Major Discourses of Cultural Identities

Abstract

The chapter critiques dominant discourses and debates pertaining to cultural identities in the global era. It analyses current discourses related to globalisation, ideologies, cultural identities, and the state, as well as approaches to constructing national, ethnic and local identities in the global culture. One of the most powerful forces of globalisation shaping cultural identities is the ubiquitous presence of information technology and the mass media. Every facet of our culture and identity is defined and shaped by the mass media, and propelled globally by the information technology. Global marketing of socially desirable commodities, such as clothing, fashion and global brands, perfumes, toys, and the entertainment industry, to name a few, has constructed and shaped cultural identity. Global marketing affecting the formation of one’s cultural identity has manufactured a new consumerist and a global materialistic culture of commodification of the self. The chapter examines the ambivalent and problematic relationship between the state, globalisation and the construction of cultural identity. The chapter also demonstrates that language is intrinsically connected to personal, national, and ethnic identity. In terms of time, location and culture, the process of re-defining and consolidation of cultural identities has been one of a continuous social, cultural, political and historical transformation.