Modernity is a picture of success given by Western countries of a democratic society, capitalist economy, technological progress and empirical and calculable formulas to attain them. It is a utopian vision and standard that nations around the world are struggling to attain at any cost. At first glance, this displays the dominance of Western thought and modernity as the prevailing and absolute discourse of the world. However, this dominance has deteriorated due to the violence, colonialism, genocide, pollution, and the rise of the authoritarian state caused by modernity itself. In the West, this has caused rise of critical thought and deconstructionism of the concept of modernity in scholarly circles. This thinking has seeped into a variety of fields, including art, psychology, film, literature and communications. However, much of the writing done on the subversion of Western modernity is associated with the West itself, implying that other nations, especially Asian nations, must first achieve Western modernity before being able to subvert that modernity.
On the surface, Asian nations are still struggling to actually achieve modernity, much less subvert it. However, the struggle of Asian nations to achieve Western modernity has actually in itself subverted the very idea of a Western modernity. Following in a similar path as Western postmodern parody and mock-documentaries, the imitation and manipulation of Western standards of culture by Asian countries has decentralized and dethroned Western power and influence. This decentralization has shown that power and influence do not flow in one direction, but is distributed and transformed in a network of connections. The appropriation of modernity has caused a subversion and transformation of an exclusively Western modernity into a new decentralized global vision of modernity (if it can still be called modernity), with localized expressions that have global effects, found in the practices of call centers in India and the pirate economy of Asia.
The nature of Western documentary’s adoption of postmodern values is analogous to the current state of Asian appropriation of Western modernity and provides a possible avenue to understand the subversion and transformation of modernity in the context of Asian countries. Traditional documentary has always depended on the narratives of science and discourses of the Enlightenment to solve social and individual problems (Roscoe, 28). The analogous authority in the Asian struggle for modernity is the West as the standard of progress and perfection. Postmodern discourses question the authority of the dominant discourses of science and empiricism in a “crisis of representation, an implosion of meaning and a collapse of the real” (Roscoe, 28). Postmodernism has caused the medium of documentary, which has always had a close relationship to science and Enlightenment ideas, to stretch and blur its boundaries into a critique of the discourses it once depended on so deeply (Roscoe, 29). In the same way, Asian practices of out-sourced call centers and piracy have become a critique of the Western modernity that it simultaneously depends on for its very existence. Parody and mock-documentaries manipulate the style and techniques of other genres to critique those genres (Roscoe, 29). In the same way, the Asian version of modernity and its attempts to imitate Western modernity have in fact become a critique of their very source.
The Asian quest for the standard of Western modernity relies heavily on its ability to imitate the West. For example, companies that use Indian call centers want to avoid the trouble of a customer feeling like his or her request is misunderstood. Therefore, Indian call centers train their agents to be “modern subjects” that can easily communicate to American customers as if they were American themselves. The training goes from culture training to as far as accent trainings (Shome, 111-112). Thus, some Indian agents have appropriated modern American culture so successfully that many Americans cannot tell that the person on the other end of the phone line is actually on the other side of the world. Similarly, imitations of Louis Vuitton leather products have sprung up in Taiwan that are more accessible than the genuine products and are nearly 95% accurate in imitation (Chang, 228). Taiwan was able take a Western object and imitate it accurately to use it as a status symbol. Piracy of Western film is also prevalent in Asia where these films have limited distribution at high costs (Wang, 104). Although these films are not all completely perfectly copied, they deliver access to the cultural objects (films) that otherwise would have an exclusive Western audience.
The appropriations of Western culture by Asian nations as symbols of modernity undermine the hierarchy of power implied by discourses of Western modernity. Usually, these appropriations are seen under the scope of cultural imperialism and zero sum theory, in which power is unidirectional and cannot be taken from the holder of power (Wang, 117). Instead, these examples of appropriation each demonstrate aspects of actor network theory, in which ideas travel in a network in several directions, experiencing translation and transformation with each transaction (Wang 101). Indian call centers and its agents’ ability to imitate the West show the attainability of Western society. The Indian call agents become the power holders by having the information valuable to customers and invert the power structure that has the West on the top of the hierarchy. Even further, they have shown that they too can acquire the ability to hold the power of information, making the zero sum theory irrelevant to Indian call centers.
Piracy also undermines concepts of Western modernity by destroying notions of a unidirectional transference of power and influence. Fake Louis Vuitton producers have created products that are not even copied from real Louis Vuitton products and have released copies of real Louis Vuitton products before they are available from legitimate stores (Chang, 233). The producers of pirated Louis Vuitton goods have begun to create designs that are further and further away from the influence of Louis Vuitton itself. This exposes deterioration in Louis Vuitton’s creative authority and the dissemination of that authority globally. Pirated VCD’s in China have incited several actions from the Chinese government and the U.S. government. These actions first pushed piracy from above ground to underground, then overseas, and finally back to China itself (Wang, 111). All of these policies did not actually stop film piracy, but exposed the insecurity of the West to control pirated media. In fact, each of the pirated film industry’s reactions to U.S. policies was an expression of power over the U.S. film market, just as the U.S. policies themselves were expressions of power. This again shows a multidirectional flow of power as opposed to a unidirectional flow of power. Pirated film also popularized the VCD format, forcing multinational corporations to change their strategies and delay the implementation of DVD technology (Wang, 108). This again shows a reversal in power in which there is no hierarchy of power and influence can flow in any direction.
Appropriation of Western modernity is a parody of modernity itself. In the film world, it is easy to view parody as merely comic. However, parodies must also be recognized as the generation of critical commentary (Roscoe, 29). In the same way, these appropriations of Western modernity are more than just entertaining cross-cultural stories- they are post-colonial criticisms and subversions of Western dominated discourses of power and progress. Indian call centers and pirated goods form the framework for a new global democratic vision of power, in which influence is no longer in one Western centered location, but is shared in a network and flows in several directions.
Ashis Nandy states that in order for this new cosmopolitanism to become a legitimate dissenting voice, the post-colonial discourse must ally itself with the repressed, pre-modern West (Nandy, 146). However, besides the pre-modern West, post-colonial thought must also find an ally in the postmodern West. The dissolution of Western modernity into a new global modernity can be made complete only through the alliance of critical thought from within the West and outside the West.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Monday, May 01, 2006
Globalized Asia
For hundreds of years, Asia’s identity has been defined in Western terms due to colonialism and imperialism. However, in this age of post-colonialism, the forces of globalization are de-Westernizing the way the world is perceived and interacted with. It has in turn shifted the way that we view the cultural, geographical and historical aspects of the idea of “Asia” and “the East”. Isolation from the West has become a fleeting dream from the past. There has been a distant relationship between the entity of the West and the East for thousands of years, but in recent years, increased globalization has slowly forced this relationship to become increasingly intimate. This impending collision of cultural entities is no longer impending but is now our present reality. The idea of Asia can no longer be thought of alone, but must be defined in its context in the global community. This shift in the relationship between the East and the West has been dualistic in nature in that it has caused the idea of Asia and the East to be inseparable from the context of the idea of the West and the rest of the world that surrounds it. However, it has at the same time caused a reaction among the nations to call for a greater understanding of what Asia is apart from the influence of the West and the rest of the world, and on Asia’s own terms. All in all, this shows that Asia today is defined by an interplay between its relationship with the rest of the world, including the West, and Asia’s view of itself to form an identity that fits into the context of globalization. This interplay has created an identity that is de-westernized, but not devoid of Western thought. Rather, Asia is not centralized in one culture’s perspective, but a collective identity composed of insider perspectives and perspectives formed by the relationship outsider forces have with Asia..
The first element of Asia’s identity is an increased awareness of itself free from Western influence. The centrality of the Western discourse and power structure over Asia has become decayed and decentralized (Iwabuchi, 19). This has given other discourses that dissent from the Western discourse on Asia the opportunity to take hold. For example, there have been movements in the study of Asia to indigenize the knowledge of Asian nations. For instance, histories of colonized nations start only after the colonization of that nation by a European country. Anything before that is considered prehistory in some countries. An indigenization of the knowledge of the term “Asia” would mean that the knowledge base of Asia would come from Asian indigenous sources (Dirlik, 163). This disarms the centrality of the Western narration of Asia and centers knowledge of Asia on Asian sources. Further, in the last twenty to thirty years, there has been a resurgence of civilizational view of Asia, in which Asia’s identity is no longer based on a Western colonial modernity, but by its own cultural modernities such Islam or Neo-Confucianism (Dirlik, 162). This departs from a Eurocentric colonial mindset and instead creates an identity that not only sets Asia apart from the West, but goes so far as to set the idea of Asia in direct confrontation against the Euro-American civilization. However, although the Western discourse on Asia has diminished, the new discourse on the identity of Asia has not become entirely Asian-centered.
The second element of Asia’s identity is in its interaction with the West and the world outside of Asia. One of the most prominent ideas that embody this identity is the idea of the Pacific Rim. The Pacific Rim makes Asia a part of a larger economic and power structure that is centered not on the West or on Asia, but on the area in between them- the Pacific Ocean (Dirlik, 165). This view identifies Asia not from an Asian discourse or a Euro-American discourse, but instead defines Asia from a discourse formed from the relationship between those discourses. Another example of an Asian definition based on its relationship with other nations is the rise and study of diasporic communities. This way of viewing Asia “replaces areas and groundedness with the motions of people” (Dirlik, 166). This viewpoint of Asia focuses on the creation of identity in the interaction and relationship between Eastern cultures and Western cultures (for example, Chinese culture and American culture become the Asian American culture in Chinese diaspora communities in America). Again, this is a discourse that blurs the distinction between the West and the East and demands a new matrix of thinking based on the inseparable relationship between Asian identity and Western identity. On the surface, this integrationist view of Asia as part of a larger system is in direct contradiction to the idea that the identity of Asia must be free of Western influence.
On the contrary, however, the introspective identity of Asia and the relational identity of Asia work towards the same goal- the decentralization of Western thought that defines Asia. These elements have the potential to come together to form a “new cosmopolitanism” in which post-colonial thought of non-Western countries allies itself with the “disowned West” that recognizes the deterioration of the West’s nce (Nandy, 146). In the same way, the introspective view of Asia apart from the West sets the stage for a viewpoint in which the West no longer has the authority to dictate identity, and the relational element creates a concrete alternative to an ethnocentric view of Asia. This cosmopolitanism can in turn form an environment of egalitarian dialogue between civilizations (Nandy, 147). This creates an identity in which the idea of Asia is not just formed by the West, but can even be a force in defining and affecting Western thought.
Thus, Asia, in the context of globalization, is a combination of its own independently formed personal history and identity and its identity formed by its relationship with the rest of the world. Firstly, the idea of Asia has expanded beyond the West’s definition of Asia, but now includes the voices of Asia itself. Secondly, Asia’s identity is now centered on its relationship with its global context. This dualistic identity not just relevant in Asia, but is relevant to the changing identities of people groups, nations, and continents all over the world. For example, this dualism is found in America’s relationship between Mexico, in which there is an increased dependence on Mexico for America’s economy, while at the same time, efforts to build a wall on the border and efforts to define who is American and who isn’t have significantly increased. To understand Asia’s dualistic identity in a global context not only assists in the understanding of Asia, but in questions of identity around the world, in which globalization has simultaneously melded and demarcated ideas of identity from the personal level to cultural and continental identity.
The first element of Asia’s identity is an increased awareness of itself free from Western influence. The centrality of the Western discourse and power structure over Asia has become decayed and decentralized (Iwabuchi, 19). This has given other discourses that dissent from the Western discourse on Asia the opportunity to take hold. For example, there have been movements in the study of Asia to indigenize the knowledge of Asian nations. For instance, histories of colonized nations start only after the colonization of that nation by a European country. Anything before that is considered prehistory in some countries. An indigenization of the knowledge of the term “Asia” would mean that the knowledge base of Asia would come from Asian indigenous sources (Dirlik, 163). This disarms the centrality of the Western narration of Asia and centers knowledge of Asia on Asian sources. Further, in the last twenty to thirty years, there has been a resurgence of civilizational view of Asia, in which Asia’s identity is no longer based on a Western colonial modernity, but by its own cultural modernities such Islam or Neo-Confucianism (Dirlik, 162). This departs from a Eurocentric colonial mindset and instead creates an identity that not only sets Asia apart from the West, but goes so far as to set the idea of Asia in direct confrontation against the Euro-American civilization. However, although the Western discourse on Asia has diminished, the new discourse on the identity of Asia has not become entirely Asian-centered.
The second element of Asia’s identity is in its interaction with the West and the world outside of Asia. One of the most prominent ideas that embody this identity is the idea of the Pacific Rim. The Pacific Rim makes Asia a part of a larger economic and power structure that is centered not on the West or on Asia, but on the area in between them- the Pacific Ocean (Dirlik, 165). This view identifies Asia not from an Asian discourse or a Euro-American discourse, but instead defines Asia from a discourse formed from the relationship between those discourses. Another example of an Asian definition based on its relationship with other nations is the rise and study of diasporic communities. This way of viewing Asia “replaces areas and groundedness with the motions of people” (Dirlik, 166). This viewpoint of Asia focuses on the creation of identity in the interaction and relationship between Eastern cultures and Western cultures (for example, Chinese culture and American culture become the Asian American culture in Chinese diaspora communities in America). Again, this is a discourse that blurs the distinction between the West and the East and demands a new matrix of thinking based on the inseparable relationship between Asian identity and Western identity. On the surface, this integrationist view of Asia as part of a larger system is in direct contradiction to the idea that the identity of Asia must be free of Western influence.
On the contrary, however, the introspective identity of Asia and the relational identity of Asia work towards the same goal- the decentralization of Western thought that defines Asia. These elements have the potential to come together to form a “new cosmopolitanism” in which post-colonial thought of non-Western countries allies itself with the “disowned West” that recognizes the deterioration of the West’s nce (Nandy, 146). In the same way, the introspective view of Asia apart from the West sets the stage for a viewpoint in which the West no longer has the authority to dictate identity, and the relational element creates a concrete alternative to an ethnocentric view of Asia. This cosmopolitanism can in turn form an environment of egalitarian dialogue between civilizations (Nandy, 147). This creates an identity in which the idea of Asia is not just formed by the West, but can even be a force in defining and affecting Western thought.
Thus, Asia, in the context of globalization, is a combination of its own independently formed personal history and identity and its identity formed by its relationship with the rest of the world. Firstly, the idea of Asia has expanded beyond the West’s definition of Asia, but now includes the voices of Asia itself. Secondly, Asia’s identity is now centered on its relationship with its global context. This dualistic identity not just relevant in Asia, but is relevant to the changing identities of people groups, nations, and continents all over the world. For example, this dualism is found in America’s relationship between Mexico, in which there is an increased dependence on Mexico for America’s economy, while at the same time, efforts to build a wall on the border and efforts to define who is American and who isn’t have significantly increased. To understand Asia’s dualistic identity in a global context not only assists in the understanding of Asia, but in questions of identity around the world, in which globalization has simultaneously melded and demarcated ideas of identity from the personal level to cultural and continental identity.
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