Form Of Global Cultural Values example essay topic

Edward Said states, "No one today is purely one thing. Labels like Indian, or woman, or Muslim, or American are no more than starting points". Said's idea illustrates the evolution of relations between communities as a result of globalization, and the understanding and recognition of other cultures through the interpretation of cultural borders. In this essay I will analyse to what extent globalization is affecting identity formation, and also the roles of cultural borders in today's world.

I will assess whether through globalization of the media we are in fact overcoming cultural borders and traditional stereotypes and in turn forging a mutual respect between foreign communities, or as Said argues (Said cited in Crary & Mariani 1990), whether globalization and Western media dominance through peripheral and Third World societies is perpetuating Western superiority, "the ever rolling march of commodification, the old form of globalization, fully in keeping with the west, which is simply able to absorb everybody else within its drive" (Hall 1991), and spreading hegemony, with little or selected representation of local culture. I will be using studies of Australia / Asian relations to illustrate these ideas. In order to apply these ideas to Australian and Asian relations, we must first establish how we some have come to realise that "no one today is purely one thing", as opposed to years gone by. As Said (1978) and others have shown, Europe, from which Australia's culture originates, has traditionally viewed Asia and Asians with contempt and inferiority, and "one of its deepest and most reoccurring images of Other" (Said 1978, p. 1).

Asians have been "repeatedly characterised by some western texts as alternatively lazy, stupid, mindless, barbaric and untrustworthy [which has] served as a guarantee of the 'superiority of the Briton, American, German or Australian over many years" (Birch, Schirato & Srivastava 2001, p. 5). As Said (1978, cited in Crary & Mariani 1990) and Birch et al. (2001) show, Asians have been represented as inferior and essentially different to their coloni sing European counterparts. Australians, too, have looked (and arguably continue look) upon Asian people (and in light of this essay any other people) as essentially different to themselves. As D'Cruz and Steele (2003) demonstrate, Asians have been ostracized in Australian society: To further justify the isolation and exclusion of people-of-colour from the public culture, white Australians attributed to Asians the most putrid feelings and behavior their imaginations could muster.

Archival accounts of the continuous race hatred directed against coloured people in Australia... reveal the sexual and other preoccupations that occupied those white minds from which such fantasies emanated (p. 43) Australians wanted little to do with Asia, and besides those who wanted to "expand the Western Sphere of influence in the region" (Rizvi 1996, p. 175), few Australians traveled to Asia. Asian people were essentially defined by their race, and by their embodiment of not being European. It is with these historical perceptions in mind that Said's statement holds extreme worth. Said could be seen as acknowledging past stereotypical labels enforced on Asian people, and dismissing these labels in today's world, implying that something has changed to make these labels "no more than starting points". Relating this to Australia / Asia, we note that Australians previously judged Asians purely and solely on racial grounds: "Race became a key explanatory factor not only in academic anthropology, but more importantly in the popular imagination of Australians".

(Rizvi 1996, p. 175). Cultural confusion and an unwillingness to appreciate local customs and values gave birth to a contempt for local culture. Local people were simply seen as 'other', and "non-European people needed to be tamed or civilised, made 'normal' " (Rizvi 1996, p. 175). Whereas before people of different cultures, in this case Asians, were viewed in a somewhat confused and distant light, today's world offers far more in the realm of learning about other cultures and people thanks to globalization. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), globalization has helped nations and communities interact, helping to break down cultural and lingual barriers, resulting in not only the evolution of international markets but the development of better cultural understanding: The resolve of Western states to build and strengthen international ties in the aftermath of World War II laid the groundwork for today's globalization. It has brought diminishing national borders and the fusing of individual national markets.

The fall of protectionist barriers has stimulated free movement of capital and paved the way for companies to set up several bases around the world. The rise of the internet and recent advances in telecommunications have boosted the already surging train. For consumers and avowed capitalists, this is largely a good thing. Vigorous trade has made for more choice in the High Street, greater spending, rising living standards and a growth in international travel. And that's just the tip of it. Supporters of globalization say it has promoted information exchange, led to a greater understanding of other cultures and allowed democracy to triumph over autocracy.

(BBC News 2000, pars. 10-14) It is through globalization that Said's idea of labels no longer being enough to describe a person is viable because cultures are experiencing and learning about other cultures through cultural studies (Patience & Jacques 2003, pp. 45-7) and the global media network. This is seen by many as an influential tool in combating racism, and breaking down the "coloni sing attitude" and "naturalis ed idea of European / American superiority" (Birch et al. 2001, p. 2). However, many argue that globalization is a Western power, and thus does not promote equality in relation to cultural understanding and respect (Crary & Mariani 1990, Grossberg 1997, BBC 2001). In this case globalization is seen as spreading Western cultural hegemony throughout the world, threatening traditional cultures and national identities in Third World and peripheral countries, thus perpetuating the image of the "western coloni sing nation" (Birch et al.

2001, p. 2). Lawrence Grossberg (1997) points out that globalization "is a power that generally belongs to 'the West' " (p. 20). He argues that globalization is seen by "so-called peripheral nations or... peripheral communities within... core nations" as a threat to local traditions and a regime of "cultural imperialism" (p. 21). The reason for these views is that globalization spreads a form of global (Western-saturated) cultural values: ... globalization of contemporary culture, not merely in terms of the proliferation and mobility of texts and audiences, but rather as the movement of culture outside the spaces or any (specific) language or formation.

At the very least, this reconstitution of the relation of culture and space undermines our confident assumptions about how cultural practices are working, even within our own 'native' territories. The new global economy of culture entails the de- of culture and its subsequent re-, but the latter seriously undermines any equation of culture with location or place. (Grossberg 1997, p. 8) This dominance, predominantly coming from the U. S, and in turn Australia, is seen to be having dire effects in parts of the world, especially Asia. Jeremy Tunstall (1977) points out "the cultural imperialism theory has claimed that authentic, traditional and local culture in many parts of the world is being overwhelmed by the indiscriminate dumping of large quantities of slick commercial media products, mainly from the U.S". (p. 57). American media, including television, film and news, wields considerable influence over the cultural life of other nations (Guback 1984, pp. 155-6). Western influence in Asia, in the form of films, music, television and the Internet, is seen to be dominating the cultural values and traditional way of life in many parts of the world.

Perhaps Said's idea of labels and stereotypes being little more than starting points in today's world is a result of globalization, or Western domination: people from other lands seem not so different because the cultural borders have begun to erode, through a shared, albeit Western, 'global culture'. A mutual understanding of Western culture has set the foundations for a global community. But is this to the detriment of traditional values? Are non-Western nations having their national identities compromised? Is the idea of a global community only feasible at the discretion of the West? Said (Crary & Mariani 1990) seems to think so, and argues the crisis is deepening.

He points out technological advancements in image transfer means transnational conglomerates can further concentrate their content in "so called metropolitan societies" (p. 95). Further: ... peripheral societies in the Third World and those just outside the central metropolitan zones... are to an extraordinary degree reliant upon this system for information about themselves. We " re talking now about self-knowledge, not only knowledge about other societies. (Said as cited in Crary & Mariani 1990, p. 95) What said demonstrates is the extent of Western power throughout the world, where cultures need to look to the West to learn about themselves... Said sees these representations as problematic, stating the "action or process of representing implies control, ... accumulation, ... confinement, ... a certain kind of estrangement or disorientation on the part of the one representing" (p. 94). Relating this to Australia / Asia relations, we see how through Western dominance in Asia, Australians may be more able to familiaris e themselves with Asia on the grounds of a shared Western culture, which in turn threatens traditional Asian values and culture.

But a relationship based on these grounds is problematic, as it is lopsided and anti-liberal: Australians, in this form of relationship, do not even recognise Asian culture, thus dictating the relationship on Australian terms. Critics express the threat globalization poses to traditional cultures: National cultures and identities are also under threat thanks to the spread of satellite TV, international media networks and increased personal travel. In French cinemas, around 70% of film goers watch Hollywood movies. At the heart of their concerns is the fact that huge trans-national companies are becoming more powerful and influential than democratically-elected governments, putting shareholder interests above those of communities and even customers.

(BBC News 2000, pars. 19-20) However to say that cultural imperialism is an undeniable force and that non-Western cultural identity is decaying is ignore movements to combat Western dominance in these regions. Whilst Said argued the policies to defend cultural imperialism in the media were futile (Crary & Mariani 1990, p. 96), there is evidence of domestic cultural industries enjoying success in their bid to reignite traditional cultural identity, producing material more suited to local tastes, ethnicity, language and cultural backgrounds (Staub haar 1991). Key developments have been seen in Korea, India and China, where considerable effort has gone into establishing more domestic competition and content in television and film. Whereas previously Korea had relied heavily on imported content, an emergence of a strong domestic industry has seen a cultural change in media content, and a decreased percentage of foreign content. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Korea, as cited by Dal Yong Jin, states that imported television programs from overseas decreased from $US 69.3 million in 1996 to $US 20.4 million in 2001, with a total decrease in cable television imports of 91.8% over the same period (Jin 2005, p. 11).

Jin states that a primary reason for Korean televisions success throughout Eastern Asia, namely China, Taiwan and Japan, is that the programs better reflect the culture /'s of the area, and audiences can familiaris e themselves with the content as opposed to other foreign media (Jin 2005, pp. 16-7). In relation to Australia / Asia, this is an example of Asia trying to rediscover their roots, and perhaps reject of Western values. It is what Grossberg describes (1997, p. 20) as localisation combating globalization; a concentrated effort to revive and promote regional cultures over the Western-saturated hegemony, which in turn reinvigorates identity formation based on traditional culture. This can also be seen as an attempt to rebuild cultural borders based on a rejection of Western cultural imperialism. While globalization cannot be seen as solely one-sided, it is fair to say that the majority of received representations of other cultures in Western nations are produced by the West, or at the very least Western representations far outweigh those of other cultures. An example of this is in Australia's coverage of the Asian tsunami, where was a distinct lack of local content.

Australians were shown an Australian point of view about the effects to Asia, with preferential coverage given to Australian victims and survivors as opposed to the effect on the local and Asian people. Further, considerable coverage of the aid given by Western nations (Colebatch 2004, p. 12) could be seen as perpetuating the perspective held during the colonial period: that of the West being the parent of a child-like East, the comparatively primitive and desperate East dependent on the West (Said 1978, p. 7) In this essay I have attempted to highlight globalization's role in weakening cultural borders, and questioned whether this is in fact to the detriment of non-Western culture. If we now look at Edward Said's statement that "labels are no more than starting points" we can draw some interesting conclusions. As I showed, Australians' perceptions of Asia were previously based solely on their race, chiefly due to language barriers and an inability and / or unwillingness to understand or break down cultural borders. Conversely, in today's world we are able to understand more about other cultures, largely due to globalization, and it is for this reason that Said argues such labels are "no more than starting points". But in response to Said's statement we must question whether cultural understanding and equality are the reason, or because the world, through globalization, has become 'Westernised', and it is assumed the rest of the world subscribe to Western cultural values, leaving little place for non-Western identity in today's world.

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