Global Cultural Flows Research Articles

The Digitalization Dialectic: A Critical Analysis of Technology's Role in Cultural Formation and Social Change

The digital revolution, marked by the swift advancement and dissemination of information and communication technologies (ICTs), has significantly impacted societal structures, cultural norms, and individual behaviors, heralding the emergence of a networked society. This paper explores the profound influence of digitalization on cultural norms, values, and practices, highlighting the dialectical relationship between digital technologies and cultural dynamics. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature and theoretical frameworks, it examines how digital technologies have facilitated new forms of cultural expression and interaction, while also addressing challenges posed by the digital divide, privacy concerns, and socio-economic implications of automation and datafication. The study delves into the transformation of cultural capital in the digital age and the role of networked social movements in shaping contemporary cultural landscapes. Furthermore, it discusses the implications of digitalization for global cultural flows and local cultural practices, contributing to the debate on cultural convergence and divergence in the digital era. By engaging with critical theories, this paper provides insights into the intricate relationship between the digital revolution and culture, underscoring the necessity of nuanced perspectives in understanding the complexities of contemporary social dynamics and the ongoing transformation of cultural identities and social structures.

Theorizing knowledgescape as a transnational mediating force: Artificial intelligence and global flows

As a global technoscientific form involving various forces and stakeholders, research and development (R&D) in artificial intelligence (AI) transcends corporate, national and institutional boundaries. Incorporating transnational rhetorical analysis and corpus-assisted discourse analysis, this article examines the global cultural flows surrounding AI constructed in official and media discourses in the US and China. We propose a new theoretical concept of knowledgescape that expands the toolkits of global flows and provides new explanatory power about global innovation and competition. This concept sheds light on the global processes, mechanisms and power dynamics of the production, dissemination, consumption and contestation of cutting-edge knowledge.

Exploring the Impact of Social Media on the Integration of Western Cultural Elements by University Students in China

This paper delves into the profound impact of social media on the cultural dynamics of Chinese university students, with a particular emphasis on how these digital landscapes mediate the integration, adaptation, and at times, resistance to Western cultural elements. As digital platforms become increasingly central to daily life, they not only serve as conduits for global cultural exchange but also as arenas where cultural identities are negotiated and redefined. By conducting a comprehensive analysis of popular social media platforms among Chinese youth, such as Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin, this study uncovers the complex interplay between global cultural flows and local traditions. It examines how these interactions influence the formation of identity, the evolution of values, and the adoption of social practices among the youth in China. The investigation reveals that while social media facilitates the exposure to and engagement with Western culture, Chinese university students approach these encounters with a critical eye, selectively adopting elements that resonate with their personal and cultural identity while resisting those that conflict with traditional values. This selective engagement highlights a dynamic process of cultural hybridization, where Western influences are not merely absorbed passively but are actively interpreted, modified, and integrated into the fabric of Chinese youth culture. The findings underscore the role of social media as a significant force in shaping contemporary cultural landscapes, offering insights into the broader implications of digital technology on cultural globalization and identity formation in the context of China’s rapidly changing society.

Navigating datascapes: mapping testing practices within and across national and global contexts

ABSTRACT We draw upon Appadurai’s ‘scapes’ and Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) to interrogate historical and spatial flows in relation to specific testing technologies. We reveal how testing systems, conceptualised as actor-networks, rearticulate colonial legacies of inequality which are intensified by new and emerging technologies. ANT helps trace social and relational interactions occurring in various national and global data spaces, and helps make sense of incessant transformations in education datascapes. Mapping actor-networks, and translations, help name and navigate neoliberal forces acting through colonial legacies via emerging educational datascapes. Our examination shows how educational technologies associated with standardised testing in northern and southern contexts – specifically, England, Singapore, Bangladesh and Australia – exacerbate structural inequalities. We consider how such technologies are actants and reflective of co-existing historical and temporal influences, and global cultural and spatial flows, allowing us to map the multiple ways in which educational technologies are manifested in an emerging education datascape.

The Influence of Globalization on Family Traditions and Values

Objective: In an era marked by unprecedented globalization, understanding its impact on the most fundamental unit of society—the family—becomes crucial. This study aims to explore the multifaceted ways in which globalization influences family traditions and values, focusing on how global cultural flows, technological advancements, economic factors, and intergenerational dynamics reshape familial practices and beliefs. Methods and Materials: Employing a qualitative research design, this study gathered data through semi-structured interviews with 20 participants from diverse cultural backgrounds. The participants were selected to cover a broad age range and varied levels of exposure to globalization. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Thematic analysis was utilized to identify key themes and categories within the data, offering in-depth insights into the participants' experiences and perceptions. Findings: Five main themes were identified: Global Cultural Exchange, Technological Impact, Intergenerational Dynamics, Cultural Adaptation and Resistance, and Economic Influences. Each theme encapsulated several categories and concepts, highlighting the complex interplay between global and local influences on family life. Key findings include the selective adoption of global cultural elements, the transformative role of technology in family interactions, the negotiation between traditional and global values across generations, active engagement in cultural adaptation, and the significant impact of economic factors on family traditions and values. Conclusion: The study reveals that globalization exerts a profound and multifaceted influence on family traditions and values, leading to a dynamic process of adaptation, preservation, and transformation. Families are shown to be active agents in navigating the complexities of global and local cultural streams, demonstrating resilience and adaptability in the face of global cultural and economic pressures. The findings underscore the importance of understanding the nuanced impacts of globalization on the microcosm of family life, contributing to the broader discourse on cultural continuity and change in a globalized world.

Ritual and Struggle: Movement of Banyuwangi Gandrung Dance from the Colonial Era to the Reformation

This research examines the Gandrung dance from a historical perspective from the Colonial to Reformation period in Banyuwangi Regency, Indonesia. The origins of the Gandrung dance cannot be separated from the historical roots of dance in Indonesia. The birth of the Gandrung dance was intended to clean the village by worshiping Dewi Sri or the Goddess of Rice as an expression of gratitude for the Using ethnic group for abundant harvests and for bringing prosperity to the community. Village clean ritual activities initially used male Gandrung dancers. The process of changing a Gandrung dancer from male to female contains metaphysical elements that are closely related to spiritual values. In the colonial period until the Reformation, Gandrung dance was no longer focused on as a dance art that contained mere ritual values but also contained political values ​​and commercial entertainment. Gandrung Dance is not only involved in political activities but also tourism performances. The various changes that have occurred in the Gandrung dance show mean that the movement of the Gandrung dance in Banyuwangi has taken advantage of changes to be able to continue to survive amidst global cultural flows.

The “rational” fan? Negotiating transnational cosmopolitanism and nationalism among Hong Kong BTS fans

ABSTRACT In recent years, fans of the internationally renowned K-pop group, BTS, (affectionately known as “ARMY”), has achieved global renown with their social political engagement, both online and offline, in different locales, epitomizing the best marriage between globalized popular culture as agent of universal humanitarian ideals, and participatory fandom. On the other hand, the K-pop group has caught backlash from mainland Chinese fen (fans), sparking controversy between transnationalized (pop) fandom (which supposedly could allude to a sense of cosmopolitanism) and (local) nationalism. In this paper, I wish to address, through the case of some Hong Kong BTS fan clubs, the subjectivity of some Asian fans and their complex (layers of) affective and tactical negotiation with competing forces, which are intertwined with (their coping with) the local political juncture. Through in-depth interviews with different fan page organizers of BTS fans/ fan clubs, I will critically discuss how they (resort to) performing “rationality” to balance these forces on the one hand, while inadvertently asserting the boundaries in the seamlessly global flows of popular culture (in the increasingly turbulent Asian context).

Mukherjee, Souvik. 2022. Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent. Development, Culture(s) and Representations. Bloomsbury

AbstractThe book Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent. Development, Culture(s) and Representations is the first ever comprehensive presentation and discussion of material spanning over all nations of South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Discussed by the leading expert on the theme, it offers both an overview of as well as numerous detailed examples of both, historical and contemporary developments. Appropriately, this work also situates the regional characteristics in larger global contexts and cultural flows, and contemporary developments in historical contexts.

Finding Johannesburg’s gay Leathermen 1983–2006

Leathermen communities have been documented in the Global North since the 1970s. In this article, I introduce, for the first time, the gay leathermen of Johannesburg to scholars of alternative sexualities. I argue that the leathermen subculture was brought ashore by global flows of culture in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as by international travellers in the 1970s, but is hidden in furtive gay and lesbian communities. A definable local subculture emerged between 1983 and 2000, and in 2001 leathermen coalesced around Metropolis, a bar in downtown Johannesburg. Drawing data from Exit, South Africa’s longest running gay newspaper, as well as the owners of Metropolis, I map the development of the leathermen subculture between 1983–2006. I argue that their BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism) ethos and their public sex in leather bars are met by resistance and harassment from conservative elements in the gay and lesbian community, as well as police and public health officials.

Historicizing Hindutva Ideology

Historicizing Hindutva Ideology

From state-controlled media to video-on-demand platforms: Rethinking global cultural flows and television viewers’ changing habits in the case of Turkey

This study aims to open a discussion on the changing face of cultural imperialism within the context of contemporary capitalism’s conditions and the changing habits of Turkish television viewers. Although the past two decades have witnessed a growing interest in both the changing patterns of television viewing habits and viewers’ class status, this process has focused almost exclusively on the West and specifically Euro-American metropolitan viewers’ experiences. By contrast, very few studies have directly addressed other contexts, specifically, television viewers in non-western countries. Based on cultural proximity and cultural discount theories, this study analyses the reasons and outcomes behind Turkish television viewers’ ongoing tendency towards the video-on-demand platforms, such as Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or their domestic counterparts, like Puhu or Blu TV, under Turkey’s ongoing modernization process. The results suggest that video-on-demand platforms provide particular interest for television viewers while offering relative freedom from state-controlled public media or strictly regulated private channels. Nevertheless, these platforms have appealed to both Turkish upper-middle-class viewers and younger viewers who have the cultural background to enjoy and appreciate the content on offer. This study also indicates how access to streaming platforms in Turkey mainly relies on the class status of television viewers, and that this kind of cultural flow, to some extent, creates a digital divide in Turkey.

The Study of Australian Jazz and the Issue of Methodological Nationalism

The Study of Australian Jazz and the Issue of Methodological Nationalism

The Concept of Hybridity in Journalism Studies

This paper considers the use of the concept of hybridity in journalism studies, arguing that the concept of hybridity has served an important role in reorienting the field in the face of important processes of social change, but that as a “sensitizing concept” in the sense that Herbert Blumer used the term, it requires critical reflection and more careful specification of its various uses. In the first sections, we map three principal contexts in which the concept has been invoked: one focusing on new media and the blurring of professional boundaries it produces; one focusing on global flows of journalism culture, and a third which treats hybridity not as a novel but as quotidian and rooted in the structural context of the practice of journalism in general. The second part of the paper focuses on issues and challenges in the use of the concept of hybridity. We consider the tendency for hybridity to become a catch-all phrase that substitutes for more specific analysis, and the problem of treating novel phenomena as derivative forms of familiar ones. We then move to critique “presentism” in the discussion of hybridity and the distortions that result from drawing dichotomies between hybrid and “pure” forms, making the argument for taking seriously the idea that hybridity is universal. In the final section, we propose the idea of the hybridity cycle as a way of thinking about stability and change in journalism studies.

La moda come sistema di segni nel mondo iperconnesso

Este artículo se centra en el papel de la moda como un sistema transcultural capaz de expresar tensiones, hibridaciones, traducciones, entre los lenguajes del cuerpo, en el contexto de la condición hiperconectada de la era contemporánea. El concepto de fashionscapes, acuñado sobre el modelo de flujos culturales globales articulados en Appadurai -scapes, expresa una idea de moda que hoy da vida a paisajes, perspectivas, territorios, reales e imaginarios, hechos de materia física y materia de signos, de cuerpos orgánicos y datos digitales. El ensayo analizará las transformaciones introducidas en el mundo de la moda por la pandemia del Coronavirus, con especial referencia al papel de los medios digitales.

Care as a Border‐Crossing Language: The Webtoon Reader Discussion Forum as Mediascape

AbstractDrawing from Appadurai’s notion of mediascape, in which global cultural flows simultaneously construct local/global perspectives, I explored how youth and young adults across the globe make sense of digitally shared space, with a specific focus on the Webtoon reader discussion forum. Findings illustrated that the participants constructed the notion of care as standing up for others, raised awareness of social justice, and mobilized transcultural values to construct a cross‐cultural community with multimodal engagements. By understanding the reader discussion forum as a mutually constitutive negotiated space, the voluntary decision of these young individuals to engage in Korean Webtoon digital space underscores how they construct literacy practices across the globe while transcending demarcated categories of race, gender, language, culture, and other essentialized identity markers.

A Study of the Relevance between Service Design and Consumer-Perceived Value Based On Social Marketing in Cultural and Creative Industry

Due to the democratization and liberalization of national policies, which have promoted global economic development, and coupled with advances in information technology, dramatic changes have occurred in economic development. Among them, global cultural flows have far-reaching and wide-ranging impacts on countries worldwide. The interactive relationship between culture and the economy has enabled the cultural industry to grow rapidly. As the structure of industry and people's lifestyles and ideologies have changed, the development of design expertise has also transformed from tangible objects to the intangible world. Additionally, with the advent of the information society, emphasis has gradually been placed on interactive design, experience design, and service design. Intangible service design may become an important source of innovation and core competitiveness with future corporate value. The research object of this study is the average consumer in Fujian Province, China. Questionnaires were issued and collected by email. A total of 400 questionnaires were sent out, and 314 valid questionnaires were returned; thus, the recovery rate was 79%. The findings of this research include the following. (1) Social marketing significantly and positively affects service design. (2) Service design significantly and positively affects consumer-perceived value. (3) Social marketing significantly and positively affects consumer-perceived value. Based on these results, recommendations are made with the expectation of helping the development of cultural and creative industries to turn toward sustainable development.

Racial otherness, citizenship, and belonging: experiences of “not looking like a Turk”

ABSTRACT How does “not looking like a Turk” affect belonging and exclusion in contemporary Turkey? Perceptions of skin colour have the power to transcend socio-economic and national boundaries through experiences of racial otherness. This paper illustrates racialization by focusing on diverse groups of “outsiders”. Foreign-born professional athletes navigate a media field that mark them as permanent others, as demonstrated by media controversies around soccer player Mehmet Aurelio. Irregular migrants and African Turks undergo cumulative reminders of non-belonging in everyday encounters. This paper examines how a sense of racially motivated exclusion run through these experiences by (a) distinguishing legal citizenship from an immigrant’s symbolic belonging, (b) assigning immutable differences based on skin-colour perceptions, and (c) colonizing everyday life through microaggressions in both face-to-face and mediated interactions. Racialized microaggressions feed from a combination of historical residues – including Ottoman slavery and whiteness campaigns in the formation of Turkish identity – and contemporary global cultural flows.

Socio-Economic Global Cultural Flow with Reference to Select Indian English Novels

The world is unified by the word ‘globalization’ as a result of the growing interdependence of the world’s societies, economies, technologies, cultures, investment and information. Today, everything is accessible at one’s finger tips, because the world is interconnected. There is networking in all walks of life. Communication has become easier than ever and technology has begun to replace human resources. On one hand, globalization claims to have simplified living by interconnecting different parts of the world, but on the other hand, life seems to have become more complicated in the name of sociocultural networking and technological revolutions. The circulation of ideas, culture, language, and material goods as a result of networking, the reason for globalization, has been identified as global cultural flows, according to the social anthropologist and globalization theorist, Arjun Appadurai. The paper aims to look into the socio-cultural, political and economic impacts of globalizationon developing countries like India, with the help of three contemporary novels of the twenty first century Indian English literature – The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, and Q&A by Vikas Swarup. It explores the aspects of globalization in the select novels, in an attempt to understand the modern world under the influence of globalization, liberalization and capitalization.

Language, Gender, and Ideology: Media-induced Linguistic Innovation in Female Address Terms in China

As we enter the 21st century, we find ourselves living in intensified globalization, characterized by global cultural flows of people, technologies, money, images, and ideas (Appadurai 2020). Language is evolving in response to socio-cultural changes. As such, linguistic innovations via mass media offer a particularly interesting locus to track such global flows. This paper aims to study how popular lexicons in female address terms have emerged out of digital communication and have been widely used and interpreted by different communities interacting with mass media in contemporary China. As China is increasingly integrated into the global economy, the widespread of media networks, such as WeChat, QQ and Microblogs, has increasingly provided Chinese citizens with access to new words and new ways of using old forms. The study thus enquires as to the origin of these linguistic innovations, the linguistic resources required to bring about such changes, the motives for developing such online resources, and the responses by Chinese citizens to these media-induced language changes. By addressing these issues, this paper is oriented toward exploring the role of mass media in language change as well as the relationship between language, identity and ideology, in China, in the context of globalization. Our findings suggest that Chinese female address terms have emerged via mass media, by coining, borrowing, reapprorpiating older forms for new meanings, and by employing multimodality. These media-induced language innovations are not simple responses to the broader socio-cultural changes occurring inside and outside of China. Instead, Chinese citizens, through creating, using, or promulgating new popular lexicons, are able to construct, negotiate, and make sense of multiple selves across those digital spaces. Therefore, Chinese mass media has generated a network of “figured worlds”, within which individuals' identities and agencies form dialectically and dialogically in global cultural processes (Holland et al. 1998). In particular, the circulation of certain female address terms across digital spaces involves the enregisterment of words as part of a sexist register, which has perpetuated the ideologies of male dominance in contemporary China. Both individual and institutional efforts have been made to respond to such sexism and reconstruct gender images and identities.

Remixing Transnational Media: Global Cultural Flows and their Hermeneutic Navigation in Kenyan DJ Afro Movies

One of the prominent features of contemporary global modernity is mobility in its various manifestations, among which are transnational media. In the absence of a robust film industry in Kenya, foreign films have tended to monopolize the market. Of significance is the fact that the foreign films grant their local audiences the necessary access to global cultural flows. However, in the process of consuming such films, local audiences have had to come to terms with the reality of linguistic and cultural disjuncture between the content of the media and indigenous ways of knowing. To address this, a practice has emerged involving the use of innovative remediation strategies by the local consumers in a bid to temper the foreignness of transnational media. In Kenya this is evident in the form of the video jockey phenomenon involving the remixing of imported films for the local market by an emerging crop of artists such as DJ Afro. Making sense of these films presenting largely alien cultural material rendered through equally strange tongues calls for a hermeneutic critical approach adopted in this essay. In the process, the essay intends to demonstrate how the foreign films, otherwise presumed to be complete products, are technologically reconfigured and refracted through the prism of local cultural sensibilities to reinstitute contextual relevance.