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.
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