What is Culture?

Clothing

Sports

Entertainment

Artifacts Food

Identity

Culture is also………..

Discourses

Verbal Non-verbal

Symbolic codes

Institutions

Beliefs Practices

Attitudes Values

EthosBelonging

Circumstances to Globalisation

LPG and changing patterns of financial flows Growth in size and power of Corporations Advances of ICT and Media reach Changing outlook of people Intersections of Environment-Economy-

Politics-Culture-Society American Imperialism on ‘others’

Assumptions of Cultural Imperialism Rooted in the realities of the 1970s, depiction of a hegemonic media pied piper (America) leading the global media mice (third world countries). Corporations have been successful at massifying non-Western culture into Western values. The effects vary according to the type of media. Capital-intensive media (like TV and film) tend to be powerful massification forces.

New World Information and Communication Order

Mass media concerns began with the meeting of non- aligned nations in Algiers, 1973; again in Tunis 1976, and later in 1976 at the New Delhi Ministerial Conference of Non-Aligned Nations. Third World countries, encouraged by the movement of the Non-Aligned countries (NAM), protested against the global leadership of the Western news agencies (AP, AFP, UPI, and REUTER). These agencies controlled up to 95 % of worldwide information flows. UN-sponsored a proposal in 1974 for a New International Economic Order (NIEO). Gave the idea of New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) to foster more equitable communications between developed and developing worlds.

Historically……Cultural Imperialism Has roots in New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). Refers to the spread of one culture at the expense of others usually because of differential economic or political influence. While mass media and related technology contribute to the erosion of local cultures, they are increasingly being used as media for the outward diffusion of local cultures.

Many Voices One World

The MacBride Commission so- named after its president was UNESCO's International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems Many Voices One World, also known as the MacBride report, was a 1980 UNESCO publication written by the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems.

Historically……Cultural Imperialism Has roots in New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). Refers to the spread of one culture at the expense of others usually because of differential economic or political influence. While mass media and related technology contribute to the erosion of local cultures, they are increasingly being used as media for the outward diffusion of local cultures.

Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool MacBride and Roach observe that media communications networks are unevenly distributed across the globe in ways that conform to the uneven wealth and development of countries. Rapid development of communications media in the postwar years was dominated by multinational elites based in the most powerful nations, subjecting the newly independent postcolonial nations, developing countries to cultural imperialism.

Asserted need for African reporting on Africa, Indian perspectives on South Asia, as well as a “South-South” dialogue, circumventing transmission through the dominant countries. The Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP) was a cooperation system among news agencies of Non-Aligned countries, which lasted from 1975 to mid-1990s.

Historically……Cultural Imperialism Has roots in New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). Refers to the spread of one culture at the expense of others usually because of differential economic or political influence. While mass media and related technology contribute to the erosion of local cultures, they are increasingly being used as media for the outward diffusion of local cultures.

GlobalisationLate twentieth-century condition of encounter and interdependence across cultures, societies, nations, and regions precipitated by an unprecedented expansion of capitalism on a global scale: Post World War II (1945) saw the rise of the United States Decolonization of the formerly colonized world; A shift from the concept of the nation-state as bounded and independent toward a range of economic, social and political connections across nations; An acceleration in the scale, mode, and volume of exchange and relationship in nearly all spheres of human activity.

To study media within globalization is to understand information and visual culture as neither merely commodified, nor as simply the inert effect or function of transnational capitalism.

Rather, contemporary global media and visual culture expresses, comments upon, and mediates the “structure of feeling” of globalization. Not exclusively an expression of the “center” influencing the “periphery,” global media includes:

The “Third Cinema” critique of cultural imperialism (“Battle of Algiers”) Hybridization of western and non-western cultural forms (“Touki Bouki”) Indigenization of western themes (Singh Twins) Ethnoscapes and mediascapes sustained by regional industries (Bollywood, Korean Wave) Crossover imports or collaborations from former “periphery” to the “center” (“Hero,” “Babel”)

Results of globalisationcultural imperialism hybridization A new media order

polycentrism, indigenization, overlapping ‘scapes’

ethnoscapes: technoscapes: financescapes: mediascapes: ideoscapes

Media within globalization has been understood in several ways:

The cultural imperialism argument emphasizes the information technology divide within which dominant cultures impose information, products, values on those of less dominant ones.

The hybridization thesis stresses that globalization of economy, trade, and migration has created cultures that are hybridized, mixed, syncretic and composite. Globalization creates combinations of sameness and difference: center to periphery, periphery to center, creolization, and regional media productions. Hybridization thesis Through global encounters and exchanges, cultures have hybridized, mixed, become syncretic and composite. In one version, hybridization suggests that globalization brings the ‘center to the periphery,’ spreading western-style modernity, introducing Hollywood genres and liberal values, ideas, and tastes to the non-west. Another version emphasizes that media representations emanate from regional centers in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and that goods, styles, ideas and tastes from the ‘periphery’ are also imported to the ‘center,’ e.g., Bollywood, the Korean Wave, and the Chinese Fifth Generation are examples of important regional media that produce another “optic,” which appeal to and circulate among other spectators and audiences. Globalization creates a tension between cultural difference and cultural sameness; globalization differentiates, as well as equalizes, levels, or unifies. The apparent spread of western cultural media actually produces conditions that give rise to local particularisms to distinguish themselves and comment on hybridization as a global process.

A new media order, beyond sameness and difference suggests that cultural exchanges are more complicated than similarity and difference:

polycentrism, Polycentrism is the principle of organization of a region around several political, social or financial centres. Examples of polycentric cities include the Ruhr area in Germany, Stoke-on-Trent in the UK and the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. These "cities" have no single centre, but several. Other examples are Randstad in the Netherlands, Berlin in Germany and the Gold Coast in Australia.

indigenization, -localising

overlapping ‘scapes’ – create alternative approaches to media and visual cultures.

Arjun Appadurai, “Disjunction and Difference” ethnoscapes: the landscape of persons who are part of the shifting world in which we live, cultural groupings that do not conform to nations. In an ethnoscape, states are not major actors; rather multinational, diasporic communities, tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles, guest workers, and other groups and individuals constitute the world. technoscapes: the global configuration of technology, both high and low, both mechanical and informational, that now moves at high speeds across various boundaries: e.g., shifting consolidations of engineers, tech, and infrastructure. financescapes: the rapid disposition of global capital, as currency markets, national stock exchanges, and commodity speculations move through national venues at great speed. Includes the global mobility of capital and the people who staff finance operations, financial management, marketing, and mixed production, e.g., Nike’s commodity chain. mediascapes: the distribution of the electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information, images, newspapers, magazines, television, video and film– now available to an increasing number of private and public interests throughout the world; documentary or entertainment, electronic or pre-electronic, their audiences may be local, national, or transnational. ideoscapes: images, often directly political, whether those of the state or counter to the state.

Cultural Imperialism through TV!Structural elements:

Economic frameworks- Advertising revenue Technological bases- Satellite, wireless Institutional forms of organization and operation: national

market structures, ownership rules, production incentives and subsidies, financial rules, frequency assignments, technical standards, content rules, economic restructuring, International powers (IMF, WTO)

Cultural elements: Regionalisation in terms of geography-language and culture Formation of language and cultural communities Creation and flow of content across globe

Western values….. Individualism and competition for self interest (opposite of Collective) Consumerism and materialism Status consciousness based on wealth Covert racism (by favouring Western forms of music, fashion, beauty, etc) Excessive hedonism, violence, and sex

TV Globalization!!! Operations: national or local-{frequency licensing, satellite orbit controls, market definition, financial incentives, cultural policy and advertising, and other financial controls by nation-states} organization: transnational, international, macro-regional, national, micro-regional, municipal, local Investments: truly global Productions: copycat/dubbed/syndicated Flows: Geo-linguistics and regionalization Impact: Evidences about flow, genre or broadcast model based impact on audiences

Indian Television….The Journey

From 1959 to 2014 and From B&W to Colour From 1 channel to 845 channels From 40 sets to 14 Million TV Sets From Social Development to Entertainment From PSB to niche audience and segmented realities From terrestrial to Cable-STB-DTH-IPTV-Mobile TV From Neighborhood TV to multiple TV sets in a house From local- Hum Log to glocal-…KBC……..

Questioning of Cultural Imperialism

Non-Western rise of soft power: film from India and Egypt, television from Mexico and Brazil Contra-flows: Indian films dominating in Asia Globalization of media forms Globalization of media Firms (TNCs) Global media flows Media localization and global/national values Nationalism to Transnationalism.

Media globalization for north meant concern about Trade barriers for free flow of American cultural products and problem of media piracy

Contrary Evidences-1

Media text: Hybrid programming, Indian look and Western values Transnational Operations: Copycat TV,

Licensed/Syndicated shows, Film collaborations, content exchange collaborations Media structure ownerships Audience Studies with diverse findings

5 MNCs control 95% of all music carried by record stores in America and 50% of the music in Europe. These corporations are- Warner, Bertelsmann, EMI, Universal Music, Sony

ZEE Story- Local gone Global

ZEE reaches 169 countries across the globe. ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. launched

its 2nd Arabic channel, Zee Alwan, in 2012. ZEEL has been syndicating Indian dramas

dubbed in Mandarin to Chinese television channels since 2006 and became the first Indian channel to receive landing rights in China in 2012.

Contrary Evidences…2

Regional Networks Manufacturing of ‘Indian’ identities Localizing the global and Globalizing the

local Market tensions and negotiated identities Nation-state may not be decisive category Ethnically homogenous nation-states sharing

content

FICCI-KPMG 2013 Report…. GEC channels like Zee TV (169), SET (77), Star Plus (70) and Colors (50) are available globally. Hindi GEC viewership share is 30% (regional GEC- 20.18%) compared to English entertainment (0.14%), English news (0.23%) and English movies (0.88%). Hindi and regional GEC is 50% viewership share 2012 as DAS-Digital Addressability System year TV Advertising spent lesser than expected - 8% (compared to 12% of 2011 and 17% in 2010)

3 types of Indian Content on move

FIRST, the colour, song, dance and drama that is its hallmark. It is for Indians and other audiences who are culturally aligned to Indian sensibilities. SECOND is content with an Indian theme. Rich Indian mythology, culture or characters based in India seeking a global audience. THIRD to serve markets with supply deficiency of local programming. There fresh programming costs are high compared with the size of the local audience For eg. Animation or kids content West Asia, Eastern Europe and other such markets.

Ernest & Young and FICCI report on Indian Content on Move, 2007 estimates Indian content as 200 USD million industry and 20 Million NRIs as market

Contrary Evidences-3States: employ political power, define

aspects of cultures, license broadcasters, create market incentives, limit imports through quotas, and counteract global actors who wish to penetrate national cultural space. Market- size and wealth, National-

commercial structure and financial base, Competition, Government policies, Other cultural industries, Producer behaviour,

Cultural ImperialismPAST

Domination-Hegemony Media Imperialism Discourse of

nationality Critique of global

capitalism Critique of modernity

PRESENT

Localization Glocalisation Counter-flow Local resistance Cultural proximity,

economic capital Hybridisation - music,

fashion, and styles

CriticismA number of scholars have claimed that the cultural

imperialists "have shown remarkable provincialism, forgetting the existence of empires before that of the United States The British in India and the Middle East, the

Germans in Africa, and the French in Indochina all imposed their own culture abroad as a powerful tool to strengthen trade, commerce, and political influence and recruit intellectual elites for their own purposes

Cont…

In addition, new studies on U.S. policies in Asia and Europe have demonstrated that American policymakers did not hesitate to sacrifice economic (and ideological) objectives in order to realize geopolitical interests The State Department as well as Congress

were often reluctant to develop a full-fledged policy of cultural diplomacy

News Face of ImperialismThe New Face of Imperialism say that ‘‘human beings tend, in whatever part of the world they may live, to watch the same television programs, see the same movies, listen to the same music, and read the same, or indistinguishable, newspapers and magazines.’’ In a similar vein, Pitchon observes: ‘‘The same types of buildings go up in Kuala Lumpur as in California; the same food can be eaten in Mexico and Mongolia; the same violent Hollywood blockbusters can be seen in Scandinavia and South America.’’

The Corporate AgeThe development of mass communication technologies

in recent decades has led to rapid exchange of ideas and information throughout the world, turning the world into a ‘‘global village’’ --- a term made popular by Canadian media theorist Marshal McLuhan During the last two decades, transnational corporations

and financial institutions have globalized their activities and forced governments to abandon controls on foreign exchange (trading) of their currencies

Cont…

Transnational corporations have come to dominate the world economy. Operating in dozens of countries and producing

for an increasingly globalized marketplace The political domination of the United States,

the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the development of new techniques for production and new forms of organization have also contributed towards the globalization of economy

Food For Thought First and foremost, these corporations fully realize that

what they are selling to the world are not life necessities, but rather lifestyles. Coca-Cola, for instance, understands this well, for one of its executive admitted: ‘‘American culture broadly defined --- music, film, fashion and food --- has become culture worldwide.’’ In order to sell these products which are often totally

irrelevant and alien to other cultures, transnational corporations must create artificial ‘‘needs’’ and build loyalty to their brand names

Cont…

Nike, for example, is able to sell its shoes on a grand scale not because they are more comfortable, but because of the images of popularity and glamour associated with its brand name. Thus, when these shoes are bought for their brand name rather than for utility or comfort, they become ‘‘a lifestyle choice arising out of the manipulation of emotions linked to sports and winning, rather than to satisfaction of needs linked to walking and shoes.’’

Cont…

Benjamin Barber accurately explains the influence of consumer products on lifestyles with regards to McDonald’s: When a person in a Third World nation consumes a

McDonald’s burger with a bottle of Coca-Cola, enjoying the stylish environment of a typical outlet, he or she also imbibes the spirit of America. What is being consumed is much more than junk food; it is the symbol of the power, privilege, and affluence of the United States that is being taken in

7 Trends in Communication1. Compression of space and time

• Larger and larger territories covered: networks of networks emerging (www)

• Mobile, wireless untethered access: ubiquity • Communication across borders virtually instantaneously

2. Commodification • Spread of private and not public enterprise, interpenetration

of marketing, consumption and media • Widespread ideology of consumption/consumer “sovereignty”

3. Deregulation and Concentration and Conglomeration • Withdrawal of public sector, less regulation, more role for

market • Trend to mergers and acquisitions • Multi media holdings

7 Trends Cont’d4. Globalization :

• Growth in international trade in cultural products, rise of 6 or 8 main companies dominating markets and merging industries

• AOL Time Warner;Disney;Vivendi, Viacom, Sony, News, Bertelesmann

5. Digitization and Convergence ⬧ Conversion of sound pictures and text into computer readable formats by

representing them as strings of zeros and ones ⬧ Now, telecommunication providers involved in TV and cable ⬧ Digitization enables the production, circulation, manipulation and re-purposing

or storage of information on unprecedented scale

6. Specialization ( part of “demassification”) ⬧ Narrowly “casting’ or “targeting” communication to particular interests…

shrinking share of general interest TV

7. Personalization ⬧ The “daily me”: personal tailoring of media diet/media products ⬧ Ideal type: MP3 downloading of custom music

Third Cinema

“The cinema known as documentary, with all the vastness that the concept has today, from educational films to the reconstruction of a fact or a historical event, is perhaps the main basis of revolutionary filmmaking. Every image that documents, bears witness to, refutes or deepens the truth of a situation is something more than a film image or purely artistic fact; it becomes something which the System finds indigestible.”

“This cinema of the masses, which is prevented from reaching beyond the sectors representing the masses, provokes with each showing, as in a revolutionary military incursion, a liberated space, a decolonised territory. The showing can be turned into a kind of political event, which, according to Fanon, could be 'a liturgical act, a privileged occasion for human beings to hear and be heard.'”

– Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, “Towards A Third Cinema”

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3272378624/nm0000097