Transition in Communication and Cultural Change in Global South

Cultural Globalization and the Global South

Globalization in the contemporary world has changed its nature, form, and shape expeditiously. The concept that emerged with the economic revolution is no longer sticking to it but has spread its roots in political, social, demographic, and cultural elements too in a significant way. Accordingly, its impact is not only limited to economic phenomena but has been transmitted in all other aspects of life. Western traditions especially in developed countries like the US, UK, Germany, etc. globalization is much evident in economic prospects like developing capitalism or profit maximization.

The world has seen the journey of economic globalization from American global footwear production by Nike and the global food industry of McDonald's, Ford as one of the most popular brands of cars among the elites, Suzuki as the biggest car manufacturer for the common public, and China as the largest phone manufacturer, including some of the most famous brands for communication technology like Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, etc. that are low budget and common among the general public. All these show a shift in the flow of production from the Western economy to the Asian economy making the latter much more independent, which has only become possible as a result of globalization that made the tariffs and barriers flexible.

During World War II, most of the third-world countries were just recognized as raw material-producing countries and market centers for capitalism. Those countries had their puppet governments established by the colonial forces and had no sustainable economic structure. But after the war, many global organizations like the World Bank, IMF, UN, etc. came into existence that were again controlled by some major superpowers of the world. The third world countries are again considered as less developed or as a periphery by the developed or core countries for their raw materials, land, and cheap labor. New measures were adopted to intervene in the internal affairs of third-world countries with issues like for the sake of human rights, democracy, foreign direct investments, etc. Such methodologies included: war by proxy; for example: Israel is being used by the United States to expand its interest in West Asian countries that are highly enriched with crude oil resources.

But in the developing and global southern countries, the impact of globalization is more cultural. Hence, it becomes important to see how globalization is important in changing the cultural processes. The process of cultural globalization starts with cultural reception. Cultural reception can occur both physically and virtually. For example, in the case of India or the global south, pop culture can be referred to as an element of cultural reception. The emergence of pop songs in South America as a part of anger among the locales is an example of cultural production. When this trend of pop music due to its easy understandability was transmitted to other parts of the world after the development of communication technologies, it became an example of cultural transmission, and finally, its long-way journey from South America to Asia became one of the most popular musical forms with some popular TV shows like MTV Hustle or movies like Gully Boy, Rockstar, etc., especially in countries like India that has its own classical form of music is the finest example of cultural reception.

Due to the growth in communication technologies in recent eras, physical interaction has shifted to virtual interaction; as a result, questions like who, what, why, etc. that create discrimination gradually diminish as in the virtual world anyone can participate in a conversation. Communication technologies through online social activism, television-based programs, etc. have also discarded structural inequalities in society. For example, due to social and audio-visual media, the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning) community or the community of bisexuals, transgenders, etc. has seen many political, social, and legal reforms in the country. Especially through online activism like spreading the viewpoints of those communities over social media, creating same-gendered dating apps, etc., it has provided them with new organizational freedom to survive among the conservative pattern of traditional societies.

Singh (1986) in his book “Modernization of Indian Tradition” has given some normative variables to analyze the modernization of the society, especially in the case of India which is a part of the global south. According to him “growth of communication” and “media exposure” is one of the key variables to check the level of modernity. For instance, according to him, the modernization of Indian society occurred mainly with Western contact, or when the new Western forms of tradition, culture, education, transportation, and communication processes were introduced. Many types of social reforms like the establishment of Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj, the growth of industrial entrepreneurship, and other types of cultural and structural changes were taking place. Mass media in this context not only worked as a tool of information but also as a carrier of modern thoughts and ideologies fastening the process of development. India had some highly modern or advanced scientific knowledge, which we call Indian knowledge systems. Media is also playing a huge role in depicting the same to the entire world.

The land of Rishikesh in Uttarakhand state of India, which is also known as the “yoga capital of the world,” witnesses a huge number of visitors throughout the world. In the same manner, Ayurveda, the traditional healing art of India, is so immensely popular among the Western countries that in corporation with the Middlesex University of London, Germany introduced MSc in Ayurvedic Medicine as a professional university degree. The acceptance of Yoga and Ayurveda by the Western communities is one of the finest examples of how traditional substances can be acknowledged as a modern approach among all the communities of society and can be recognized at a global level. All the above works on the relationship between modernity as a cultural element and globalization occurred in either Western or American countries. Hence, it becomes more necessary to understand it as an Eastern value on the global South, especially in a developing country like India.

Many studies count globalization as a threat when comes to the global south. They prefer “regionalization” over “globalization” to keep their cultural elements intact. Ullah and Hannah Ming Yit Ho (2020) in their article “Globalization and Cultures in Southeast Asia: Demise, Fragmentation, Transformation, Global Society” states “With globalization occupying a significant position in both public and private discourses, local culture in Southeast Asia has suffered. Globalization is viewed as a challenge to national culture and sovereignty, South-east Asian nation-states have also responded to globalization by endorsing regionalization. But regionalization is aimed to strengthen ties among its member nations with shared values and goals to preserve their Eastern cultures by learning from one another via a multilateral platform.”

Raisa and Tasnim (2020) in “McDonaldization of Asia: Impacts of Globalization on the Asian Culture” studies the impact of McDonaldization in countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia and found that cultures are changing rapidly due to globalization. The causes they mention are to keep appealing to Western tourists. It argues that “culture has seen a downfall. As more Westernization takes place, the newer generation is inclined toward it and deviates from the already diverse local culture.” It also creates a distance from social realities especially among the younger generations and deviates them from ethnic elements.

The primary concepts of modernization depict themselves as a Euro-centric or Western notion but as the world stepped into a post–modern era, the concept of modernization changed too. At present modernization doesn't only refer to Western values but it has become a two-way process, where cultures assimilate with one another, reevaluate their pros and cons rationally, and further adopt the value-components of one another according to their perceptions. It doesn't mean discarding the traditional form of values and lifestyle rather it encourages the spread of ethnic traditional elements to the entire globe. Similarly, Hosseini (2010) examines the impact of globalization on Iran and argues that globalization “does not mean simply being a recipient or a provider. We must find areas of collaboration where we can act as partners with different organizations and interact in a mutually beneficial way”. Thus, the impact of globalization is complicated in the global south, and it needs to come out as a collaborative approach where the cultural receptions are both local and global. It should recognize all the rational elements of all cultural entities and create a better modern society.

One of the important societies of the global South is the tribal society. The global south comprises the parts of continents like Asia, Africa, and South America, which are the home to the largest sections of indigenous people. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC), Central and South America and the Caribbean region are home to between 45 and 50 million indigenous people (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015). While the African continent has the highest number of tribes in the world, India is the largest country with having tribal population. Some of the world's oldest and largest tribes like Gond are inhabitants of India. While these tribes are believed to be a community that resides in the remotest corner of society, they are not much acquainted with modern technologies and live a life based on primary occupations with a low level of literacy and infrastructure. This is the reason why when discussing the processes of globalization and modernity in different societies, it becomes important to understand the impact of it on tribal societies especially when we talk about the global south, which is home to the highest number of tribal populations.

Tribes in the Globalized Cultural Perspectives

The tribes are one of the largest indigenous groups of the society. They are the original individuals of the soil and the bearers of the ethnicity of the region. Culture and language are the two major ethnic components that distinguish tribes from any other castes and communities. Further, the fact that no castes have their particular language and sociopolitical organization differentiates them from specific tribes, which are more confined to their specific region based on remote/hilly areas and self-autonomy. Since the reachability has increased globally due to the rapid communication revolution, the scope for tribal studies and interest in understanding the tribal communities also grew. According to Bodhi and Jojo (2019), the tribal aspects can be divided into three different viewpoints, i.e., the colonial construct, the postcolonial construct, and the Indigenous people's construct on tribes. While the colonial construct refers to studies of tribes as primitive, barbaric communities, the postcolonial constructs discuss aspects like isolation, assimilation, and integration which still find the irrational and focus on modernizing them. The Indigenous people's construct on the other hand, talks about tribal autonomy, identity, language, and culture, and tries to evolve the community through their preexisting knowledge systems. While the colonial and postcolonial construct on tribes is mainly based on the Western perspectives, the latter, i.e., Indigenous people's construct based on their own perspectives. Hence, the process of understanding tribal lifestyle is not limited only to the global south but the Northern researchers from the US and other European countries like Great Britain also gradually developed an interest in the tribal lifestyles.

One such British scholar is Verrier Elwin who proposed the “Isolation theory” (1939) of the tribes and the first foreigner to become an Indian citizen. He was also a member of the tribal development committee through the Five-Year Plan in 1957. However, the theory proposed to him was not accepted broadly as his ideas were based on Western civilizational ideologies, and based on it, he mentioned the tribes as “Primitive,” which was later considered derogatory for a community. He further advocated leaving the tribes “alone” in their place, which cuts them out from mainstream society entirely. Based on it, the concept of “Inner Line Permit,” which is an official permit document also notified in Indian states like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur, which restricts the movement or mobility of the common people from the protected region. To modify his theory, G. S. Ghurye (1963) gave the “Assimilation Theory” but again it was rejected as he mentioned the Indian tribes as “Backward Hindus.” The theory was not acknowledged much as the tribes from any region have their own religion and they are mainly nature-worshippers, hence assimilated into any particular religion. The “Hinduism” which they follow is a sister religion and as a part of cultural globalization, it was received as a common religion in most of the Indian tribes. It created a bridge between the two cultures where tribes, due to the elements of nature-worshipping present in Hinduism accepted it with a warm heart.

Further, this process of cultural assimilation was studied acutely by Virginius Xaxa who proposed the “Integration Model” (2014) of tribes. This model was highly appreciated as according to this model, assimilation of culture is good but complete assimilation is a problem because it will create cultural convergence or merge the local culture into the dominant culture. It is based on the concept of “identity articulation” where due to assimilation of cultures, no culture should be converged into another where a small ethnic group loses its own cultural traits. All these models try to understand the impact of cultural globalization on the tribes of the global south, especially India, and how it affects their cultural ethnicities.

If discussed thoroughly, it can be seen that the tribes in these regions are very harmonic and based on the notion of laughter and love for people. In the words of Nelson Mandela, they live on the philosophy of “Ubuntu,” which refers to I exist, and We exist. The Indigenous philosophical principle visualizes the world rooted in human beings and an indefinite coexistence with nature. They believe in love and to be loved, relation, reciprocity, correspondence, and sustainability. However, due to the domination that the cultural others try to establish in their community and region, they often perceive them as cultural intruders, which is also rational in some cases. One such example is Jarawas of the Andaman Islands. A primary hunter-gatherer group that has had their habitat on the island approximately since 60,000 years ago, were the largest sufferer of various development/modernity-based atrocities. According to Sarkar (1990), the Jarawas were discovered by the British during the first penal settlement in Colebrooke (1789–90) and Blair (1789–96) where they tried to establish the outsiders in middle Andaman, which was the homeland of Jarawas. It impacted their privacy, ethnicity, and harmony at a large due to which during the second penal settlement (1858–1946) they protested and became hostile to safeguard themselves. The situation has not developed ever since then and till now they prefer to remain separate from any outsiders or their cultural domination.

Thus, globalization when studied deeply can have both positive and negative impacts on the cultural ethnicities. In most of the cases of tribes, they have their negative impacts. Further, if the colonial past is studied, there are numerous examples where the tribal people from the entire global south have faced the atrocities sometimes due to their color or sometimes in the form of slavery. These cultural elements especially can be observed in various names given by the outsiders for the tribal groups of the global south like “Red Indians,” which is a very offensive word for a native American. Similarly, in India, if one sees the Bonda tribal group of Odisha, they call themselves as “Remo” meaning hilly people. But as they came into contact with the cultural others, they were popularized with the name “Bonda,” which refers to semi-naked, which was highly derogatory.

Besides, there are also various tribes who due to cultural homogenization have lost their cultural elements completely. One such example is the Meena tribe of Rajasthan. The tribe due to its location has seen cultural assimilation with mainstream societies of the country. They have been inclined toward a high level of education, job roles, and information technology. But in the meantime, they have also adopted the mainstream cultural entities, religious practices, and other elements like clothing, food habits, etc., and left their cultural ethnicity completely creating a threat to their cultural survival. Thus, the impact of cultural globalization is high among the tribes. In some cases, it helps them rationalize themselves with education, health, communication technologies, and other infrastructural facilities, on the other hand sometimes it becomes a challenge for the tribes to retain their cultural traits. However, one continuous element occurring in the tribal communities due to the impact of globalization is their cultural transition. This suggests a separate study for globalization and its impact on the cultures of the tribal communities especially in the global southern countries.

Conclusion

Thus, globalization is a multifaced phenomenon that has diverse results in different communities and different regions. According to Cruz-Saco (2018), “globalization centers around the need to eliminate the urban/rural gaps, equalize access to social services, and enhance living conditions of indigenous people who live in poverty. In the case of women also a paradox has emerged: although indigenous women have displayed significant activism, they carry the greater burden from their double duty of working outside the home and providing care at home.” It indicates the fact that globalization in some cases is encouraging modernity, whereas sometimes it also creates negative cultural hegemonies.

The concepts of globalization and modernity are an integral part of each other and without studying the level of modernity in society the level of globalization and its impact can't be studied individually. At the same time, contemporary ideas and discourses of development are also undergoing through process of intellectual debates and analysis creating academic dissents among the scholars. Impact of forces of globalization and communication technological advancements (together) on the process of cultural change (level of modernity) on different sections of society exposed to these new communication technologies as these communication technologies facilitate instant global communication. They are part and parcel of the globalization process (economic, political, cultural, environmental). Hence, it raises one of the basic questions:

Whether in societies like India is there any change in the level of modernity and culture as a result of globalization and digitalization?

In the question mentioned above, the rigidity of norms and values tightens up for marginalized sections like tribes, women, and middle-class groups of society. Hence to understand the level of modernity in value-based countries like India it becomes necessary to understand the status and dignity of these sections with special reference to such countries. Recognition of pluralities of life, and understanding the indigenous knowledge systems, and cultures can create a real magnitude of development and a more rational or modern society, and forgetting it can result in epistemic injustice causing a negative globalization. The above sections of the chapter have already discussed the tribal society and its relationship with globalization and modernity. The studies also establish the fact that globalization affects the gendered aspects of society separately. To follow this up, the next chapter will take the study of women as a marginal section of society and will do a detailed study, especially taking India as its study area to understand the Eastern perspectives of globalization on them.