Does globalization mean we will become one culture ?

The article « Does Globalization mean we will become one culture » was written by Marc Pagel and published in the website “ bbc.com”.  Nowadays, American corporations such as Starbucks, Coca Cola and Facebook are spreading worldwide. In fact, their presence around the world has clearly a huge impact on local cultures, regarding food but also the mores and habits of the society they are implanted in. In fact, the trend that has been noticed is the homogenisation of cultures in term of loss of diversity or the westernisation of those cultures.

 

In order to understand this trend of globalization, the author highlights the notion of cumulative cultural adaptation, our capacity for cultural grants that has been accelerated by the rise of technology. In fact, the rise of new technologies such as Internet has allowed us to share knowledge with successive generation and to reach a large number of people. Consequently our culture is seen as cumulative because humans pick up what others left us and go further with it.

Moreover, Marc Pagel describes in his article the psychology that allows us to form and cooperate in small tribal groups and go even further by explaining that this same phenomenon makes it possible for us to from into larger social groupings, relying it to the idea of globalization and homogenisation versus cultural diversity.  Furthermore, in order to support his argument he goes throughout the history, showing that in our early age people used to live in small bands before the creation of “ chiefdoms” and collections of states such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Therefore we can see that our evolved tribal psychology has been comprised by competing tendencies, the disposition to produce lots of different cultures and the ability to extent to larger groupings.

However, the author highlights two factors that can stop this trend of homogenization, the scarcity of resources and demography. In fact, he thinks that people will realize that they have reached the peak standard of living, at a certain point and it will lead to increase individualism. Therefore, people are going to pull back from their own cultural scales.

Finally, to respond to the first question “ Does globalization mean we will become one culture” I would like to argue that the rise of technology and more precisely the democratization of Internet has brought people into closer contact, since they all have access to the same global products, largely coming from America. However, those same technologies give them the possibility to decide to choose their own culture and identity and of course choose to be different from other cultures.

Also, I think that despite these homogenizing effects, globalization can also reinforce local cultures since they feel threatened by it. Local or national cultures will try to protect themselves from globalization, trying to promote their own traditional values and customs. For example, in France, Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated “ l’exeption culturelle”; it is a policy of government protection that is set in order to promote the French culture and the French film Industry.

Moreover, many governments around the world have attempted to protect their local cultures more precisely their language by imposing bans on what they declare to be foreign cultural intrusions. The Chinese government has indeed removed the use of foreign words in order to protect the purity of its language; it has scrutinized the brands and names of 20,000 western companies and tried to force them to change to Chinese-sounding names.

Finally, the trend of homogenization of cultures appears to have a lot of challenges.  Globalization is not a simple process; it has several impacts on cultures, which are sometimes positive or negative.

Article Link : http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120522-one-world-order

Is Bollywood coming to Hollywood ?

The article « Is Bollywood coming to Hollywood » was written by Elham Khatami and published in the website « CNN.com ». Slumdog millionaire, a British drama movie, inspired by the Bollywood genre, had a huge success in the United States. In fact, this film symbolizes a celebration of India through the incorporation of many of the Bollywood industry’s norms, such as the vibrant colors, the fast-paced editing and the fact that the movie is based on a fairy tale love story that is full of musical dances.

The huge success of Slumdog millionaire raises the following question: Is it time for the Bollywood industry to target the American market? Is the American audience ready to accept and enjoy this genre?

In fact, Indian films and Bollywood are too different from Slumdog Millionaire and in many ways. In general, Bollywood is a profoundly political cinema that represents the crisis of the day. As for Slumdog Millionaire, it is far from being authentic and it is far from the real Indian genre, which releases about 1,000 films annually. Moreover, the movie was adapted in order to appeal to a large and international audience and also helped some Indian movie stars to become famous in Hollywood by representing India’s ambassadors in America.

Moreover, nowadays, Indian movies have a great influence on the American cinema since Bollywood has clearly inspired many Hollywood movies such as the Moulin Rouge. However, the cultural differences between Bollywood and Hollywood might be too important and could prevent Bollywood films to cross over to America.

Finally, I think that it is going to be difficult for the Indian film industry to be successful in America, since the social values and conventions of India movies are completely different from the American ones. In addition, the specific characteristics of the genre such as the presence of a religious figure, the romance being the main plot and the singing and dancing , many traditions and symbols are too difficult to understand for foreing audiences. For example, when a person is pulling another person’s ears, it means that he or she is trying to apology but in a physical way. Also, when a character is touching another character’s feet, it is a sign of great respect and honor according to the Hindu theology.

Furthermore, the colors are really important in those movies, since they all have a particular signification. Therefore, it might be difficult for international audiences to understand the meaning of those scenes since they don’t know about those symbols. For example, when a woman is wearing red, it means that she is married and that her husband is still alive.

I finally think that the Indian genre is really complex and tend to be too difficult to understand and therefore to enjoy from an outside perspective. Consequently the Bollywood genre has to be adapted in order to appeal to an international audience.

Article link : http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/23/bollywood.hollywood/index.html?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ

The case of Algerian Raï-musician Cheb Hasni

This article « the case of Algerian Raï-musician Cheb Hasni » was published in the website « Free Muse » and presents the story of a famous Algerian Raï musician.  Cheb Hasni was seen as an idol and was worshipped by an entire generation. In fact, his songs advocated a certain open expression of love, through sentimental lyrics and therefore were subjected to a great controversy.

This artist was born in the Gambetta district of Oran and grew up within a large family. In fact, he used his songs to contest the fundamentalists who controlled the country at this moment. While his songs talked about taboo issues such as love, sex and alcohol, the fundamentalists were condemning all non-religious usage of art. In fact, his songs were actually censored by the government and at the age of twenty-six years old, the artist got shot outside his home in Oran.

Furthermore, Cheb Hasni had strongly influenced the evolution of the Raï genre, it become more about protesting the established power, that is to say contesting the oppressive military regime that was ruling and controlling the country during the civil war. His story symbolizes the revolution of the Algerian youth against the fundamentalists and their wish to be free and to promote a certain freedom of expression in their country. However, the Islamic fundamentalists stopped those revolts by killing him and murdering another Raï artist Rachid Baba-Ahmed the following year.

 

Finally, I think that this article perfectly highlights the oppression that the Algerian government had on the population and more largely shows that freedom of expression is not a fundamental right in all the countries.  In fact, at first sight, we could think that the fundamentalists murdered those Raï singers with no reason or just because they were transmitting values and ideas that were contradicting there owns but actually I think that it is much more than that. Those Raï singers were actually seen as real threats since they had the power to incite the masses against the fundamentalist. They represented a real threat and at the same time a real hope for the young generations. Moreover, Algeria has been through difficult times since both government and fundamentalist movements oppressed the population.

The story of Cheb Hasni clearly highlights the gravity of the situation in this country, where artists are being censored and art is highly controlled and censored by the government. After the civil war, the population in Algeria accepted to be ruled by a military regime because they promised it security. I think that this explains the actual situation of Algeria since the population did not revolt during the Arab Spring. I think that the population is terribly afraid of instable periods, periods that are full of violence since the civil war was terrible for them. The military regime may still be oppressing but it offers them a certain security that they don’t want to let go off.

 

 Article link : http://freemuse.org/archives/486

 

The Rise of the Coffee Machines

This article « The Rise of the Coffee Machines » was written by Will Oremus and published in the website « Slate ». The author talks about Starbucks Corporation, which is an American global coffee company and more precisely, the largest coffeehouse company in the world. In fact, this article is trying to imagine the possibility that someday Starbucks Company is going to decide to replace its baristas with machines and also try to consider the impacts it would cost to the economy. Nowadays, Starbucks has no plan on replacing its workers by machines because it would diminish what it offers everyday; the company is all about valuing the “workers-client” relationships.

However, some companies are already thinking of taking the direction of automation. Briggo is a start-up that has just created a fully automated one stop coffee kiosk that goes with smartphone and customizes orders that can be scheduled for pick-up with a precise timing. The goal of this new concept is to make coffee better thanks to robots that are assumed to be more reliable than humans.

Also, Will Oremus highlights the fact that robots may be more reliable than human because they can work without stopping with an absolute perfect precision, but human are still more reliable in managing crises and understanding people’s feeling and expectations and consequently they know better how to satisfy their clients.

Consequently, a large number of researches were done in order to find a way to allow machines to detect human emotions, this feature being the last one that put a difference between humans and robots regarding their skills.

Finally, I think that Will Omerus has highlighted a big issue in this article by saying that the advent of robotics is leading to kill people’s jobs in order to increase the company’s benefits. In fact, we might not see this phenomenon as real as it is, but it does already impact on people’s everyday lives. For example sewer-robots and bomb-disposal robots have already replaced human workers. However, it seems to disturb people less than when it comes to baristas, maybe because those are jobs that nobody wants.

Moreover, Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that works for Apple, Dell, HP or even Nokia is the perfect example to show the extent of this phenomenon. In fact, it is planning on removing a large part of its employees and replacing them by robots (1 million robots in less than 2 years). I think that it is going to lead to increase unemployment and also reveals a lack of social responsibility regarding the company.

Finally, I think that replacing humans by robots is not the best idea because it totally makes human connections and relationships disappears. We are already living in a world in which people talk virtually and are more often hiding behind their screens, on the Internet or on their phones, than having actual real face-to-face conversations with others. Therefore, this concept of automated coffee-kiosk would just increase individualism and lead to precariousness (because of all the jobs that are supposed to be removed).

Article link : http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/10/briggo_coffee_robot_should_starbucks_replace_baristas_with_machines.html

« Voices Carry »

This article « Voices Carry » was written by Future Tense which is a partnership between Slate, The Arizona State University and the New America Foundation. Their common goal is to explore and understand the emerging technologies, the policy and the society.

First of all, this article presents the positive impacts of “ HEAR ME “, a new website that captures the stories of children and teenagers through the use of technology more precisely through microphones and Mobil video recorders.

This concept empowered kids because it allowed them to share their personal issues and also enabled them to express themselves and feel as creators. They are not just consuming the media anymore but producing it, using digital recorders to capture specific moments of their everyday lives.

Moreover, the website managers faced some difficulties at the beginning. They were expecting to collect 25.000 stories but they did not succeed. The kids were actually just consuming the service and were not taking part of the stories’ production. Also, people valued the necessity of having a third party that needed to work with the kids and consequently, the managers built relationships with schools and hired interviewers. Therefore, the kids felt like their ideas were valued and had the opportunity to produce some better quality stories. Hear Me gave a prominence to the voice of the young generation, making them feel like they are crucial members of the community and that they can contribute to its development by sharing their ideas.

Finally I think that this concept is innovative and really significant because it allows the youth to take part in its community by sharing its ideas and experiences. The stories that are published are all focusing on micro- processes, that is to say on individuals’ experiences and behaviors. However, those individuals’ experiences may have an impact on the macro-level.

Also, our century is marked by the rise of computing and communication technology innovations. Those technologies are changing the way we live and are also shaping our knowledge. In fact, people are spending more and more time on their computers, they are not only consuming media but also producing it. Consequently, everyone can be seen, as a medium and the information’s that are being released might be wrong. In my opinion, Hear Me is a concept that properly uses media and technologies and for the right purposes. The fact that the managers of the website decided to have a third party, that have skills to works with the students, shows that the platform is serious and therefore it is impossible to publish fake stories or rumors.

Finally, Hear Me is a tool of self- expression and can be seen as a kind of therapy for the media consumers and producers. Relationships are being created between the speakers and the listeners in a safe environment.

Article : http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/10/hear_me_pittsburgh_project_how_to_use_technology_to_help_kids.html