CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland

Cultural Economy and Imperialism

Organisers: Mohammed Bamyeh and Randall Halle

Bamyeh, Mohammed A. (State University of New York-Buffalo, USA) IMPERIALISM TODAY AND THE REDISCOVERY OF CULTURE

Harindranath, Ramaswami (The Open University, United Kingdom) SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT: NEO-LIBERALISM, TRANSNATIONAL ELITES, AND LATE IMPERIALISM
Debates concerning cultural imperialism have so far been confined largely to arguments about global cultural homogeneity versus local cultural assertions. Such debates often ignore the material aspects of inequality by limiting themselves to the cultural sphere. This paper stresses the significance of the culture-economy nexus, and begins with the consideration of the relationship between global institutions of neo-liberalism and the cultural and economic elite in developing countries. This enables a reconceptualisation of cultural imperialism that highlights global inequality not in terms of geographical spaces but in terms of the international alliance of capital and those excluded by the pathways of global capital. Using India as a case study, this paper will examine the 'liberalisation' of state economies and the simultaneous rise in cultural protectionism in the form of spurious right-wing assertions of national identity based on notions of religious essentialism. It will be argued that this apparent paradox reveals a crucial aspect of contemporary global cultural economy in which a strong, even dictatorial state is often a necessary guarantor of the 'free market'.

Halle, Randall (University of Rochester, USA) `ENEMY AT THE GATES':THE ADEQUACY OF CULTURAL IMPERIALISM AS A MODEL FOR FILM STUDIES?

Wong, Heung Wah (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong) and Yau, Hoi Yan (University College London, United Kingdom) TAKING PEOPLE SERIOUSLY: A CASE STUDY OF JAPANESE ADULT VIDEOS IN HONG KONG
This paper is an anthropological protest against the Japanese cultural imperialism thesis that the globalization of Japanese cultural products will inevitably bring about homogenization of local cultures, as if local cultures can never have its mediation capacity. The main point of this protest is that we should take local culture seriously. In this paper, we will show how the culturally constituted 'taste' of Hong Kong consumers helps account for the popularity of a Japanese adult video actress, Yuki Maiko and her pornographic videos in Hong Kong. Moreover, Yuki Maiko's adult videos were incorporated by local people to concretize the image of their ideal sexy women that until then had been fragmented, abstract, and vague. In other words, local people actively used Yuki Maiko and her videos to develop their pornographic culture. Understood as such, we suddenly find that Japan no longer dominates and Hong Kong is not dominated either.

Samuels, Lilly (Kingston, Jamaica) POPULAR CULTURE CONTENDING WITH IMPERIALISM - VOICES FROM THE JAMAICAN EXPERIENCE OF THE 1970'S
Rex Nettleford, in Caribbean Cultural Identity, emphasizes the point that in post-colonial societies, the issue of cultural identification is critical for the process of decolonisation. This imperative is applicable to Jamaica, which is part of the Caribbean- a region that has experienced colonialism and slavery.With such a history, Jamaica has undergone the inevitable cultural identity crises, with the culture of the coloniser - Europe - being more valued over that of the vast majority of the people, who are of African descent. This is evident in areas such as language, religion, and the creative arts. During the decade of the 1970's Jamaica experienced change - traumatic change for some, welcome change for others - in every sphere of life. While politics was the catalyst, cultural identity was central to this change.The voices of the common people assumed legitimacy in areas of Jamaican life, which prior to then had little acceptance, in particular, popular music and other creative expressions that utilized the Jamaican dialect and affirmed its culture.This paper will explore some voices in popular music and dub poetry, as cultural productions contending with imperialism. Voices will include those of Peter Tosh, Mickey Smith, and Mutabaruka.