Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange

Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange

In discourses of globalization, there have traditionally been two schools of thought. The first is that globalization leads to homogenization of culture worldwide, while the second is that globalization leads cultures to become rigid and unyielding in order to protect themselves from the outside influences. In Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange, Jan Nederveen Pieterse argues a third concept: that globalization leads to cultural hybridity. Hybridity is the spaces in between, the mingling and intermixing of cultures. A unique factor of Pieterse’s analysis is that it takes a historically deep and geographically wide perspective, arguing that the globalization of culture is not an exclusively modern phenomenon. This book strives to separate globalization from the bonds of modernity, where it has traditionally been analyzed, and apply a long-term human evolutionary perspective. It provides an alternative to the idea that cultures don’t mix, they only overrun or resist. In the hybridity arguments presented, cultures have been mingling and mixing for the entirety of human history.
The book first provides a general introduction to the question of globalization, laying out areas of agreement and difference in the existing literature on the subject, as well as the diverse perspectives found in the varying branches of the social sciences, which sometimes disagree on even the most fundamental aspects of globalization. The crux of Pieterse’s argument comes as he lays out three fundamentally varied paradigms of globalization: the “clash of civilizations” view, in which cultural differences are rigid and enduring, leading to conflict; the “McDonaldization” view, where cultural convergence is the direct result of global contact; and the hybridization view, which says that cultures and identities have become mixed as a result of global interconnectedness. The book argues that there are two forms of hybridization at work here: structural, which leads to new, mixed forms of social cooperation, and cultural, which is the development of mélange cultures that span multiple locations and identities.
Pieterse also tackles the anti-hybridity arguments, the primary claims of which are that hybridity is inauthentic, or “multiculturalism lite.” He argues that this criticism fails to take into account historical depth and the idea of multiple historical layers of hybridity. What culture isn’t a hybrid culture? For example, those cultures bitterly resisting globalization are clinging to an older hybrid form. Cultural purity is a myth. Furthermore, he argues that there exist patterns of hybridity, which vary across boundaries. Hybridity is only a problem when boundaries are essentialized.
A compelling addition to this second edition of the work is a new chapter on the inter-weaving, or braiding, of East-West and Islam-Europe influences. Pieterse uses these examples, both historical and contemporary, to demonstrate that cultural influences do not flow exclusively from developed to undeveloped societies. Recognizing hybridity from a non-Eurocentric perspective and considering the multitude of different hybridities constitutes a more sophisticated and in-depth understanding of this theory of global mélange.
The strength of this book is that it provides a compact yet deep analysis of hybridity as a means of understanding globalization. Though scholarly and critical, it is not outside the realm of understanding of a relative neophyte to the globalization debate. The most useful facet of the book for those newcomers must surely be the multitude of charts sprinkled throughout the book providing succinct interpretations of differing viewpoints in lay terms. These tables take what could be an overwhelming amount of information and help break it into manageable, memorable terms, which will help these newcomers apply and reflect on these theories as they continue their study of the subject. As a second edition, those who read the book in its first incarnation will find the overall argument largely unchanged, with the only significant new material being the additional chapter on cultural braiding. Therefore, the second edition will be most useful to those who find themselves looking for a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to theories of globalization and culture, in particular cultural hybridity.
Considering that those most likely to find the book useful are relatively new to the globalization debate, it suffers slightly from the incredible amount of information offered. Portions of certain chapters, particularly the one on East-West braiding, read more as laundry lists of examples of hybridization, without much treatment of what makes it hybrid, cultural, or especially, important. Yes, it is interesting that Donna Karan, an American fashion designer, has used rippled tissue after the ancient methods of African peoples, but does that say as much about cultural hybridity as about artistic inspiration? In this instance, as in many others, Pieterse’s argument seems to take almost any cultural interaction, no matter how small or isolated, as evidence of global hybridity. But does a succession of tiny steps really add up to a large scale phenomenon? In the Donna Karan example above, how many of the people wearing that design are aware of its African roots? If the people wearing her clothes don’t know, or don’t care, about its cultural inspiration, then is it really hybridity? Does its very existence of such borrowing make the culture hybrid, or must there be an awareness of the borrowing on the part of the larger society? These questions are not addressed in the text.
However, the sheer volume of historical examples does nothing to detract from the soundness of the argument; in fact, their existence bolsters Pieterse’s argument that cultural hybridity is a long-standing phenomenon throughout human history, but they can be overwhelming. Nonetheless, this exhaustive treatment is part of what makes the book useful for those without a deep background in the study of globalization. As Pieterse himself notes in his introduction, the notion of hybridity has become more and more prevalent over the last few years, in scholarly circles as well as popular consciousness, and is steadily working its way towards becoming the defining paradigm and the point of departure for cultural analysis, making the arguments in this book increasingly useful and important for those seeking to understand the nuances of globalization and culture. Students of global studies will find this comprehensive overview helpful for years to come.