The keywords in play in this diagram are: multiculturalism, transculturalism, locality, flow, syncretism and popular. These are represented in the blue boxes, with the exception of flow which is represented by the red arrows.
This diagram came about as a result of trying to make sense of the differences between multi- and transculturalism. Our consideration of those differences began by formulating the processes which produce the popular from multicultural localities.
The example we used to illustrate this process revolved around the relationships between India's multicultural atmosphere and the popularised emblems which represent that culture in another locality e.g. the United States. In this case, India's multiculturalism goes through a process of syncretism and homogenisation which reduces its diversity to a singular commodity that becomes a generalised representation of all Indian cuisine e.g. curry. The curry, having transcultural appeal, is qualified for further distribution to other localities as a popular import.
Of course, this is only one particular example of a process that takes place in multiple localities simultaneously. This process is also not unidirectional - there might be reciprocal flow between localities e.g. American popular music into India. Through this exercise, we theorise that the emergence of the popular in other instances is a manifestation of a similar process of merging, filtration, reduction, and subsequent distribution.
1 comment:
The keywords in play in this diagram are: multiculturalism, transculturalism, locality, flow, syncretism and popular. These are represented in the blue boxes, with the exception of flow which is represented by the red arrows.
This diagram came about as a result of trying to make sense of the differences between multi- and transculturalism. Our consideration of those differences began by formulating the processes which produce the popular from multicultural localities.
The example we used to illustrate this process revolved around the relationships between India's multicultural atmosphere and the popularised emblems which represent that culture in another locality e.g. the United States. In this case, India's multiculturalism goes through a process of syncretism and homogenisation which reduces its diversity to a singular commodity that becomes a generalised representation of all Indian cuisine e.g. curry. The curry, having transcultural appeal, is qualified for further distribution to other localities as a popular import.
Of course, this is only one particular example of a process that takes place in multiple localities simultaneously. This process is also not unidirectional - there might be reciprocal flow between localities e.g. American popular music into India. Through this exercise, we theorise that the emergence of the popular in other instances is a manifestation of a similar process of merging, filtration, reduction, and subsequent distribution.
Post a Comment