Two essays on the universal and particular dimensions of culture

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The conception of globalisation as a programme or project driven by a group of people orcompanies with a set agenda underlies much of the antagonistic discussion of globalisation.Protagonists of globalisation, in turn, often describe the process as inevitable progress. This paperanalyses the process of globalisation and argues that it should not be understood as such a singularprocess. Rather, the concept complex connectivity - where the local and the global come' intocloser contact and influence, or interpenetrate, one another more directly - facilitates a more nuancedanalysis of globalisation -.This understanding of globalisation will be tested against the phenomenonof culture by posing two questions: Does globalisation lead to the destruction of local culture( s) by anencroaching singular global culture (i.e. is globalisation cultural imperialism)? Or alternatively: Doesglobalisation represent an opening .up and exchange between previously isolated cultures andsocieties? This paper argues in favour of the second position by employing John Tomlinson'sexistential definition of culture and his understanding of the dialectic that exists between the local andthe global in complex connectivity. Instead of global culture, we can more properly speak of. globalized culture, which looks different in every local situation. This is a more optimistic answerto the cultural' effects of globalisation, and although some concerns remain, it seems clear that tounderstand globalisation as complex connectivity rules out many of the charges of culturalimperialism lodged against globalisation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University