Over the last couple decades, people have been taking notice of the impact of ideas, values, and practices on diverse societies as the exchange of goods crosses borders, and people flow from one country to the other with increasing ease. Individuals and families take up residence in foreign lands and maintain close links with loved ones in their native homes as a result of efficient and affordable means of travel and communication. More than ever, the decisions of one government have broad effect on nations across the planet. These factors define the elements of globalization. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) A heightening of connections between vastly diverse populations over the past twenty years has created a world in flux. This incessant interaction results in the transformation of cultures around the globe. Modern intellectuals analyze the effects of globalization on perceptions of time and space. Anthropologists also concern themselves with the consequences of this metamorphosis, as well as the incorporation of foreign concepts between global and local communities.
One scholar, David Harvey, developed the globalization theory of time-space compression. In his work, he explains that influence of technological and economic advancements have changed our understanding of time and its relation to distance. People can now traverse oceans in a matter of hours. Where as, a hundred years ago, the jaunt would have taken weeks. Miles or kilometers no longer hinder travel, nor do weeks or months. Satellite communication enables participation in a broad range of events occurring on opposite ends of the planet. He relates these thoughts to movement away from centralized production of goods, and increasing exchange of commodities. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) In his view, shifts in corporate organizational structure and new technology bring about a decrease in the amount of time it takes to produce and distribute a particular item. As a result, time and space have been compressed, allowing interaction among diverse societies previously unperceived. In addition, these developments bring about the transformation of entire groups of people. Alterations in social lives spurned another theory of globalization.
Time-space distanciation came about through the studies of Anthony Giddens. He theorized that an individual’s social life is made up of two types of interactions. Relations among members of the same local population are characterized by presence. Consider these to be everyday occurrences, and human history defines itself in these collaborations. Relationships characterized by absence have emerged due to socioeconomic globalization. These connections across space and time increase the influence of remote events outside of an individual’s localized activities, forming distanciated relations. In Giddens’ view, globalization develops an increase in relations to distant social figures and occurrences. At the same time, local phenomena are shaped by events across great distances. As a consequence, people become more influenced by absent others as concerns of present activities dwindle. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002)
These prominent globalization theories exemplify its significance in perceptions of space and time. The concepts presented function in many aspects of cultural behavior and act in various arenas. The economic, political, and environmental ramifications of globalization are subject to interpretation through unique circumstances, worldwide. The representative opinions of our neighbor to the South, Cuba show a view of things supported by many in the intellectual domain.
Fidel Castro leads the Marxist regime of Cuba as he has for over forty years. The country’s historic opposition to capitalistic ideals produces a predictable interpretation of the historical and modern contexts of globalization. As the nation’s figurehead, Castro relates his opinions to interested parties around the world by performing speeches at various events and conferences. (Castro, 1999) During these orations, Castro supports the intellectual concepts of imperialist globalization and homogeneity.
The discourse of imperialist globalization results from concern for the perceived cultural economy of globalization. This represents the movements and shifts in symbolic meaning through diverse societies. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) These transformations do not occur in equal measure, cross-culturally. The concept of cultural imperialism involves the dominating transfer of cultural goods from developed countries to nations stricken with poverty. In other words, The West, specifically, the United States and other First World nations traffic the flow of culture and overwhelm Third World countries with the infiltration of goods, values, and technologies. These peripheral cultures become absorbed into a homogenized monoculture of imperialism. This sums up a perception of increasing global conformity presented by Ulf Hammerz. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002)
Castro coins the concept as neo-liberal globalization, but the implications are identical. He sees these forces as a “law of history.” Castro explains these forces as the result of advancements in the production methods governing economies of industrialized nations. He states that global movement of these developments supports a vision of Western domination. United States led neo-globalization seeks to transform autonomous nations into private property. In his view, imperialist globalization represents the attempts of wealthy regimes to attain the capital interests of another sovereign nation. (Castro, 1999) He witnessed this in Cuba during the early to mid twentieth century as North American entrepreneurs sought escape from the United States government prohibition of alcohol and gambling. American accumulated capital interests throughout the nation, customizing establishments and tourism to their tastes and standards. Modification of the Cuban cultural setting occurred, altering Cubans’ perceptions of ordinary life. (Miller and Kenedi, 2003) Castro explains that these developments turn people into foreigners within their own borders as institutions are accrued and manipulated by other countries. He believes the ultimate result of these endeavors is to gain access to natural resources and a less expensive pool of laborers. Once this is achieved, second rate employment flourishes as valuable technological industries remain in the West. Consequently, decreased interest in educational concerns emerges because no industrialized mechanisms are produced within the peripheral culture. As a result, those with higher education and those seeking higher education leave for the First World countries, depleting the intellectual resources of the effected nation and fostering its absorption into a homogenized global culture.
John Tomlinson gives a similar vision of imperialist globalization. (Inda and Rosaldo 2002) He states that globalization exists as the “instillation of Western versions of basic social reality.” This implies the production of unification and standardization of lifestyles across diverse groups of people. Castro speaks of the Western media establishment in relation to this concept. In his opinion, the United States exploits valuable resources in the production of literature and commercial programs that are introduced into foreign societies. Beggars and mundane laborers that appear as a result of globalization seek these media products. Continuing, Castro states that the images of
“fancy cars with beautiful escorts...poison people with propaganda, so that beggars are also cruelly influenced and made to dream of a Heaven - unattainable for them - offered by capitalism.” (Castro, 1999)
The preceding quote hammers home the negative interpretation of globalization held by Fidel Castro. He understands that his country will not advance without some sort of integration, but under current methodologies, nations that invite globalization sacrifice sovereignty because “...they are uniting, opening borders, applying the free circulation of capital, of workers, of technicians and creating common institutions that provide advantages only for [Western] countries.” (Castro, 1999 - Brackets are mine) He finds the patterns of consumption and conformity imposed on the world by neo-liberal globalization to be “sheer madness, chaotic and absurd.” He concludes that he does not hate Americans. He believes the citizens of this country to be generally pure of heart. In one final quote, Castro says, “it is a very high merit that so many altruistic people live in a place whose system only sows selfishness and the venom of individualism.” (Castro, 1999) His disdain for the current system of globalization is spoken with clarity and erudition, but it remains limited and uniformly minded in economy.
Anthropologists around the world attempt to discount the discourse of imperialist globalization and homogenization as failing to accommodate the complexities of the interactions of the diverse societies of the world. As stated in preceding paragraphs, proponents of cultural imperialism contend that the products introduced in globalization act upon the consumers, forcibly conforming them to Western structures of society.
Subsequently, local ties are assuaged as broader concerns dominate. This defines the
anthropological concept of deterritorialization. As Giddens suggests, cultural relations become distanciated, but are eventually reintroduced in new cultural contexts of space and time through the process of reterritorialization. Tamar Liebes and Elihu Katz maintain this anthropological view and support it through their study of the impact of the American television program, Dallas, on four distinct Israeli ethnic groups. Each unique group interpreted the relationships portrayed in the program to the cultural symbols and meanings that they lived by. The results show that Third World consumers do not simply conform and adopt the values and ideologies of the cultural products to which they are exposed. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) Marshal Sahlins concurs in his article, “Goodbye to Trists Tropes: Ethnography in the Context of Modern World History”. (Journal of Modern History, 1993) According to Sahlins, people create identities to distinguish themselves from members of foreign societies and dominating influences. Cultural goods are always interpreted and customized by the receivers to fit within the context of their own unique cultures. Since people understand and incorporate cultural products within their own system of beliefs, there will always be diversity and autonomy among various groups.
Furthermore, though cultural flow primarily moves from First to Third World countries, some forces become introduced that have nothing to do with the Western world. Unfortunately, the reality of these domains of cultural influence is neglected in the concept of imperialist globalization. These circuits of cultural flow involve interaction between peripheral cultures. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) For example, manufacture of
goods from China are just as prolific as goods produced by Western societies. Also, Indian films are of increased influence in many African countries. These phenomena link countries without the concern of Western influence. There is no allusion to this in Castro’s view of neo-liberal globalization.
It is also evident that views of imperialist globalization tend to analyze cultural flow as moving from “the West to the Rest.” (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) The complexities of globalization are severely limited by this view. Cultural goods are transferred from peripheral cultures to dominant ones as well. A person needs only travel around his or her own community to find evidence. Diverse establishments of ethnic cuisines are found throughout much of the world. Turn on a radio and flip the dial around a bit. One is bound to find a station playing music from brilliant artists from around the globe. Also, take a look at religion. Differing worldviews of spirituality permeate all localized societies. Even in Cuba, there has been cultural flow from the island nation to other parts of the world. The mambo, for instance, represents peripheral influence on dominating cultures. As this type of music was introduced in the forties, it became a sensation around the world. And, of course, people territorialized the sound to fit their specific cultural contexts. In no time, literally dozens of interpretations of the music came into existence. “Mambo Rock”, “Hillbilly Mambo”, and “Mambo Italiano” represent a few examples. (Miller and Kenedi, 2003) Most importantly, one must take migration into account. Western societies become a melting pot of incommensurable ways of life as people move through transnational migrant circuits. (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) As a result of this peripheral cultural flow, it is impossible for industrialized nations to maintain and distribute cultural homogeneity. In actuality, heterogeneity arises. Globalization is just too complex to be reduced to cultural flow in exclusive “West to Rest” patterns.
Ernesto Laclau developed the concept of dislocation, which refers to “...structures with displaced centers supplemented by a plurality of others.” (Inda and Rosaldo, 2002) This is the reality of globalization; a plurality of cultures, influencing and transforming others in the movement of cultural goods across the globe. Sure, there is a McDonald’s in pretty much every region of the planet, but drive around your hometown. Do you see any Chinese take-out or sushi restaurants? In the Virginia-Highland district of Atlanta alone, a person can take their pick of half a dozen Thai eateries. These things are the result of the open policies of the United States and are retributions of globalization. Imperialist views can be positive force. They keep us aware of past mistakes and honest in future endeavors. As far as Cuba is concerned, its leader’s view of neo-liberal globalization exists as a matter of perception. Evidence can be found in support of the view as well as can be discovered to discount it. In the future, perhaps a truly objective alternative can be developed to allow better relations with the independent country, which reside in the interests of both our nations.
Bibliography
Castro, Fidel. On Imperialist Globalization. Left Word. India. 1999.
Inda, Jonathan Xavier and Renato Rosaldo. The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Malden, Massachusetts. 2002.
Miller, John and Aaron Kenedi. Inside Cuba: The History, Culture, and Politics of an Outlaw Nation. Marlowe & Company. New York, NY. 2003.
Sahlins, Marshall. “Goodbye to Tristes Tropes: Ethnography in the Context of Modern World History”. Journal of Modern History. University of Chicago. Chicago, Illinois. 1993.
