 2000). Technoscapes include the flow of machinery, hardware and software, through the production processes of transnational corporations, national corporations and governments. India, China, Russia and Japan for example, have all exported technology to Libya in order to construct a huge steel complex there (Lull 2000). Mediascapes consist of the flow of images and information from the various forms of mass media and growing interactive technologies. Viewers essentially use these images of the mediascape to construct cultural narratives of the ‘other’ (Lull 2000). Finally, ideoscapes are similar to mediascapes in that they are image-oriented, however they are more often political in nature and deal with the flow of ideology throughout the globe. Ideological arenas such as democracy, rights and freedom, equality, responsible etc, are all examples of common domains represented as part of these ‘ideoscapes’ (Lull 2000). Appadurai describes the relationship between these ‘scapes’ as deeply disjunctive and unpredictable and sees that they influence culture not by their hegemonic interaction, global diffusion, and uniform effect, but by their differences and ‘counter-tendencies’.
This line of thinking is very unique as he strays from more traditional views and focuses more on the complex set of interactions and contested relationships that occur between each. Basically its how people organize these cultural stresses that determines the key to understanding contemporary social stability on the whole. I find these concepts and their connection in understandings global cultural flows to be very useful in understanding a number of present day phenomenon's. This theoretical model, or conceptualization, provides us, as media scholars, with an additional avenue to further our understanding and analysis of our complicated cultural world.
The concept of deterritorialization, as discussed in Appadurai’s article, proved to catch my interest. It essentially refers to the loss of the natural relation between culture and its geographic and social territory, and has been described as bringing “ laboring populations into the lower class sectors of spaces of relatively wealthy societies, while sometimes creating exaggerated and intensified senses and criticisms to politics in the home state” (Appadurai 38). The migration of people from third world nations, to more developed countries, and their loss of a physical and cultural connection with their homeland, is essentially what this is referring to.
More specifically the corresponding concept of reterritorialization, as a more positive term leads to a good example of a disjuncture between ethnoscapes and finanscapes. Reterritorialization refers to the attempt by people to re-establish a new cultural home wherever they migrate.
Labeled as ‘ethonscapes’ in Appadurai’s terms, many cohorts of individuals migrate to Canada and the United States for example, for a variety of reasons, usually leading to a number of consequences. Alot of the time when people migrate to Western countries, with the use of modern media and communication technologies, they tend to engage in media and cultural consumption from their homeland. Culturally symbolic forms such as pop music, videos, newspapers, magazines, books and computer software are vital in the reterritorialization processes to establish diasporas communities. Essentially immigrants create a need for indigenous products from back home. These populations in turn create new business opportunities for entrepreneurs especially for those in the media and cultural industries of their homeland. This relationship I can see most related to the disjuncture or difference between finanscapes and ethnoscapes, where unequal or opposing flows become evident. Migrants move, or ‘flow’ into one country while at a very different rate and direction, their economic capital or finances move, or ‘flow’ outward in the consumption of indigenous cultural products from their homeland. In addition to the desire that these diasporas groups have for indigenous cultural products from home, there is also a growing market for videos, music, magazines, clothing and software produced in exile and sent back to their home countries. For instance, Vietnamese cultural materials produced in California sell well in Vietnam and Persian products exported from Los Angeles sell well in Iran (Lull 2000). These types of bi-directional cultural flows further show how Appadurai’s conception of ‘scapes’ can be used to explain these disjunctive global relationships.
It is evident that Arjun Appadurai deals precisely with the diverse global economic and cultural activity that threatens the nation state (Lull 2000). His theoretical concepts and five dimensions prove to compliment many of the theories we have concentrated on so far in the course, and it clearly adds a new ‘dimension’ to the way that I view global culture. His ideas, however, should not be used alone, rather I emphasize once more, that I believe they provide an additional way to further analyze global culture.
References:
Appadurai, A. “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” Modernity at Large:Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1996. 27-47.
Lull, James. Media, Communication, Culture: A global Approach. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.