The Cultures of Globalization

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Edited by Fredric Jameson and Masoa Miyoshi

Duke University Press

Due/Published May 1998, 376 pages, paper

ISBN 0822321696

The Cultures of Globalization presents an international panel of intellectuals who consider the process of globalization as it concerns the transformation of the economic into the cultural and vice versa; the rise of consumer culture around the world; the production and cancellation of forms of subjectivity; and the challenges it presents to national identity, local culture, and traditional forms of everyday life.

Discussing overlapping themes of transnational consequence, the contributors to this volume describe how the global character of technology, communication networks, consumer culture, intellectual discourse, the arts, and mass entertainment have all been affected by recent worldwide trends. Appropriate to such diversity of material, the authors approach their topics from a variety of theoretical perspectives, including those of linguistics, sociology, economics, anthropology, and the law. Essays examine such topics as free trade, capitalism, the North and South, Eurocentrism, language migration, art and cinema, social fragmentation, sovereignty and nationhood, higher education, environmental justice, wealth and poverty, transnational corporations, and global culture.

 Contributors: Noam Chomsky, Ioan Davies, Manthia Diawara, Enrique Dussel, David Harvey, Sherif Hetata, Fredric Jameson, Geeta Kapur, Liu Kang, Joan Martinez-Alier, Masao Miyoshi, Walter D. Mignolo, Alberto Moreiras, Paik Nak-chung, Leslie Sklair, Subramani, Barbara Trent

Table of Contents

Preface: Fredric Jameson

I. Globalization and Philosophy
--The "World-System": Europe as "Center" and Its "Periphery," beyond Eurocentrism / Enrique Dussel
--Globalization, Civilization Processes, and the Relocation of Languages and Cultures / Walter D. Mignolo
--Notes on Globalization as a Philosophical Issue / Fredric Jameson

II. Alternative Localities
--Global Fragments: A Second Latinamericanism / Alberto Moreiras
--Toward a Regional Imaginary in Africa / Manthia Diawara
--Negotiating African Culture: Toward a Decolonization of the Fetish / Ioan Davies
--The End of Free States: On Transnationalization of Culture / Subramani
--Is There an Alternative to (Capitalist) Globalization? The Debate about Modernity in China / Liu Kang

III. Culture and the Nation
--Globalization and Culture: Navigating the Void / Geeta Kapur
--Nations and Literatures in the Age of Globalization / Paik Nak-chung
--Media in a Capitalist Culture / Barbara Trent
--'Globalization,' Culture, and the University / Masao Miyoshi

IV. Consumerism and Ideology--Dollarization, Fragmentation, and God / Sherif Hetata
--Social Movements and Global Capitalism / Leslie Sklair
--"Environmental Justice" (Local and Global) / Joan Martinez-Alier
--WhatÕs Green and Makes the Environment Go Round? / David Harvey
--Free Trade and Free Market: Pretense and Practice / Noam Chomsky

In Place of a Conclusion / Masao Miyoshi

Review

Globalization, a phenomenon that seemingly affects everything everywhere and thus can also be a difficult subject to get a firm grasp of. Foregoing the need to provide a coherent explanation for something that is in constant flux, The Cultures of Globalization is a collection of an international group of scholars examining a variety of issues from a multitude of perspectives. Some of the topics examined include the fate of the local vs. the national; transformation of the economic into the cultural and vice versa; the growth (and ultimate dominance?) of consumerist culture in the world; the fate of the arts; and the production and cancellation of forms of subjectivity. All in all, this clearly stands out as one of the most incisive volumes on the process everyone seems to be talking about.

Articles include:
"Beyond Eurocentrism: The World-System and the Limits of Modernity," Enrique Dussel
"Globalization, Civilization Processes, and the Relocation of Languages and Culture," Walter D. Mignolo
"Notes on Globalization as a Philosophical Issue," Fredric Jameson
"Global Fragments: A Second Latinamericanism," Alberto Moreiras
'Toward a Regional Imaginary in Africa," Manthia Diawara
"Negotiating African Culture: Toward a Decolonization of the Fetish," Ioan Davies
"Is There an Alternative to (Capitalist) Globalization? The Debate about Modernity in China," Liu Kang
"Nations and Literature in the Age of Globalization," Paik Nak-chung
"Media in Capitalist Culture," Barbara Trent
"Dollarization, Fragmentation, and God," Sherif Hetata
"What's Green and Make the Environment Go Round?," David Harvey
"Free Trade and Free Market: Pretense and Practice," Noam Chomsky
and others.