CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland
Impact of Globalization on Language and Culture
Sessions
Organiser: Norio Ota
Local/Global 1: Language, Culture, Internet and Film
Vihalemm, Triin (University of Tartu,
Estonia) CAN THE GLOBAL REFERENCES MAKE THE LOCAL MEANING?
Two linguistic communities - Estonians and Estonian Russians - have lived over
50 years side-by-side, but in separate cultural and communicative spaces. After
Estonia regained its independence, the North American pop culture became
commonly consumed via video films, Internet and TV. Some authors have even
raised a thesis about English as a new lingua franca and safe choice for the
members of both communities in mutual interaction. The impact of English and
English-based pop culture to the formation of cultural identity of Estonian and
Russian youth, will be explored. On the basis of conversation analysis and
interviews, the paper argues that via the English-based global discourse, the
Estonian and Russian youngsters may discover new uniting lines. Thus, the common
meaningful space might form in the future. The question whether this process
leads towards bigger unification or formation of new local-cultural niche, will
be discussed as well.
Tart, Indrek (Tallinn Pedagogical
University, Estonia) THE INTERNET AND MOTHER TONGUE
Culture is an important actor in shaping human development. Entering the
Internet age sharply shows the inclusion/exclusion tendencies: the wealthier and
the well connected are in an advantageous position. What language(s) are they
using for communication? What does that practice mean? Why does e-mail function
mostly in a mother tongue, but homepages may contain large parts in foreign
languages? Is that a borderline between the inner and outer parts of
life-worlds, or does it even mark cultural resistance? Is that related to the
smallness of the nation? Is the Internet developing semiotic personality
characteristics? Does that mean abandoning of national attitudes after entering
the Net, but maintaining hidden national signs? Or on the contrary, the invasion
of national languages into the Net will be foreseen in the near future? What
happens to the habits of primarily written cultures? Comparable data of
statistics and Internet research from Baltic and Nordic countries will be used
to find answers to these questions.
McIntyre, M Kelleen (Scripps College,
USA) VIVA LAS VENICE: DO THE "PLACE-THEMED" CASINOS OF LAS VEGAS ACT
AS VEHICLES IN U.S. CULTURAL IMPERIALISM?
The proliferation of American ideologies, 'culture', mass media, consumer goods,
etc. has long been criticized as an agent in the watering down and
'Americanization' of much of the world. If the exportation of Americana lends to
implant and perpetuate U.S. cultural hegemony, then what effects could the
selective importation, appropriation, And contextualization of 'other' cultures
have? According to one resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, 'Las Vegas exists because
it is the perfect reflection of America.' As such, Las Vegas resort/casinos such
as 'Paris-Las Vegas', 'New York-New York', and 'The Venetian' bring rise to
questions of authenticity, appropriation, and power. Is the commodification of a
culture ethical, especially if said culture is without recourse or benefit? What
does the very existence of such a trend, let alone its success, say about
American culture at large? What could be the effects of such a trend outside
U.S. borders?
Ota, Norio (York University, Canada)
IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON JAPANESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
This paper focuses on several key terms and concepts, as to how they represent
deep-rooted socio-cultural changes in Japan, and shows to what extent
globalization has permeated the language, culture and society. The recent
recommendation on drastic reform of the judicial system, for example, will
probably change the culture of harmony, consensus seeking, non-confrontational,
and out-of-court settlement into a judicial system similar to that observed in
North America. The term 'co-dependency' has become a key word to criticize a
model care-giver who gives at any cost. This is a direct challenge to the ideal
of motherhood. It also refers to a Japan as an active agent to pursue its own
globalization agenda in disseminating the pop culture in other Asian nations.
The old pattern of learning from the West and applying it to Asia still exists
very strongly in the name of globalization.
Lee, Ken-fang (National Chung Cheng
University, Taiwan) HOME AND AWAY: DIFFERENT RECEPTIONS OF "CROUCHING
TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON" BY ANG LEE This paper aims to investigate how and why
Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', a Mandarin film can be so successful
nationally and internationally. I will argue that Ang Lee cleverly appropriates
feminist concern and a supposedly marginalized character to re-write the kung fu
tradition and re-define 'Chinese-ness'. I will also look at the language usage
in this film (why Ang Lee chose Mandarin instead of English) and how cultural
translation works on different layers in the production of this film. In the age
of globalization, English seems to take the upper hand compared to other
languages. From this perspective, the choice of language seems more interesting.
How the local (in this case, a traditional kung fu genre) and the global (the
powerful Hollywood film industry) entwine and challenge each other may be worth
investigating.
Wu, Huaiting (Chinese University of Hong
Kong, China) HOLLYWOODIZING THE CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS FILM This is a study of how
Hollywood appropriates an eastern culture-the Chinese martial arts film. Being
part of the reverse flow from the east to the east, Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon, is a record-breaking phenomenon, the highest grossing foreign language
film ever in North America. Its success is closely related to its
hollywoodization. The interaction between the global Hollywood and the Chinese
filmmakers has nurtured group of global talents, acting as 'cultural
intermediaries', for the film's production. The globalized Chinese martial arts
cinema makes the Hollywoodization of the genre possible. In this process, the
local culture is transformed and becomes a hybrid, absorbing elements from other
cultures. The joint effort of talents and invests from the dominant and
subordinate cultures is crucial for making the film's global success. The extent
of Hollywoodization is linked to the globalization of the local culture, the
mobility of talents and the access to the distribution infrastructure.
Local/Global 2: Race, Gender,
Diversity and Political Power
Gardiner, Michael (Nihon Joshi
University, Japan) THE BRITISH-COLONIAL ROOTS OF GLOBALIZATION
This paper links the logic of parts-for-wholes which renders tiny sections of
the world's culture 'global', to an earlier parts-for-wholes logic driving the
solidification of the British union in the eighteenth century. Today's
'peripheral' national cultures stand in a remarkably similar position to the US
as did the cultural edges of the new union to its English default during (and
via) the Enlightenment - over-identifying with a 'multicultural' centre and
themselves rendered visible and ethnically knowable. Moreover, Enlightenment
thought was hugely influential on the American Declaration of Independence, a
document which still proscribes, implicitly and explicitly, the democratic shape
of 'international society'. The unravelling of the British union during
devolution thus has significance not only as the final death of British colonial
unification, but also for 'global culture' as such, signalling, as a line of
thought through Frantz Fanon and Jacques Derrida has strongly hinted, the end of
the Enlightenment idea of a universal culture.
Adams, Laura (Babson College, USA)
GLOBALIZATION AND CULTURAL FORM IN UZBEKISTAN
In this paper I present a perspective on the globalization of culture in
Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country formerly part of the Soviet Union. I argue
that modern subjectivity, not capitalism, is the key to understanding
globalization. Late 20th century culture in Uzbekistan formally resembled the
cultures of other modernizing countries, even though it was produced under very
different economic and ideological circumstances. Rather than focusing on
globalization as homogenization or domination, I will argue that global cultural
forms are strategically employed by Uzbekistan's cultural elites in order to
develop their own culture. These modernizing elites frame national or regional
cultural content with "universal" cultural forms, thus legitimating
both the "traditional" and the "modern" elements of their
society. The data on various performative forms of culture (theatre, folklore,
etc.) come from 12 months of fieldwork and interviews I conducted between 1996
and 1998 in Uzbekistan.
Yadlin, Rivka (Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Israel) IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON LANGUAGE AND POWER
Globalization does indeed seem to connote the hegemonization worldwide of North
Americanism. However, this very process is a major factor in rendering national
and subaltern cultures sustainable, even motivated into an offensive reaction. I
support this suggestion firstly theoretically, through demonstrating the
appropriation of western 'Modernity' by non-western cultures, and its
naturalization in a variety of modes. Secondly, I propose to present two case
studies in which westernization has been subjected by globalization to reactive
responses. One is the emergence of "glocalism", which provides a third
space, where new solidarities are created, crossing territorial borders and
connecting on the basis of culture. A case in point is that of Transnational
Islam. The other case is the "Re-Inventing Britain" project, where the
appropriation of western modes of collective identity by subaltern cultures
occurs within the national borders. The project lays a claim to the integration,
rather than co-equal toleration, of 'cultural diversity' into the 'primordial'
fixed national identity.
Sarker, Sonita (Macalester College, USA)
TRANS-STATUS SUBJECTS: RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN THIS ERA OF GLOBALIZATION
My book on gender and globalization (Duke UP, forthcoming 2002) proposes a
postmodern-postcolonial feminist theory of the 'trans-status subject' in which
categories of gender, race, nation, sexuality, and class are put into motion in
the circuits of globalization. The book underscores the tensions in the
dialectics of globalization (and glocalization) rather than critique
'globalization from top' or glorify 'globalization from below'. Rather, it
proposes that the economic and symbolic codings of culture are produced by women
and men at all levels of race, nation, and class, codings that are complicated
by various ideological affiliations. The book is a record of how minoritized
identities participate in globalization and enact trans-border solidarities
(across affiliations of class, race, etc.) towards positive social change. I
will analyze the work of two minoritized women (one in early and the other in
the late 20th century) both negotiating empire, nation-making, and
cosmopolitanism, that proposes women's solidarity.
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