Cultural Globalisation - Mimts.org

CULTURAL GLOBALISATION: THE ROLE OF SOUTH, EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
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after successful appropriation, makes the origin of concepts and ideas increasingly
irrelevant. A dialogue on cultural differences and similarities has been forced upon
Western societies as they themselves undergo an immense internal process of
pluralisation and become increasingly multicultural. Identity politics and cultural
differences are no longer problems somewhere else but in one’s own neighbourhood.
Cultural differences have to be confronted head on and as such, dialogue and new
forms of conflict resolution are inevitable. It is unlikely that the structures of the
global culture will remain unchanged after sustained dialogue (Breidenbach and
Zukrigl, ibid).
Thus, the phenomenon of globalisation has long been present in nature and
civilisation. The current trend points to the formation and acceptance of cultural
diversity on a global scale, which had hitherto been on a national scale. Hence, the
broad Asian and Western cultures are on the one hand meeting and combining to
create a hybrid global culture and on the
other, in the process are losing some
features while adding others on both
sides. The global and local are mixing
and remixing and have led to the
creation of glocal, which is in essence,
cultural globalisation. Therefore, global
culture has become simultaneously more
diverse and more alike. While some
features fall into natural globalisation
with no conscious or deliberate attempts
by groups of people, nations or
organisations, others, like treaties and
Both the creolisation of local
societies and the formation of
transnational communities,
demonstrate the inadequacy of
the concept that sees cultures as
bound and static units. The
image of the world as a mosaic,
consisting of clearly defined and
separated single stones has to
give way to the idea of culture as
a flow.
organisations like the WTO, World Bank and International Monetary Fund fall
into the category of “artificial” globalisation agents. Lifestyle, a part of culture, has
become global without notice, awareness or even attempt and Asia has started
playing a significant role in cultural globalisation.
VOL 13 NO 4 WINTER 2009 WORLD AFFAIRS 35