Globalisation Case

It has often been considered that globalisation has a homogenising effect, leading to the Americanisation and Europeanisation of the world. Using at least 2 ethnographic examples show how anthropological approaches challenge this view.

There are connotations of globalisation as being a single force, omnipresent and homogenising. As we enter a globalised era it has become relevant for anthropologists to explore the effects of globalisation. Focusing on the "local" as well as the "global" highlights a relationship between the two which isn't necessarily in a continuous state of conflict, nor completely one-sided. It questions perceptions of the world becoming Americanised or Europeanised; globalisation being a mechanism of the West, happening toward the rest of the world. Instead Globalisation is being recognised as a complex process with connective qualities, allowing for cultural divergence. (King, 2007)This essay aims to demonstrate, through ethnographic examples, that globalisation is not an exclusively European and American process. "How Sushi Went Global," demonstrates the global cultural influences beside the West and the effects of cultural visualisation. "Second Hand Clothes," shows how taking a deeper look at the economic process and investigating local perceptions of the trade provides information that contradicts negative concerns.

How Sushi Went Global.

It is important, when considering whether America and Europe are having a homogenising effect on the world, to question what influence other cultures are having in the process of globalisation. Bestor's ethnography on the Sushi market challenges assumptions that the spread of cultural influence via commercial goods is happening solely in the direction of West to the East, " (Buroway, 2001)Japanese cultural motifs and material..have increasingly saturated north American and indeed the entire worlds consumption and popular culture." (Bestor, 2000) The increasing presence of Japanese culture is indicative of the ever moving relationship occurring in the exchange of cultural materials, one which is not making a single trajectory of West to East. Nor when these commodities reach the West is a complete absorption and stripping of cultural identity occurring, in fact Bestor points out, "in the global economy of consumption, the brand equity of sushi as Japanese cultural property adds to the cachet of both country and cuisine." (Bestor, 2000)This process of cultural differences being accepted, incorporated but not completely submerged into a nations own cultural identity pertains to the idea of a post-modern globalisation, where the "differences" are the newly celebrated trend. (King, 2007, pp. 30-31)

This is driven largely by the ability to now visualize cultural difference. As Bestor shows, Sushi and it's availability on a global scale, is in consequence of the visualization of Japanese culture, and has consequently led to the forging of new global relationships. Japan, through the flow of cultural images, has become firmly placed in the imagination of North Americans. Propelled by the development of media, the production of cultural images and ideas has become large scale, with anthropologists now studying the effects that this has on a localised level. Ginsburg describes how mass media is one of the contributors to cultural worlds growing closer together due to the spread of these cultural images, remarking that there is a "necessity to of attending not only to the presence, but also to the significance of film, television, video, and radio as part of the everyday life of people." (MacClancy, 2002, p. 360) Appadurai explores the significance of media in a deterritorialised world, a consequence being the "imagined lives," where "the power of the imagination in the fabrication of social lives is unescapably tied up with images, ideas and opportunities that come from elsewhere often moved around by the vehicles of mass media." (Fox, 1991, p. 199) To assume these influences are all coming from the West however would be incorrect, as shown in the case of Japan, the circulation of media isn't restricted to American culture, anthropologists are now focusing on Hindi cinema or Mexican telenovelas, to answer questions about the complexities of media in local everyday life. (MacClancy, 2002, p. 362) Media is also becoming a place for the marginalised to express themselves, as King reflects "our lives have been transformed by the struggle of the margins to come into representation." (King, 2007, p. 34) With perceptions of the West, as the sole cultural force challenged, it is relevant to look at how Western influences still do not necessarily equate to a process of American or Europeanisation. In focusing on the connections between local and global, anthropologists are able to construct a clearer image of globalisation in countries where there is considered to be dominating and destructive western influences.

Second Hand Clothes Trade

Negatively mediatised as an example of Western domination and linked with the decline of textile industries in developing countries, the second hand clothes trade has been under much criticism. In exploring this issue, anthropologists are focusing on the economic processes of the trade, as well as the process of appropriation of clothing into their own culture. In doing this it has become evident that developing countries are not just "passive consumers", nor when faced with the influx of goods, media, text etc will