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CULTURAL GLOBALISATION: THE ROLE OF SOUTH, EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 115.248.73.67 on dated 27-Dec-2010 Indian Cabinet Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has given lectures to management students in North America including at Harvard, about the success story of the Indian Railways. Reverse globalisation indeed! One reaction to the conventional idea of globalisation, as pointed out by Anne Pakir, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, is that English is “going glocal that is, going global while maintaining local roots”. She sees “glocal English” as a language with an international status but which also expresses local identities (Asia Times Online, July 31, 2003). Already, more Asians speak English than anyone and “Asian English” words multiply every year. For the many who see this as an intrusion, a destructive force, there may be some solace to be found in the old Malay saying, “your mouth is your tiger” (ibid). The English language now accommodates “Indian English”, even Hinglish words in its dictionaries. Asian immigrants in Europe and North America have also begun to influence “Western English”, akin to the “colonisation” of English in Asia. South Asian English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Malaysian English can be heard in both usage and accent. The English language is no longer the “Whiteman’s language”, especially after the introduction of internet, chat and blog English. “As the result of low-cost airfares, the internet, the hegemony of the English language and the rise of the transnational corporation, we’re increasingly sharing social, cultural, identity-forming experiences. David Beckham is no longer British, Nicole Westerners are now visiting Shanghai and Singapore more for shopping than for sightseeing, while Easterners with their growing incomes and selfassuring pride are visiting Europe and North America for “pleasure travel”. Kidman is no longer Australian, McDonalds and Microsoft are no longer American. The searing memory of the collapse of the twin towers is common to us all” (available at, http://thetyee.ca). So far, Westerners including East Europeans and especially Russians had dominated sports like chess, golf, squash and tennis. However, in the last two decades Asians like tennis players Leander Paes and Sania Mirza, the Indian chess grand master Vishwanath Anand, the squash playing Khans of Pakistan, et al have become global players. An Asian presence is thus being felt in these sports worldwide, VOL 13 NO 4 WINTER 2009 WORLD AFFAIRS 31
K SYAMALAMMA AND P KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY while China and Southeast Asia continue to dominate as nuclear centres of badminton and table tennis. www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 115.248.73.67 on dated 27-Dec-2010 MULTICULTURALISM AND MODERNITY The ideas of integration and assimilation are being challenged by immigrants in countries like Australia, Canada and England. The West is slowly coming to grips with concepts like the multiple identities of immigrants and the transnational identities of individuals in the global age. These have consequently contributed to cultural globalisation. In the present day world, the integration perspective has weakened and that of the subject or individual has become more dominant. Nations are no longer the sole or even main sources of identification of individuals who are increasingly associated with multiple identities extending beyond the framework of countries. Between the local and the supranational, the national level is only one level amongst others (Michel Wieviorka, “Can the Concept of Integration still Help Us? State and Civil Society in a Global World”, Sociological Bulletin – Journal of the Indian Sociological Society, Vol 57, No 1, January–April 2008, pp 30–40). For example, Singapore, the leading entrepôt of Southeast Asia, is a hub for a global network of business centres in which the lives of the elites are virtually identical. Business leaders from Buenos Aires to Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Mexico One reaction to the conventional City, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, idea of globalisation, is that Paris, Rome, Santiago, Seoul, English is going glocal that is, Singapore, Tel Aviv and Tokyo all read going global while maintaining the same newspapers, wear the same local roots. Already, more Asians suits, drive the same cars, eat the same speak English than anyone and food, fly the same airlines, stay in the “Asian English” words multiply same hotels and listen to the same every year. music. While people of divergent origins remain divided by culture, they have realised that to compete in the global marketplace they must conform to the culture of that marketplace. The community of nations has increasingly accepted that such supranational entities are demanded by the exigencies of the times and 32 WORLD AFFAIRS WINTER 2009 VOL 13 NO 4
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