2.3 Anthropological perspectives on globalization

Anthropological perspectives on globalization offer unique insights into how cultures interact and evolve in our interconnected world. Appadurai's framework of "scapes" helps us understand global flows, while cultural relativism encourages respect for diversity amid global influences.

Multi-sited and global ethnography methods allow anthropologists to study complex cultural processes across borders. These approaches reveal how local cultures actively engage with global forces, leading to hybrid identities and practices that challenge simplistic notions of cultural homogenization.

Anthropological Frameworks

Appadurai's Framework of Scapes

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• Appadurai proposes a framework of "scapes" to understand global cultural flows and the disjunctures between economy, culture, and politics
• Ethnoscapes refer to the landscape of persons who constitute the shifting world in which we live, including tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles, and guest workers
• Technoscapes involve the global configuration of technology and the fact that technology, both high and low, both mechanical and informational, now moves at high speeds across various kinds of previously impervious boundaries
• Financescapes describe the disposition of global capital and are now a more mysterious, rapid, and difficult landscape to follow than ever before, as currency markets, national stock exchanges, and commodity speculations move megamonies through national turnstiles at blinding speed
• Mediascapes refer both to the distribution of the electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information and to the images of the world created by these media (CNN, Al Jazeera)
• Ideoscapes are concatenations of images, but they are often directly political and frequently have to do with the ideologies of states and the counter-ideologies of movements explicitly oriented to capturing state power or a piece of it (democracy, freedom, welfare)

Cultural Relativism in a Global Context

• Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual's beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of that individual's own culture
• In a global context, cultural relativism encourages understanding and respecting cultural differences while acknowledging the interconnectedness of cultures
• Anthropologists must navigate the complexities of applying cultural relativism when studying cultures that are increasingly influenced by global forces and interactions
• Globalization challenges traditional notions of bounded, isolated cultures and requires anthropologists to consider the broader context in which cultural practices and beliefs emerge and transform

Multi-Sited Ethnography and Global Ethnography

• Multi-sited ethnography involves conducting fieldwork in multiple locations to follow the connections, associations, and relationships across sites
• This approach recognizes that cultural processes and phenomena are not confined to a single site but are constituted through the interconnections and movements between sites
• Global ethnography expands the scope of multi-sited ethnography to examine the global dimensions of cultural processes and the ways in which the local is shaped by global forces
• Anthropologists conducting global ethnography may study transnational networks, global institutions, and the circulation of people, goods, and ideas across borders
• Examples of multi-sited and global ethnography include studying the global commodity chain of a product (coffee), following the migration patterns of a particular group (Mexican immigrants in the US and Mexico), or examining the impact of international development projects on local communities (World Bank projects in multiple countries)

Global-Local Dynamics

Cultural Flows and Interactions

• Globalization involves the intensification of cultural flows and interactions across borders, facilitated by advancements in transportation, communication, and media technologies
• Cultural flows refer to the movement of ideas, practices, and products across national and cultural boundaries, leading to the hybridization and creolization of cultures
• Local cultures are not passive recipients of global influences but actively engage with, adapt, and reinterpret global cultural forms in unique ways
• The global spread of popular culture (hip-hop music), consumer products (Coca-Cola), and religious movements (Pentecostalism) illustrate the complex dynamics of cultural flows and local adaptations

Global-Local Nexus and Identity

• The global-local nexus refers to the interconnections and mutual constitution of global processes and local realities
• Globalization does not lead to the homogenization of cultures but rather produces a complex interplay between global forces and local specificities
• Local identities and practices are shaped by global influences, while local actors also contribute to shaping global processes and discourses
• Globalization can lead to the strengthening of local identities and the emergence of new identity formations that draw on both local and global resources
• Examples of the global-local nexus and identity include the localization of global fast-food chains (McDonald's in India), the use of global media by indigenous activists to assert their rights (Zapatistas in Mexico), and the formation of transnational migrant identities (Chinese-Americans)