Editorial
"Glocalization:"
A multilateral strategy for the 21st century
With eloquence and composure, every word he uttered made perfect sense. He seemed to have captured, in the most articulate of forms, the essence of modern social trends. He drew out an intricate map showing the route we have taken in the socio-political landscape and the direction in which our world is moving, hastily.
Himself a transnational, Marwan Kraidy, a scholar of international communication epitomizes what he studies and theorizes about. However, throughout his prose, one word stood out most. "Glocalization" holds the potential of being the ultimate catch phrase to capture how things are taking shape in today's world. But, Kraidy, a Lebanese-American, is keen to emphasize the depth of the idea and its versatility in explaining world phenomena.
With the advent of global media/communication technology, transnational corporations, and the growing niches for market-based economies, the world is no longer an area of land with definitively carved out nations, lands and territories. Self-sufficiency, once the order and objective of most nation-states is no longer a political and economic aspiration. Quite the contrary, in today's world, virtually no country can sustain itself without some mutual relations with others. However, some argue that this pattern is simply a characteristic limited to the policies of executive government branches of nations whose publics' day-to-day lives are not influenced by these mutualisms.
This can be easily dispelled by looking at the extent of foreign language learning and acquisition in most world countries over the past two decades. New internet technologies, although still inaccessible to a vast majority of the developing world, offer communication opportunities otherwise impossible. Software packages such as chat programs ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, mIRC, etc. are helping to satisfy individual curiosities about others and to dilute animosities. Satellite television brings forth news and programming from areas of the world otherwise inaccessible to many, exposing cultures, societies and publics to one another. A world music industry where perceived "exotic" and "foreign" sounds have become mainstream are challenging our conceptions of how things should be. The notion of the Algerian-French singer Cheb Khalid scoring the #1 single in Europe with a bilingual Arabic-French track would have been unheard of just two decades ago. More than ever before, we're witnessing top recording artists collaborating with musicians from other areas of the world, the likes of Peter Gabriel, Sting, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page.
However, this so-called "cultural-interweaving" has not been free from criticism. An entire body of academic literature and frequent newspaper publications from virtually every country have condemned this movement of globalization as a threat to national identities and cultural integrities. Fostered by strong resistance and fear of "cultural imperialism," many around the world proclaim and call for an increase in traditionalism and a return to native and indigenous notions. Some accuse and blame this resistance against anything foreign for helping to rejuvenate and revive every form of radicalism. Some countries have taken measures to limit foreign cultural imports, some have heightened censorship, others have either created or strengthened public awareness campaigns, often leading to the creation of ministries of culture and/or heritage.
These ambivalent forces that create a contestation between globalism, regionalism, nationalism and individualism are at the heart of Kraidy's argument. Instead of seeing the globality and regionality as polar opposites that cannot conceivably meet and reconcile, the notion of "glocalization" suggests that the two are indeed too intertwined to be separated. It argues that the simple negotiation between the two has helped create a novel "hybrid," an identity that incorporates elements of both without compromising either. By simply surfing the net, one will come across websites from every corner of the earth and in a variety of languages. The ability of peoples worldwide to dialogue and use technological innovations to their benefit without fear of cultural or identity dissolution has proven to be the ultimate challenge, one that "glocalization" attempts to answer.
So what are the remedies? Most editorial articles that tackle underlying problems such as poverty, hunger, human rights and other systematic issues of equity, offer suggestions that are broad, assumptive and often overly-ambitious. This particular article is no different!!
We here at the Ambassadors are starting with the body of the magazine, with an editorial staff whose national origins represent 15 different citizenships and nationalities. Calls for diversifying outreach and representation within institutions are no news, just neglected. As you will read in the pages (virtually speaking) of the Ambassadors, U.S. president-elect George W. Bush has made this very move with what some call the appointment of the most "diverse" cabinet in American history (Rainbow Approach). What prospects do such actions have? Will they instigate change? A love story between Peter Kohl, son of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and Turkish beauty Elif Sozen holds hope for a healing a turbulent relationship between their respective countries. Will this instigate change? The appointment of the first Saudi Arabian woman, Ms. Thoraya Obaid, 55, as the head of the UN Population Fund is a prominent achievement for Arab women. Will this instigate change?
Yemen, a country situated in the southern region of the Arabian peninsula has for many years been absent from international news reporting. With such a dearth of information about the Middle Eastern country, the October terrorist attack on battleship USS Cole at the historic port of Aden has tainted the reputation of both the nation and its people in the eyes of the world. Our National Profile for this issue goes beyond the episodic and sporadic news reports to reveal, through artistic representations, another Yemen often banished from the world's short-term memory. Will this instigate change?
Such attempts, we hope, place us as citizens of humanity in prime position to advocate "glocalization" as a strategy for a rapidly-changing transnational world; in hope that this will instigate change.
Adel Iskandar, BSc (Dalhousie), MA (Purdue)
PhD student in Communication, University of Kentucky, USA
Executive Editor, The Ambassadors
Email: mail@ambassadors.net.
