American Culture in the face of global this and global that

It isn't that globalization is inevitable, it is just becoming easier and happening faster. However, the notion that American Culture is swiftly disintegrating due to globalization is not a familiar concept to many. Globalization does not seem to be squashing American Culture or its ideals. Globalization, by its very definition, only heightens and accentuates the essence of what American Culture is known to be.

America is a melting pot and she, is having no trouble embracing that. Despite the persistent intimidating buzz of globalization, Americans do not seem to be losing their identity but utilizing globalization to their advantage. By accepting American Culture as the multifaceted face of the nation, globalization is no threat.

Bollywood

As a semi-reply to the previous post about American Culture being less prominent I thought I'd just talk about Bollywood Films for a little bit.

I remember growing up and not knowing what Bollywood was. Whenever I heard of it I assumed that it was some kind of "spoof" on Hollywood. Little did I know at the time that it was a serious film industry located outside of the US. As I grew up I found that I heard more and more about movies from Bollywood and started to learn more about it.

Last year I took a course called International Communications and we spent quite a bit of time focusing on Bollywood which resulted in us watching quite a few Bollywood productions. I found that I readily identified with the movies and that there was a universal appeal due to their very successful formula. We discussed how big of an industry Bollywood is and how much it rivals Hollywood especially in places one wouldn't necessarily expect such as African countries.

I think people are starting to look outside their borders more and more. I have heard so many of my friends and fellow students making comments such as "I wish I wasn't such a dumb American with no knowledge of other coutries," or similar things such as that. It seems that my friends, at least, and the people I know in the classes I take, are interested in exploring the rest of the world and they do it in such ways as watching Bollywood films. Although I have no evidence I feel that if one asked a random person ten years ago if they enjoyed Bollywood films they would have no idea what it was, but now a days people will at least be able to list off one Bollywood film that they have heard of or seen.


So, American culture...I think people in America are starting to realize that they need to look outward to other countries. I think that people are starting to realize that America is no longer the global leader that it use to be. We are moving into a period where cooperation is important and there really cannot be just one leader, with this comes more exchange of information and culture.

Does the World Still Care About American Culture?

In a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Richard Pells, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin, considers whether the world still cares about American culture (here too as an op-ed piece to the Dallas Morning News)-- which is part (but only part!!) of what we're exploring here.

Of American writers and artists, Pells writes, "Today they are for the most part unnoticed, or regarded as ordinary mortals, participants in a global rather than a distinctively American culture."

It is interesting to note, I think, that Pells goes on to talk of how various nations are increasingly turning to their own cultural production while Americans are increasingly looking outwards (his example of the movies is particularly striking in this regard). Though might this also be because of a more general American turn away from "culture"? I mean, how well known are any American writers and artists in the United States today?

What's prompting this?, Pells asks. "The main answer is that globalization has subverted America's influence." It has meant that the United States competes, rather than dominates. Though why American culture now competes instead of dominates is a bit unclear to this reader.

He concludes that "it is doubtful that America will ever again be the world's pre-eminent culture, as it was in the 20th century. That is not a cause for regret. Perhaps we are all better off in a world of cultural pluralism than in a world made in America."

"Perhaps"?!? Yes, perhaps. Or perhaps not? Or maybe? Pells' is a view from the inside, from the United States (though he has traveled, taught, and spoken around the world). What have been your experiences with the spread of American culture? Is it a cultural competition now? Are we increasingly nationalistic in our cultural consumption? Or are we just increasingly uncaring? Or cheap -- are we consuming what is least expensive? Or ready-made? Or...??

Shopping Excursion

My friend was at Victoria Secret yesterday buying a swim suit, and I was there along for the ride.  While I was waiting for her to try some suits on I noticed that in the store were some women in the store who were shopping for...well, I'm not really sure, I wasn't really paying attention.  Anyway, the women were wearing jilbabs and hijabs and I immediately thought of this forum.  Here you are in a very "Western" store with "non-Western" clad women.  The contrast seemed pretty stark to me.  I suppose the jilbabs and hijabs are meant to cover the exterior of a woman to "keep her modest", yet nothing, that I know of at least, talks about what they need to wear underneath them.

There's an example of the blending of cultures.  Now, is that good or bad?  I can't really say, unfortunately because I don't really have an indepth knowledge of the Islamic culture.  Maybe someone who does have knowledge on this topic could speak of how this impacts Muslims?

Survival of the fittest?

 Are we in an age of cultural “survival of the fittest” or is the blending of culture elements actually an improvement? 

I decided to look back on the topic and read through some of the prompts offered.  For some reason I was really interested in this specific question about whether or not we are in an age of cultural "survival of the fittest" or if the blending of culture elements is actually an improvement.  I don't really see this prompt as giving much of a choice, it really just says that cultures are blending together, and either we can view it one way or the other.

At first I tried to think of how we are in an age where cultures are experiencing a "survival of the fittest" mentality.  The first thing that came to mind was the Native American culture in America.  Many Native American cultures have vanished underneath "American" culture.  And yet, the more I thought about it I thought of many different examples of increased awareness of vanishing cultures and the increased response to document them and to revive them.  I have seen work by linguists and sociologists working hard with Native Americans to revive their languages, their culture, and their traditions.  Now that we are more aware of vanishing cultures it seems as if we are working toward ensuring that they do not disappear.  So, yes perhaps there was a "survival of the fittest" situation occuring but that's changing.  Then, there is also the fact that there is a "hollowing" out of Europe and a focus, from the EU, on different traditions and cultures which cross borders.  So maybe the "struggle" of cultures is really starting to become more protected now.

Then I thought about the blending of the cultures.  Are there a blending of cultures?  Yes we see Chinatowns, we see Little Italies, etc.  But are they really blending?  And if they are, is this an improvement?  I couldn't really think of an example of where there is a blending of cultures.  I see these pockets of differnt cultures and I see them existing in their own bubbles without heavy influence from different cultures.

I mean, I suppose one could talk about the "chinglish" phenomenon and the blending of culture through language...but is that an improvement?  I don't really see it as an improvement, in fact it could be seen as a negative overall.

Changing Traditions

I was trying to think of any traditions that I have known which have been heavily impacted by something to the point where they have changed. I can't really think of anything. I'm not really sure what that means, especially considering my view of traditions is a fairly limited scope due to my youth, my perspective and my limited knowledge of some traditions.

I thought about Chinese New Year, since I'm fairly knowledable about Chinese cultures based on personal experience. I have been to many Chinese New Year festivals, and they all seem to have the same key elements, a dancing dragon eating an orange, fireworks, dragon boat racing, drums, traditional music and garb, the same food etc. At this point I've witnessed the Chinese New Year festivals in New York, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts and they all seem to be quite the same.

Not that I expected to see, say, Cheese curds at a Wisconsin Chinese New Year festival but I would have thought it would be different being impacted by Wisconsin culture. But no, not particularly.

I guess, with that in mind, can there be cultural purity? I can't fully answer that question since I do not know how the festivals were carried out in China, but it seems as if there is enough shared memory by the Asian (American) community to hold onto the traditions of the past.