Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Public Worlds, V. 1)

Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Public Worlds, V. 1)
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too rosy of a picture

An ambitious attempt, and some provocative thinking

A waste of time

an academic antidote to academia

Required Reading

Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Public Worlds, V. 1)
Arjun Appadurai
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0816627932

Customer Reviews:

too rosy of a picture.......2005-12-13

I am going to quote Aihwa Ong - Antrhopology Professor from UC Berkeley who criticized "Modernity at Large" since I cannot state it any better than her:

"When an approach to cultural globalization seeks merely to sketch out universalizing trends rather than deal with actually existing structures of power and situated cultural processes, the analysis cries out for a sense of political economy and situated ethnography."

Appadurai is essentially Thomas Friedman in a graduated sense for academia.

An ambitious attempt, and some provocative thinking.......2005-06-16

Appadurai's book, Modernity at Large, offers quite a few tools to help us think about that big fuzzy thing called "globalization." He coins quite a few words to describe multiply-constituted networks of culture - ethnoscapes, mediascapes, ideoscapes, financescapes, and technoscapes. All are different ways of looking at the global cultural flows that we're trying to describe, and all are strongly influenced by perspective, overlapping, and rapidly shifting (though the term doesn't quite capture the instability and mutability of global cultural flows).

A book like this, to be useful, should help us think about important problems in manageable, intelligible, and useful ways. Appadurai's book offers more than most in this line. His terms, such as the above, are interesting, and his willingness to theorize as well as analyze is valuable. The ways that he situates himself in his analysis is also illuminating and useful. For example, Appadurai describes a trip he and his wife made to a Hindu temple in Bombay. His wife asked about a Hindu priest that she had known before, and they were told that he was in Houston. The point isn't just that they went there and he came here. He's talking about trans-locality, and the production of locality beyond mere connection to a place. Not all Hindus live in India, and not all Indians have to live in India to maintain their Indian-ness. At the same time, Houston is Houston because of both the people and the landscape located there. But part of its identity as a place derives from the trans-local identities of some of its citizens - a "cosmopolitan" city where some citizens are both Indian and American. He does a better job than I'm doing here explaining his thinking about the contemporary experience of diaspora, which is an accomplishment in itself.

There are some flashes of real insight in this text - for me, some of his coinages were brilliant, and the comment that some trans-local modern ethnicities are forced into violent anti-statism through an inability to articulate their identity except through the language of nation and state also resonates - but overall, Appadurai tried to accomplish too much in one book. He finds himself saying things like "the details of this argument are beyond the scope of this chapter," and it seems like this happens too much. It would have been better to flesh out his thinking about the production of locality in greater detail, with more case studies. And some of his terms could use additional explanation - he doesn't seem to notice his own un-critical use of the term "cosmopolitan," and he pays remarkably little attention to literature and film after professing the importance of both in the global exchange of ideas (mediascapes and ideoscapes, as he calls them).

This is a strong book, with some real value, but I wouldn't recommend reading the whole thing all the way through. The table of contents, the index, and the chapter titles are useful signposts. It's the kind of book that might be most useful in small doses.

A waste of time .......2004-11-15

Obtuse and without meaning in the real world. Appaduarai needs to set foot on real soil and realize the world is not created, nor can it be defined behind ivy walls.

Use your time to read something of importance and let Appadurai die on the vine, he may impress other sycophantic scholars with his labeling and vocabulary but you don't need him.

an academic antidote to academia.......2004-07-31

The great strength behind Appadurai's book Modernity at Large is that he breaks out of the binary thinking that many new historians engage in. Instead, he offers what he coins landscapes, five different threads that weave together and influence one another to form our communities, imagined or otherwise. His ideas of how the imagination and imagined communities affect us build on the established works of others, especially Benedict Anderson, but his approach is very down to earth and accessible without pandering to a lowest common denominator. The book is dense, and not something to absorb in one sitting; it savours like a fine wine.

An excellent book, especially for students wanting to research deterritorialization and the transnational public sphere but are intimidated or frustrated with assigned texts.

Required Reading.......2002-04-10

This brilliant book makes a fundamental contribution to how globalization works. It is required reading not just for anthropologists but for economists, political scientists and others trying to grapple with the rapidity of cross-national economic, cultural and demographic flows in the contemporary world.

Globalization: Culture and Education in the New Millennium

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Globalization: Culture and Education in the New Millennium

Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520241258

Book Description

Globalization defines our era. While it has created a great deal of debate in economic, policy, and grassroots circles, many aspects of the phenomenon remain virtual terra incognita. Education is at the heart of this continent of the unknown. This pathbreaking book examines how globalization and large-scale immigration are affecting children and youth, both in and out of schools. Taking into consideration broad historical, cultural, technological, and demographic changes, the contributors--all leading social scientists in their fields--suggest that these global transformations will require youth to develop new skills, sensibilities, and habits of mind that are far ahead of what most educational systems can now deliver.
Drawing from comparative and interdisciplinary materials, the authors examine the complex psychological, sociocultural, and historical implications of globalization for children and youth growing up today. The book explores why new and broader global visions are needed to educate children and youth to be informed, engaged, and critical citizens in the new millennium.

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A Heady Insight Into Media From Around The World

Comparing Media from Around the World
Robert McKenzie
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0205402429

Customer Reviews:

A Heady Insight Into Media From Around The World.......2005-12-30

Dr. Robert McKenzie's textbook, Comparing Media From Around The World, is a smartly written interactive dissection of four different types of media (newspaper, television, radio and web sites) juxtaposed by eight different countries from around the globe (China, France, Ghana, Lebanon, Mexico, Sweden, the UK and the USA). Not only does the reader receive textbook instruction, but insight into how other countries produce, direct, police and determine what information will be released over the same communication mediums.

Comparing Media is a methodical culmination of a lifetime of Dr. McKenzie's personal travel experiences and research. The concepts and processes that he teaches us will enable us to apply these concepts to any country or region in the world.

The reader is first introduced to the eight countries chosen for comparison, their strengths and weaknesses, and why they were chosen. This is followed by a thorough explanation of the concept of the book and how the book will be laid out.

Dr. McKenzie goes on to reveal how citizens of a country are held captive to a narrow perspective of other countries because of the limited selection of media that are accessed. The reader is then educated on the "media systems" (entities made up of multiple interrelated parts), a strong basis that is intricate to understanding the rest of the book.

The textbook looks at the cultural characteristics and philosophies of the eight dissected countries. Dr. McKenzie also delves into the regulation of media as well as the financing, accessibility and the actual media content itself. He even takes on news reporting, again methodically country by country, weighing bias versus objectivity and depth versus brevity in news reporting itself. The final chapters give insight into media imports and exports for each of the countries and what factors influence the exporting of the media content.

This textbook should be a required read for any student entering the media communication field. The theories, concepts and teachings would even be appropriate for advanced high school classes. The reader will find that each chapter is met with a heady and challenging set of "primer" questions designed to help establish a baseline of knowledge about the subject matter at hand, and also to pique the reader's curiosity. Dr. McKenzie has objectively, and with a bit of true wit, written an instructional manual on how one should view, understand and compare media in their country and most importantly, when visiting or comparing media with another country. If not careful, the reader may find themselves engrossed in understanding media and not find it to be a textbook at all.

Globalization and American Popular Culture (Globalization)

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Globalization and American Popular Culture (Globalization)
Lane Crothers
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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The Mobile Revolution: The Making of Mobile Services Worldwide

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The Mobile Revolution: The Making of Mobile Services Worldwide
Dan Steinbock
Manufacturer: Kogan Page
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ASIN: 0749448504

Book Description

The Mobile Revolution tells the story of the making of mobile markets and services worldwide, exploring the mobilization that is transforming how we live, work and play. The first comprehensive account of the explosion of mobile services (rich voice, internet, messaging, content), from multimedia messaging and camera phones to location-based services and mobile phone television, it tells the fascinating story of these products and services in the pioneering markets of Europe, the United States and the Asia-Pacific, particularly Japan, China and South Korea. This book is essential reading for managers and marketers who must now mobilize their products, servi ces and companies. It looks in depth at the impact of mobility in consumer and business markets, strategy, and across all industries and shows how marketing innovation has been brought about by developments in mobile technologies.

Paper Empire: William Gaddis and the World System

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Paper Empire: William Gaddis and the World System

Manufacturer: University Alabama Press
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ASIN: 0817354069

Global Media Go to War: Role of News and Entertainment Media During the 2003 Iraq War

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An important book to discern truth

Global Media Go to War: Role of News and Entertainment Media During the 2003 Iraq War

Manufacturer: Marquette Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0922993106

Book Description

Global Media Go to War is the world's most comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the role of mass media during the 2003 Iraq War. Its 43 essays, which are written by prominent media scholars and professionals from around the world, are organized into six major sections. Numerous perspectives are presented, but all attest to the social control function that media perform for their nations.

Customer Reviews:

An important book to discern truth.......2004-12-16

Iraq 2003 was a long time acomin' and will be a long time agoin'. Last night, before writing these lines, I watched BBC World. It showed one of its extended conference call interviews with media people in the US, the Arab world and Europe. Subject: the effects of Iraq 2003 on the media. Participants from the large media groups were worried about safety of their staff - some are still being killed. Those from Washington were worried about how they can extend embedding. The obvious response "embed on both sides," say Fridays and Saturdays with the US forces, Monday to Thursday with their opponents, was never mentioned. Why? Because the issue of reporting from all sides has never really been tackled. Arab speakers in the program focused on the politics of what's happening now in the region and its connections with the war, an understandable choice coming straight after the death of Arafat and the re-election of Bush.
GMGW, with its six main sections, 30 chapters, and successful attempt to scan the globe for contributions, seeks to tackle the core questions. Technologies are new, in war and in the media; the hazy border between objectivity and propaganda is as hard to define as ever; journalism as another way of conducting war is as alive as ever; and, above all, the difference between conflicts which can be presented as part of show biz', and those which cannot, is always important. For the brutal truth is that, for all the razza mattaz, Iraq 03 is not such a big deal seen from the angle of death (is there another angle to see it from?). Anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 Iraqis, depending on whose figures you believe, the vast majority civilians have been killed or severely injured over an 18-month period. We are still counting, and will be for a long while to come. The devastatingly sad fact, however, is that this is a relatively small number compared with most wars , not to mention the "silent tragedies" of natural disasters, genocides, and long running conflicts. It is scarcely necessary to say that casualties on the US side, which have averaged about two per day since the conflict began, are trivial.
The contributors to this book, being involved journalists and others deeply interested in media matters, offer a wide range of clearly presented thoughts on all the eternal subjects. Their reflections are testimony to their personal commitment to serious examination of the problems, and to the unfortunate likelihood that profound cleavages of view will persist and quite possibly deepen. In what are usually called the democratic countries, this is taken as testimony of a thriving polity. Elsewhere, it is taken as a sign that hegemony hurts. A title of one of the chapters is telling. It reads "Al-Jazeera: A Broadcaster creating Ripples in a Stagnant Pool." If the U.S. Presidency is to be believed, the whole point of Iraq 03 was to make the pool turbulent. The whole debate on the politics has been about whether this is the way to do it. If this book serves to help that debate encompass both the best of the Arab world's journalists and those of elsewhere, it will have achieved a superb result. If it helps to go one step further, and persuade the US administration that belief (especially selective) is not always synonymous either with the truth, or with telling the truth, it will be a miracle.

Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society)

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Brilliant, challenging, and geeky

Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society)
George P. Landow
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801882575

Book Description

George Landow's widely acclaimed Hypertext was the first book to bring together the worlds of literary theory and computer technology. Landow was one of the first scholars to explore the implications of giving readers instant, easy access to a virtual library of sources as well as unprecedented control of what and how they read. In hypermedia, Landow saw a strikingly literal embodiment of many major points of contemporary literary theory, particularly Derrida's idea of "de-centering" and Barthes's conception of the "readerly" versus "writerly" text.

From Intermedia to Microcosm, Storyspace, and the World Wide Web, Landow offers specific information about the kinds of hypertext, different modes of linking, attitudes toward technology, and the proliferation of pornography and gambling on the Internet. For the third edition he includes new material on developing Internet-related technologies, considering in particular their increasingly global reach and the social and political implications of this trend as viewed from a postcolonial perspective. He also discusses blogs, interactive film, and the relation of hypermedia to games. Thoroughly expanded and updated, this pioneering work continues to be the "ur-text" of hypertext studies.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant, challenging, and geeky.......2007-08-22

As more writers create and distribute their work in hypertext it's important to think about how dramatically that is changing the humanities, arts, and culture in general. Landow guides us through this process, drawing from his experience as a professor of English and art history at Brown University. A long time user of hypermedia in teaching and writing, he observes that the worlds of literary theory and computer hypertext have increasingly converged over the past couple decades. This is a brilliant, challenging, and somewhat dense book, and will appeal to the geek in anyone.

International Communication and Globalization: A Critical Introduction

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International Communication and Globalization: A Critical Introduction

Manufacturer: Sage Publications Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0761955542
Release Date: 1997-09-15

Book Description

Communication between nations is being transformed in ways unthinkable even a generation ago. As the pace of this revolution increases so does the need to address the impact of this process on culture and society. International Communication and Globalization provides an essential and timely survey of the area. The contributors trace the development of international communication while also offering new approaches to this complex and rapidly-growing field of media and communication studies. The essays in this volume scrutinize the impact of market relations, deregulation, and technology of the countries of the Third World, as well as the ethics of the global communication industry. This collection offers a range of perspectives on the relationship between the globalization of process and international communication and, as such, makes an important intervention in current debates about media, technology, and society. International Communication and Globalization is an essential resource for all students of communication, media, and international relations.

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Language and Globalization
N Fairclough
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415317657

Book Description

This book uses critical discourse analysis to investigate relations between discourse and other dimensions (economic, political, social and cultural) of contemporary processes of globalization, and the effects that discourse has on globalization. It uses an innovative approach which combines critical discourse analysis with "cultural" political economy to develop a new theory of the relationship between discourse and other dimensions of globalization, and it shows how analysis of texts can be coherently integrated within political economic analysis. There are chapters on the globalization and Europeanization of nation-states, the relationship between the real processes of globalization and discourses of globalization, the impact of the media on globalization and the strategies of people in local communities to adapt to globalization or resist its negative effects. The book focuses on "globalism" as the dominant neo-liberal discourse of globalization and includes a chapter which interprets the "war on terror"as part of global strategy. Examples are drawn from a variety of different countries including the USA, Britain, Romania, Hungary and Thailand, and discussion of these examples includes analysis of specific texts.

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