Mark Poster, Global Media and Culture

Global Media and Culture
Author(s): Mark Poster

Source: New Literary History, Vol. 39, No. 3, Literary History in the Global Age (Summer,
2008), pp. 685-703
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Global Media
and Culture
Mark Poster
need
of a constantly
market
expanding
over the
its products
chases
the bourgeoisie
whole
It must nestle every
surface of the globe.
The
for
where,
settle
everywhere,
establish
connections
everywhere.
The bourgeoisie
its exploitation
has through
char
given a cosmopolitan
acter to production
and consumption
in every
In place of the old wants,
satisfied by
country....
of the country, we find new wants,
the production
of
the world
market
for their satisfaction

of
the products
requiring
. . .And as in material,
distant
lands and climes.
so also in intellectual
The intellectual
production.
creations
of individual
nations
become
common
property.
?Karl
in Question
Global Discourse
global
Increasing
basic conditions
a result
of
relations
intensified
the
catalyze
of culture
changed,
exchanges
Marx1
question
diminished,
across
national,
of
culture:
are
the
or supplemented
ethnic,
and
as
territo
rial borders? What are the major discursive

regimes that have emerged
in connection
with the phenomenon
of global culture? What models
of
analysis
are
best
suited
to
examine
these
exchanges?translation,
to
Do they appear
transcoding,
mixing,
homogenization?
hybridity,
most
the
in
Do
the
context?
these
pose
present
productive
questions
the challenges
and opportunities
concepts articulate
posed for culture
the
of
intensification
One
global exchanges?
by
rapid
might
inquire as
at
another
conditions
for
the
about
level,
well,
epistemological
framing
the problems
of global culture. What discursive
enable ask
positions
are
in
of writing/
the
the
first
the
conditions
What
ing
question
place?
on
a
stance
that
the
of
critical
open
speech/word
question
processing
"I
culture?
Is
the
the
think"
of
the
Western
global
subject,
philosophi
cal tradition, an appropriate
of discourse
in order to initialize
position
about global culture? Does the fact that a large proportion
of
questions
New Literary History, 2008, 39: 685-703

686
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
occur only with the mediation

of information
global exchanges
the notion of the other?
incite a need to redefine
Have We Become
Very often
the figure
cosmopolitan.2
has
terms
the
by
wrote
of View"
Point
framed
been
discourse
Kant
Immanuel
tory from a Cosmopolitan

culture
Cosmopolitan?
that governs
Since
in 1784, the problem
"universal"
and
have
"cosmopolitan."3
by invoking
very
in
term
the
His
of global
addressed
recent
interest
is the
culture
a Universal
for
years, major publications

of a sense of the planetary,
This
mopolitan."4
about global
"Idea
in recent
Especially
of the emergence
machines
the issue
the term "cos
to Kant
returns
often
of the issue. For the eighteenth-century

and his formulation
philosopher,
a determination
is
of reason alone, requiring no practical
cosmopolitan
effort of travel, or acquaintance
with, or study of the societies of the world.
use
term
the
it is as though the human species might
of
cosmopolitan,
By
a
its
fate
from
vantage point that is not local, not rooted in
only
question
a somewhere,
not tied to any specific space or place but somehow
itself
is
notorious
And
this
from
who
Kant,
cosmopolitan.
global, planetary,
in the eighteenth-century
backwater
for residing almost without absence
in eastern Prussia. Kant deploys
the term Weltb?rgerlicher
of K?nigsberg
ansieht
cosmopolitan
as
point
it confronts
the
which
society
citizen
of
the
of view for him

of
the
for
problem
of
(viewpoint
question
race
human
administers
world
...
law
in
world)
is achieved
peace.
is the
"The
writes,
well
institution
is determined
the problem of a global political
himself. Because
of governments
but by the philosopher
so
society" is deemed
important, Kant finds it necessary
rely
and
force,
to
cosmopolitan
before
zone
Kant
"a
upon
Well
instituted
the
the
others
humanity
this
from
as
civic
intentioned,
not by leaders
"universal civic
to turn to and
the earth
proclaimed
like Kant
moved
greatest
view."
to render
thinkers
easily
of
question
pundits
treaties
Enlightenment
and
of
point
neoliberal
alone
a universal
of
However
The
reason
through
He
achievement
men."5
among
manner.
special
assertion
as a free-trade
the universal.
problematized
positing
a universal
man
economic
practical
as
rational
creature
Poststructuralists
species.
out difficulties
and postcolonial
theorists since the 1970s have pointed
in Enlightenment
of the universal
with the assumption
thought.6 The
to include
of
the
of
mankind
failed
proclamation
universality
obviously
nonwhites,
seriously
cosmologies
contained
women,
children,
non-Christians,
and
so
forth,
detracting
to a community
the aspiration
of peoples. Religions
of all kinds, well before the European
Enlightenment,
from
elements
of
universality,
elements
that were
even
more

and
also
limited
MEDIA
GLOBAL
AND
687
CULTURE
and restricted
This "universality" included

than those of the philosophes.
in the category those of other religions only if they converted
or, even
name
term
of
sometimes
the
the
worse,
they
designated
humanity
by
the tribe or ethnic grouping.
takes on a new
Today the question of humanity as a whole or universal
it is a practical fact that people,
dimension:
and cultural
commodities,
inten
objects circulate around the planet and do so with ever-increasing
are
Humans
actions:
their
sity.
today through
cosmopolitan
everyday
they
on
emigrate,
they work
products used in other countries,
they consume
manufactured
objects
elsewhere,
they
create
use
and
texts,
and
images,
One might well claim a cosmo

that are globally disseminated.
even
one
never
status
if
left K?nigsberg.
has
politan
today
But is "cosmopolitan"
the best term to use in the context of present
I think not. First, the term derives from European
day globalization?
contexts and reflects its origins as Weltb?rgerlicher ansieht. An adequate
sounds
term for the phenomenon

that
are
of
inclusive
today must
heterogeneous
be determined
through
cultures.
planetary
Second,
processes
term
the
I shall argue that contemporary

far too human.
universality
that to a great extent rely upon information machines
arises in practices
or media, and these must be included in the formulation
of the concept
of universality, just as earlier uses of the term needed
and the discourse
is human,
to be
to
revised
include
and
women,
non-Europeans,
children.
Humans
so they
of these machines,
become universal only through the mediation
are an essential part of the picture.
are partners to humans
in global exchanges,
Ifmachines
do they affect
the parameters
two-sided:
global
of
culture?
first, culture
The
is put
these
second,
exchanges;
event
of
culture
global
exchanges
is then
by the extent
into question
require
immediately
and quality
information
of
machines
or media.
is difficult enough. Taken together,
Each of these problems
a
for the humanities
and social
constitute
challenge
truly complex
they
sciences,
in
particular
for
critical-
theory
and
cultural
studies.
Global Media
as a
or media
information machines
there dangers of regarding
on
has not
of universality? The discourse
component
cosmopolitanism
less global media.7 One exception
focused much on the media, much
in the
is an essay by Martin Hand and Barry Sandywell on "cosmopolis"
and
of
Culture
it
illustrates
issue
Theory,
Society.8 Unfortunately
special
some of the limited directions
the
that can be taken when confronting
all
Hand
and
that
media
media.
of
global
question
global
Sandywell argue
are equally complicit with the forces of neoliberal
transnational
capital
Are

688
NEW
ism. Their Marxist

media
planetary
radio, film,
this
and
by capitalist corporations.
television may be fruitfully
at
since,
perspective
least
systems of communication,
only to the few. Scholars
examined
these
historically,
requiring
committed
large capital
to cultural
of
to media
audiences
few-to-many
investments
available
Some
computing.
such
scholars,
as Manuel
of
and resistive
radio,
on positions
restrictions
of speech
film, and television do present
that have been deeply shaped by advertisers,
enunciation
investors,
the capitalist class.
the other actors within
One might argue differently
for new media, digital technologies,
networked
of
especially
of control
Nonetheless,
programming.9
from
exclusively
are
media
studies,
the degree
the Birmingham
School variety, might dispute
to the creative
media
by the culture industry by pointing
response
HISTORY
to emphasize
the control of all
broadcast
media
like
Perhaps
leads them
framework
LITERARY
and
and
and
have
Castells,
just that.10 But Hand and Sandywell will have none of it. For them,
"The Web is no more
than a new culture industry elevated by corporate
a
into
of global hegemony."11
The fact that
market
powers
position
done
the Internet
is architecturally
different
from broadcast media does not
them from their critical position.
Yet one may readily show
is
voices so that every node in the network
that the Internet multiplies
a position
of speech; that digital formats of texts, images, and sounds
dissuade
cultural
render
bringing
same
time
easy
objects
to fruition
producers;
to alter,
the dream
that
store,
national
borders
and
reproduce,
that all consumers

almost
might
disseminate,
become
at the
in Internet
disappear
that the technology of networked

computing when compared
exchanges;
to producing
and transmitting
television and radio shows or making
and
era
so
in
is
affordable
films
the
well
that, by 2005,
analog
distributing
over one billion people had regular access to it (imagine
if all of them
were producing
and
radio
These
indications
television,
film,
shows).
new may be at hand in the field of media
are summar
that something
in favor of the old questions:
"the
ily dismissed by Hand and Sandywell
critical questions
remain: who controls
about the new digital capitalism
infrastructures
the global media
of the information
age? Who decides
industries? Who will police the
the form and content of the new media
terms from the information
in short, will benefit
in material
Net? Who,
true that capitalists are eager to in
it is certainly
revolution?"12 While
vest in successful Web ventures and that traditional owners of "content"
strive
to maintain
control
over
their
cultural
wares,
neither
of
these
ap
of capitalist principles
has been even remotely
successful
in
plications
the arena of the Internet. The music and film industries are decisively
at risk in the digital environment,
that cannot be said about
something
domain
of
and YouTube
other
Web
like
any
spaces
capitalism.
MySpace
media
but
remain
have been purchased
vital avenues
by
conglomerates

MEDIA
GLOBAL
AND
689
CULTURE
their modest,
folk to share and distribute
but at times quite
in our Marxist
None of this causes any hesitation
for ordinary
creations.
interesting,
Yet it must be granted
critics of cosmopolitanism.
that the continuing
of media ownership
is a fact exacerbated
concentration
by globalization
In the music
and threatens democracy.
industry, a mere handful of firms
and similar trends are found
control 80 percent of global CD production,
as well as radio, film,
in newspaper,
and
book
periodical,
publications
Some argue that the same tendency affects digital media,
the advent of convergence.13
in the
The likely outcome
especially
no
near and far terms of networked
means
cer
is
media
computing
by
more
is
and
its
toward
democratic
communications
tain,
opening
global
are
is
The
that
uncertain.
these
open political questions
point, however,
rather than the paralyzing
that call for active engagement,
rhetoric that
and television.
with
in every nook and cranny.

capitalist machinations
the most important point I would
like to raise concerning
global
is that networked
media
computing
places in the hands of the general
that are linked to their existences
in
population
discovers
But
of the efforts of the capitalist class (as well

the assemblage
of human and information
in
for as a phenomenon
unprecedented
an innovation
is
that
drastically chang
technologies,
fundamental
ways. Regardless
as those of the nation-state),
must be accounted
machine
the array of media

link
machine
ing the character of culture. For the human/information
of the binaries of space and time, body
introduces new configurations
and consumer,
and mind,
indeed all the
subject and object, producer
constituents
that form cultures. While
the economic
raised by
questions
not
account
Hand and Sandywell are valid and exigent,
do
for the
they
nor
at
in
of
resistance
and
stake
networked
potentials
change
computing,
that opens both sides
do they address the politics of culture in a manner
of the question:
the new aspects of surveillance and control by established
and economic
that fall
orders
interests, but also the practices
political
outside
these initiatives and portend great trouble for them.
Hand and Sandywell, along with so many other scholars who come to
similar
conclusions,
are
aware
of
these
potential
risks
and
affordances.
as global citizenship:
"digi
They
of
the polity as an electronic
talized capitalism
of civic renewal, raising us into
processes
inaugurating
global village,
the era o? global citizenship."14 But they are too quick to dismiss such rosy
. . .
as when
outcomes
they write: "Cyberculture
simply builds upon and
and
of class, gender,
social inequalities
further deepens
the chronic
a
to
race created by the course of modern
is
If
be
there
capitalism."15
in
the
Internet
it
will
culture,
(or cosmopolitan)
surely engage
global
raise
crucial
of cosmopolitanism
promises a reconstruction
the specter
ways.

690
LITERARY
NEW
HISTORY
itself, there is another side to the question

to media.
Satellite
of globalization
technology?distinct
the planet as its target of
from but connected
with the Internet?takes
Lisa Parks informs
This system of information machines,
communications.
to the Internet
In addition
of the relation
us,
that
constitute
we
what
munications
"the spheres
shapes
significantly
as
know
connect
satellites
of cultural
'the
global.'"16
across
cultures
and
economic
Like
the
activity
com
Internet,
national
and
traditional
to different
sorts of exchanges.
but they lend themselves
boundaries,
transmit
broadcasts
These technologies
(television and radio) over
easily
very
wide
continuous
promoting
footprints,
for
connections,
example,
with their cultures of origin. They also enable geographic

of migrants
a boon
location devices to pinpoint
relatively small objects and humans,
the
skies with ever
for surveillance
practices of many kinds. Populating
to global
satellites lend themselves
increasing density, communications
but also to close control by extent powers. They are
cultural dissemination
media, allowing greater freedom for individuals and groups
double-edged
In this respect similar to
institutions.
and greater control by dominant
satellite media are therefore open
the Internet, asWendy Chun discloses,
to vastly divergent political uses.17 They may solidify modern
institutions
of global political
culture.
but also may lead to new directions
and
Analog
Culture
Digital
are now digital,

and this technological
media
change
sig
the
of global culture. The shift from
influences
nificantly
development
alters the basic features of the production,
analog to digital technology
Global
storage,
and
reproduction,
changes
Some
view
the
dissemination
of
to the future of culture,
is essential
as
changes
entirely
culture.
in its global
especially
while
progressive;
these
Understanding
spread.
rue
others
them
as
are beside the point and

of these positions
lines of inquiry. The fact is that we are now faced
lead down fruitless
to develop
them in the
with digital forms of culture and must attempt
most beneficial
and creative directions.
Social institutions,
the
especially
the end of civilization.
and
nation-state
the
Both
corporation,
have
to
begun
ers
and
teachers,
as well
as cultural
workers
the
recognize
in culture from analog to digital and have mobilized

to their own ends. It is incumbent upon
technologies
change
to adapt
the newer
university
research
in all fields,
to come
to
terms
the emergence
of digital culture and to attempt to shape its practical
of human freedom, ways
forms in ways that best further the deepening
with
that,
to a
state and
significant
large
extent,
are
in conflict
with
the
tendencies
of
the
nation
the corporation.18 The fate of global culture is currently at a

stage and the political alternatives are stark. If the nation-state

GLOBAL
MEDIA
AND
691
CULTURE
has
its way, American

forms of copyright will prevail globally and if the
in its aims, culture will be increas
transnational
succeeds
corporation
commodified.
The
introduction
of digital technologies,
however,
ingly
of global culture, and the university, a key
facilitates alternative models
must play a major role in resisting the
of these technologies,
developer
forces
other
and offering
less constraining
cultural practices, ones that
the vital premise of the free exchange
of all cultural forms.
of
culture
have
served
of
well
the development
Analog
technologies
First
film
modern
book
then
and
then
the
radio,
society.
production,
and television have all extended
cultural forms to most levels
telephone
of society. For Theodor Adorno
and Max Horkheimer,
this phenomenon
has massified
the
of
class
dialectic
society, undoing
struggle and distract
preserve
of the oppressed.19 For others, such as Walter

like film have brought
the masses closer
Benjamin,
analog technologies
to critical thinking and opened new forms of political
opposition.20 Many
of analog cultural technolo
have argued that even the most benighted
cultures to subsist, even in highly
gies, television, has enabled national
like
and
nations
the
United
States. Benedict Ander
populated
dispersed
ing the critical
son's
attention
contribution,
important
in this
context,
was
to articulate
the
salient
role of the analog technology

of print in the formation
of the nation.21
to the importance
And Michael Warner
of print newspapers
pointed
in opening
the cultural space for democracy
by positioning
ordinary
to public thinking.22
individuals as contributors
These
techno-cultures
formed practices
of reading, writing,
analog
are
and
that
and
far
from
viewing,
listening
specific
amorphous. As Mar
shall
McLuhan
urged,
the medium
is the
message.23
In
the
case
of
analog
creates what I call fixed cultural

the medium
of culture,
technologies
and
sounds
that
and
texts,
may be widely disseminated
objects:
images,
et
stored
celluloid
films,
records,
(books,
cetera)
effectively
long-playing
but are not easily altered by the consumer of culture. What you see on the
printed page is what everyone else with a copy also sees. If you scribble
on your page, only your copy is affected. Analog media
resist alteration
once
they
are
reproduced.
They
encourage
the
value
of
the
original,
the privileged
of the author or creator, the remunerated
role
position
costs are not negligible,
of the reproducer,
since material
and a sharp
the producer
and the consumer
of culture. In fact,
distinction
between
practices of consuming
analog culture promote
celebrity of authors and
two
fan appreciation
and
consumers,
among
vastly different
positions
of
In
modern
cultural
the
theorists
practices.
period
analog
production,
and authors, from
have rebelled at such constraints
to
more
Sterne
the Oulipo
group, and
recently Mark Dan
the limits of analog texts.24 Cultural
ielewski, have wrestled with loosening
the tyranny of analog authors, arguing
studies scholars have disputed
like Roland
Barthes
Lawrence

692
NEW7 LITERARY
HISTORY
for the creativity of readers.25 And finally historians

of print, like Adrian
have
shown how the vaunted
Johns,
stability and fixity of the analog
book is often overstated. Johns admits, however,
that intellectuals
from
de Condorcet,
Immanuel
John Locke to Denis Diderot, Antoine-Nicolas
as
to
essential
human
Kant, and Johann Herder
imagined print
progress
because
itmaterialized
in a relatively permanent
form.26
writing
And yet there are significant differences
with digital cultural produc
tion. Digital cultural objects have a material
support that unifies them.27
Instead
of
paper,
and
vinyl,
texts,
celluloid,
and
sounds,
are
images
em
in computer machine
code and even further in a binary logic
or zero and one, or
of on/off,
that
pulse and lack of pulse. This means
a
more
the medium
in
role
than
in
culture
defin
plays
leading
analog
nature of the cultural object. All cultural
ing the material
objects now
be
and
in networked
disseminated
stored,
may
produced,
reproduced,
bedded
in
computers
same
the
information
machine.
re
the material
Compare
sources
and television
required for printing presses, movie production,
to those for the networked
transmissions
and it is apparent
computer,
that a vast dissemination
of cultural production
is well under way, with
to do what it took
in a position
fully one-sixth of the human population
armies of cultural creators and producers
to do in the modern
period
of
culture.
analog
Most
text,
instead
crucially,
image,
and
that
programs
sound.
almost
of fixity, digital
These
cultural
enable
always
the
gives us fluidity
technology
are
objects
user
to
on
opened
alter
them,
of
a PC
store
by
the
altered file, copy it, and distribute

it. Digital
texts, images, and sounds
differ from analog
in this respect. Perhaps hypertext
was the earliest
instance of this. New cultural practices
have developed
and continue
to be developed
that start with the changeability
of the computer
file
to create new cultural objects and then to distribute
them in new ways.
The
consumer
has
a user,
become
maker,
or
creator.
of
Examples
such
Second Life, and so forth. In each case,

practices are YouTube, MySpace,
the provider of content,
the old cultural
industry, is now the ordinary
individual coupled with a networked
In the case of YouTube,
computer.
some sixty-five thousand cultural
are
for sharing every
objects
uploaded
Cultural
an
has
shifted
from
elite system with
day.
production
clearly
and heavy editing or gatekeeping
to
functions
major capital resources
a
bottom-up,
mass
movement.
in quality to the analog

say that a very different
develop,
participate.
a nonexclusive
In
this
We
system?whatever
set of practices
that
system
sense,
cannot
the
new
argue
that
encourages
cultural
the
is
result
equal
we can
that might mean?but
has emerged
and continues
to
practices
anyone
are
who
wants
oriented
to
to
culture.
global media
Digital culture is not by any means a free for all, however. Older politics
remain and inhibit the new cultural forms: Germans
do not want Nazi

GLOBAL
MEDIA
AND
693
CULTURE
on the Web;
the Chinese
criticism;
government
propaganda
prohibits
Muslim
fundamentalists
satires of Muhammed,
and so forth.
deplore
Older economic
forms also enter the digital arena: if aWeb site becomes
a
and buy it up, as happened
with
popular, capitalists see moneymaker
YouTube.
Even
worse,
if
receive
pages
particular
numerous
"hits,"
the
new
to pay the creators, turning what was a completely

free
promise
a
into
But
of
form.
the
such
in
space
consequences
digital
commodity
are
as
new
not
as
one
of
the
into
the
old
clear
think.
tegration
might
owners
structure
of YouTube and the other sites mentioned

above
can upload content and anyone can
file sharing. Anyone
download
it. Each user is in that sense a peer. This digital technology
is
in the architecture
of the Internet and is difficult to eliminate.
embedded
use has been the sharing of content
Its most notorious
and celebrated
The
basic
is peer-to-peer
that falls under
laws. Billions
of texts, images, and
existing
copyright
of the statute. Neither
shared in direct transgression
nor the state has been able to prevent
the corporation
such "infringe
has
File
the
ment."
confounded
culture industry, especially
the
sharing
of America
(RIAA) and the Motion
Recording
Industry Association
sounds
have been
Picture Association
of America
(MPAA). The way itworks is this: index
sites
inform
is available, and client programs
sharers
of
what
search
ing
the hard disks of other users to obtain copies. The information
goes
from peer to peer. Only the abrogation
of the first amendment
of the
to stop this from happen
U.S. Constitution
would allow corporations
a
of
has
remained
outside
Thus
deal
culture
the
far,
ing.
good
digital
system.
architecture
commodity
Peer-to-peer
the
Internet.28
It facilitates
is
a
to
fundamental
structure
of
and
communication
inseparable
that
from
is as dif
as face-to-face
it relies upon a highly
speech, although
it promotes
infrastructure.
What
is
the
more,
technological
complex
so that much of
of the technology
user's invention of new applications
ficult
to monitor
what we find on the Internet is not the product of large industry but of
inventive individuals and groups, often with few resources beyond
their
and
their
The
of
skills
imaginations.
history
programming
technology,
of promising
in
is strewn with examples
technology,
especially media
and
turned
novations
that are soon domesticated
into
by corporations
to be seen if the
resistant, uses. It remains
popular, but by no means
same fate will befall the Internet. One of the reasons for hope
is the
nature
of
of
the
the
with
medium,
any
very global
resulting difficulty
like the United
its nature.
States, to determine
nation, even a behemoth
to realize
One does not have to be a futurist or a zealous technophile
the potentials
networked
for deepening
global
freedom
intimately
associated
computing.29

with
694
NEW7 LITERARY
The
U.S.
has
government
to
attempted
end
HISTORY
file
peer-to-peer
sharing
of the World Trade

law in trade agreements
copyright
Itwants to globalize American
law. Yet in China and much
are avail
of better quality than those sold in U.S. markets
U.S.
by including
Organization.
of Asia, DVDs
to get the
able for fifty cents. And when the U.S. government
attempted
to close down an indexing
site (the Pirate Bay) in
Swedish government
2006, they were met with resistance and failed. The only result of their
was
action
to
increase
the
of
popularity
the
same
the
site,
outcome
that
met
the recording
lawsuits
industry when it sued Napster and threatened
a
cultural
distribution
file
sharers.
Digital
obviously
requires
against
a
no
of
that
doubt
have
will
law, change
complete
copyright
revamping
dire
for
consequences
the
of
relation
to
culture
the
But
economy.
for
our purposes,
the following
is likely: digital production
conclusion
and
a worldwide
of texts, images, and sounds promotes
distribution
process
archi
of culture to a degree far in excess of analog. The technological
a
as
tecture of networked
Castells
Manuel
argues, promotes
computing,
an
to
extent
global media culture
impossible before.30 Cultural practice is
can only be imagined.
becoming
planetary, and the shape itmay take
Global
Anticipations
as
But
itself.
the
of global
culture
twentieth
century
Culture
are no doubt
wore
texts,
the
question
images,
of
and
sounds
around
culture
global
and
more
cultural
works,
began to be distributed
around
the planet. As
at the time embedded

in analog media,
and to mix art practices
from cultures
of
with culture
contemporary
more
on,
the
world
more
becomes
increases
and
more
globally
the flow
exponentially,
exigent.
Perhaps
about it remains the (usually) unwanted

the leading polemic
prospect
of homogenization:
is a world with one culture,
looming on the horizon
one type of voice, one vision of reality. But this position
ignores several
factors: that diversity of languages persists and new languages
(global
arise; that "foreign" cultures are integrated with local cultures
English)
in inventive hybrids; that new local cultures arise among subgroups,
in
not
that
the
thesis
creasing diversity
homogeneity;
homogeneity
ignores
of translation and transcoding;
of cultures
that the mixtures
problems
at the global level are infinitely varied.31
issue of translation
a translation
is not
The
Clearly
not
overlap
attempted
too well
itself is highly
complex.
transcoding
the
do
with
isomorphic
original. Languages
If that
have developed
already
either
one-to-one.
and
perfect
translation
the difficulties
were
the
algorithms
or
entailed
used
translation
case,
one
software
would
for the task. Anyone

of
these
in the work. Walter
programs
who has
knows
Benjamin's

all
argu
GLOBAL
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must
translation
AND
695
CULTURE
also be
taken
into account:
translated
fall?the
on what does the brunt of the

or the language into which the
language
is developed
ismade?32 This seemingly paradoxical
translation
question
a
films
of
Chinese
the
of
into
Chow
export
fascinating
analysis
by Rey
in the West.33 The
to the United
States and Asian literature translations
translator is illuminated about his or her own language by the translation,
cinema develops,
and this "original" is altered in the process. As Chinese
new
the position of
at
in
itself
looks
it
Chow argues,
ways, incorporating
the
film
and
the foreigner who will view
ethnography
thereby practicing
culture that is the subject of the
Chinese
upon itself.34 The original?the
anew in the process. The problem
in
of translation
film?is
produced
"a
the context of global culture then, she concludes,
thorough
implies
of both the notion of origin and the notion of alterity as we
dismantling
of global culture then must be
know them today."35 The development
in competition
for
seen not as the negotiation
between fixed cultures
an
new
but
the
will
become
(which language
lingua franca})
hegemony
can certainly
scene
new
outlines
of
whose
cultural
configurations
entirely
a
It
not be discerned
today. Global culture is new project for humanity.
like a tempo
will mix relations of forces with creativity before anything
rary
One
stasis
emerges.
prominent
not about
example
of
the
but about
translation
as a consequence
of
global
new
movement,
most
in the nature
transformations.
notably
from
to
I refer
of what is called "creative industries," and

moron. The concept of creative industries
studies
concerns
mix
cultural
a change
intended
emerged
the work
of
John
an
argument
of culture
the
itself
phenomenon
not at all as an oxy

out of the cultural
Hartley.
Cultural
School of the 1960s. It arose first

studies dates back to the Birmingham
in the writings of Richard
as a tendency
in literary criticism, especially
in a major
intellectual
and F. R. Leavis, but then developed
Hoggart
its greatest
movement
with the work of Stuart Hall. Having
impact on
Michel
de
the work of
cultural
British
studies, paralleling
sociology,
on
the creative aspect of practices of every
in France,
insisted
Certeau
carried out by ordinary people. The
life, including
consumption,
to
in
social theory, from Marx on,
modern
production
privilege given
an
in the routine
resistance
of
to
small
practices
gave way
appreciation
behavior of ordinary folk.
it to in
took this interest in cultural creativity and expanded
Hartley
as new interpretations
as
of
well
of postmodern
clude elements
theory
For
in
the
economic
everyday
Hartley,
digital economy.36
organization
the complex nature of the
not simply creative but reflected
practice was
inventive, and active. Such an
dispersed,
self?multiple,
postmodern
more adaptive not only to contem
was
of
individual
the
understanding
spread of those systems.37
systems but to the worldwide
porary economic
day

696
LITERARY
NEW
HISTORY
of everyday life lent itself

A new, arguably postmodern,
understanding
more
of the rational self to a
than
the
tradition
easily
Enlightenment
an
No
elite practice of European
deriva
longer
global vision of culture.
in all aspects of
of the individual
tion, culture, seen as the self-creation
to all parts of the world where
the knowl
life, could fairly be attributed
or in formation.
was
in
This
bloom
controversial
economy
edge
highly
of artistic creativity, on the one hand, with
asserted the merger
position
in both productive
and consumptive
the lowly realms of the economy,
on
to
In
his
tribute
Richard
the
other
hand.
aspects,
Hartley
Hoggart,
"artists
proclaimed,
the
became
for
template
a vital
to become
enterprise
was a formula
Here
in a
component
for upgrading
sense.
made
economy,
has
the
constant
Hartley,
of
the
arts,
as Dean,
is
"creative
and
humanities,
industries."
His
to work
went
the
and for
no
the
longer
knowledge
that is
"The rhetoric
analysis:
entrepreneur
to describe
throughout
modernity
to
been
habituated
long
working with
change."39
the
model
with
now,
that
exactly
used
have
merge
were
realms
innovative
competitiveness."38
of the economy
of art and economics
to the same categorical
to describe
been
Artists
two
the
fact,
subject
...
used
In
shifts from its posi

fury of commercial
country's
the sphere
the upgrade globally.

spreading
For Hartley,
the Western
separation
creative
and
entrepreneurs,
for the new economy. Culture

the model
enterprise
to the modernizing
tion as a sphere of opposition
which
the creative
risk,
at
artist.
intuition
his
university
on
business
departments,
travelled
the world
colleagues
and
to
the
to new
centers
to spread the word

like China,
of advanced
industrial societies,
success. At a panel on global media
of creativity as the key to economic
a colleague
at the Beijing Forum of 2006, for example,
of Hartley, Stuart
was
to
meet
off
and
with
industrial
leaders of several
mayors
Cunningham,
the adoption
cities to advocate
of creative industries poli
large Chinese
cies in these places. Interest in creative industries is becoming worldwide
as economic
in a global market.
elites compete
feverishly
as
seen
have
this
trend
than the selling out of art
Many
nothing more
to global capitalism.40 The dangers of creative industries
and humanities
are
clear
ity"
is
with
enough:
to
subject
arts subservient
so
buyouts,
on
resources
many
and
co-optations,
to global
the
side
others
of
means
industry,
of
making
"creativ
the
It is true that economic
capital.
organization
since the introduction
of com
changing drastically, especially
the
culture
of
technology:
hippy engineer
high technology
spilled
has been
puter
over
into
the mainstream
workers who
knowledge
the disciplinary
practices
top-down,
and not
bureaucratic
spatially
as firms
economy
tended
normal
more
and
toward
when
intransigence
for the industrial working
corporation
localizable
relied
economic
was
giving
way
unit.41 Critics
to a
loosely
quickly

more
on
faced with
class. The
organized
pointed
out
GLOBAL
MEDIA
AND
697
CULTURE
in this brave new world had lost numerous

includ
benefits,
of
work.42
ing especially
security
Other scholars are not so critical of creative industries. They point out
is fading away. Its notion of
that the elite culture of the past centuries
that workers
excellence
and
its elaborate
systems
screening
and
canon-maintenance
be nothing more
than a relic of the
line separating high and low culture
sea change
is a much more extensive
in the contemporary
and humanities
context are by no means clear and much
less assured in their legitimacy.
In blogs and social computing
sites, network culture enables positions
even the non-college-educated.
of speech for the nontenured,
Similar
as only the best known of
venues are
YouTube
in
the
with
arts,
ample
may now in good part

past. Postmodern
blurring of the
is only the discursive
side of what
in practices. The roles of the arts
institutions
sites that promote

The dams
media.
the display
are broken
its tutelage
media?all
in video and audio

of cultural productivity
on the control of cultural production
and
art schools, publishing
broadcast
houses,
by universities,
In
of Western
and facilitators
the gatekeepers
modernity.
this context,
the fate of the arts and humanities might well lie in a new
relation to the economic
system, or so at least is the defensive
argument
of many. As Toby Miller argues, "the humanities must change to survive
by showing their relevance to ordinary peoples' concerns."43 And creative
industries
make
just
such
an
argument.
in mind, we must ask if a new

of global culture
the question
cultural politics is possible, required, or emerging. Kevin Robbins argues
no longer accept the assimilationist
at least in Europe,
that migrants,
With
model
unity.44
of
identity
the
whereby
migrants
Contemporary
nation
remains
maintain
multiple,
cultural
homogeneous
partial
commitments
to their adopted
location but also to the land of their origins. They
are able to sustain this complex
in part through cheap
of attachments
transport
systems
and
also
through
new
media:
the
Internet
for
e-mail
shows from back

satellites for television
and Web sites, communication
its policy from
Union
home. The European
has, as a result, changed
a
on
to
main
of
culture
the
dominance
the
positive value for
insisting
hybridity
diversity in culture. Global culture thus surpasses postcolonial
of migrant
identities instead of insisting
the heterogeneity
in recognizing
on the relative unity even of hybrid selves. Global cultural politics,
in a
similar tendency to creative industries, loosens the grip of the nation as a
cultural center toward a more
individualizing,
figure of the self.
multiple
are evident in the United
States with Latino/Latina
their
Latin American
relations
with
place of
sustaining deep
migrants
in
similar
connections
back
Asian
engaging
migrants
origin and many
no
means
older
has
eliminated
culture
home.45 This emerging global
by
but has become an increasingly common part of the
forms of nationality
Similar
tendencies

698
NEW
current
of cultural
landscape
are
cultures
new
direction
cal
formations,
not
won
of
thousands
and
In Robbins's
as
location
the
local
are
cultures
of
were
new
more
becomes
histori
that
to imagine
impossible
globalism
global
trend
themselves
of
It is hardly
Yet
HISTORY
future
about
today.
possible
cultures
national
all,
cost
the
culture
between
connections
even
in the process.
actively destroyed
more
at
Predictions
politics.
or
appropriate
is clear.
After
LITERARY
and
"the old and assumed

isomorphism
between
culture, polity, and territory is no longer to be taken as given.
The fundamental
principle upon which national cultures and communi
ties have been predicated
has been called into question."46
dominant.
With
industries
the rise of creative

are
processes
global
words,
and the intensification

outcome
whose
emerging
rizon. None
and cultural
organizations
to
capitalist
tions
that,
Benedict
paraphrase
for Hartley
Instead,
regimes.
and
corporation
at bottom,
are
and Robbins,
to
nation-state
to
attempts
in
preserve
new
the
information
current
case,
discursive
of the
altera
phenomena,
modern
or antagonistic
environment.
or
experiments
imaginary flights
in an
institutions
What
is called for, then,

to outline
that attempt
in order
reorganization
culture is not grudgingly
for institutional
and practical
the most of a future in which global
but celebrated
and embraced.
The
recognized
I believe,
is the full acknowledgment
innovations,
and
each
there are adaptations
to make
humans
murky.
Anderson,
hostile
increasingly
are cognitive
new directions
of migration,
In
are put in doubt.

It appears
cultural politics are on the ho
rise to corresponding
political
and practices.47 One finds no global imagined
cultural configurations
of culture and a new
of this has elicited or given
however, modern
that a new politics
communities,
is
key to such discursive

of the assemblage
of
machines.
Global Media
Culture
For global culture can only be global media culture. From underwater
cables to communications
satellites and the Internet, human
telephone
across
are
the
with
able,
beings
planet
exponentially
increasing frequency,
to
to receive,
send,
One
But
may argue
the increasing
information
to
store,
to distribute
and
texts,
and
images,
sounds.
is always already mediated

(by language).
and dissemination
of
sophistication,
multiplication,
that culture
machines
change
the
experience
of
all
culture.
Every
cultural
now exists
in a (potentially)
object
global context.
are also changing
so rapidly that modern
These
institutions
have difficulty keeping
The
pace with their development.
culture
industries
tirely within
have
clearly
their commodity
been
unable
to
forms. The music
integrate
new
media
en
industry has globalized

GLOBAL
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AND
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to a handful
and acquisitions,
the number of
reducing
are
80
of
CD
controlled
sales
above,
percent
major players
by
four or five companies).48
But new media
enable
anyone
technologies
to start their own "culture industry," and this has become
an
emerging
trend in music production. While
the RIAA, after it belatedly awakened
to peer-to-peer
file sharing, has made great efforts to curtail what they
call "piracy," every new attempt (lawsuits against downloaders
and related
software companies)
ismet with increased awareness of file sharing and
ranks of "pirates." Efforts to extend American
law
expanded
copyright
to all nations have been, at best, only partially successful.
Since Presi
through mergers
(as noted
dent
Clinton,
every
U.S.
administration
has
other
pressured
to
nations
to outdated
conform
to innova
the benefits
law, disregarding
copyright
new
tion
media promote.49 The Clinton
administration
also attempted
on the Internet,
to control
the flow of information
that
recognizing
are out of synchronization
boundaries
with its basic architec
are less and less able to monitor
and control the global
ture.50 Nations
or overlap
flow of cultural objects.51 There
is less and less of a match
between
territorial demarcations
of the nation and exchanges
between
national
individuals and groups.

of a new cosmopolitan
Are we then at the point of emergence
cul
culture "cosmopolitan"?
scholars
like
ture?52 Is global media
Certainly
Robbins are discovering
far more extensive global cultural practices than
one might expect. Lisa Parks
on the Australian
use
reported
Aboriginal
to broadcast
of satellite technology
television across the large southern
was selected, and
continent. The culture transmitted by the Aboriginals
most
often
use
of Western
produced,
by
adaptation
group. The Aboriginal
critical
assumptions
cultural
Western
was
technology
of the media
them.
Parks's
not
another
argument
case
is
of
that
Aboriginals'
but
imperialism
an
that promoted
the interests of the non-Western
uses of satellite media,
she writes,
"challenge
that
satellite
television
and
imperialism
neocolonial
works
only
control."53
as
The
an
of
agent
Inuit,
like
to enhance
the Aboriginals,
their
successfully adapt satellite technology
and to preserve
culture with global knowledge
their own practices and
are widely evident
in the literature of global
beliefs.54 Similar findings
a
media
of new media
culture. There exists
myriad of local adaptations
that promote
combinations
of cultural parts in infinite varieties. Ien Ang
warns,
however,
that
the
spread
of
popular
identities might have more to do with

of images and
free dissemination
an
upper or middle
suggests
cosmopolitan
of global culture are
the recent articulations
ethnic
than with
restricted
broadly
limits, extending
across the planet
cultures
between
and
across
corporate control of culture

sounds.55 If the figure of the
class liberal persona,
then
well beyond those relatively
the imagined community of participants

and throughout
all social strata.

quite
700
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
The subject who, like me, writes and thinks about global media culture
does not resemble
the cosmopolitan
of the past. For the epistemological
students
of
is linked to different
of
contemporary
global media
position
information
machines
from
the
of
cosmopolitans
earlier
not
epochs:
the technology
of analog print, and perhaps photographic,
culture, but
to his
of
the
that
alters
the
relation
networked
writer
digital
computing
to the
like me are connected
native land, ethnicity, and gender. Writers
the fiber-optic
cables and communication
world
immediately,
through
satellites that cross and envelop
the earth. This de terri torialization
of
his or her position of speech and relation to cultures
media
(file sharing, Wikipedia,
Peer-to-peer
technologies
everywhere.
online
and the rest)
YouTube, massively multiple
MySpace,
gaming,
in
the
its
location
from
detach
the binds
space,
body
partially
loosening
to the local, and connect
the writer with global culture. This shift in
the critic changes
volves an "intimacy" with

Everyone now potentially
can be interpreted
alities and conflicts.
that cannot be ignored.

in
the
which
participates
cyborg experience,
as the basis for a new species with its own common
information
machines
"global culture" is quite distinct from the

even granting
their extent and
centuries,
planetary borrowings
new
current
of
One
of
the
aspect
configuration
importance.
global culture
is the heavy reliance it entails on highly complex media
As
technologies.
we begin to study and to learn about contemporary
we
global culture,
on information machines,
to its dependence
need to pay close attention
What
today might
be called
of earlier
to the
intricate,
and
heterogeneous,
varied
assemblages
that
are
invented
and practiced by users across the globe. This is perhaps one of the great
in the present. The current global
challenges for scholars and intellectuals
media
deriving
culture
from
is multicentered,
all
corners
of
its voices,
the
earth,
violating
practitioners,
assumptions
and
about
inventors
center
and periphery, North and South, First and Third Worlds, Western
and
and
colonizer
and
colonized.
This
non-Western,
subaltern,
per
imperial
backed, or promoted
haps fragile global culture is not endorsed,
by the
great powers that be. It requires a new political
theory and new political
that might promote
its expansion.
century global
practices
Twenty-first
or might not conflict with national
culture might
and ethnic cultures
a
of the past, but it is certainly different
from them. It might
constitute
counterforce
against the major powers that quite naturally seek nothing
more
than their persistence.
If the tendency of neoliberal,
transnational
to
to
has
been
and
continues
be
the
corporations
globalize
planet with
their habits and ways of doing things, then the task confronting
global
that might extend
culture is to promote
something different,
something
democracy
in unforeseen
and
unforeseeable
University
directions.
of
California,

Irvine
GLOBAL MEDIA AND CULTURE 701

NOTES
1
Karl Marx
Croft,
2
and Friedrich
13.
1955),
See, for example,
Cosmopolitics:
Thinking
The Communist Manifesto
Engels,
(New York: Appleton-Century
edited by Pheng Cheah

and Bruce Robbins,
volume
the important
Univ.
of Minnesota
and Feeling Beyond theNation
Press,
(Minneapolis:
1998).
3
David
his discussion
of cosmopolitan
for example,
Held,
political
theory by
begins
State to Cosmopolitan Gover
to Kant, Democracy and the Global Order: From theModern
turning
nance (Stanford,
CA: Stanford Univ. Press,
1995), 221.
4
of the Second Age of Moder
"The Cosmopolitan
Ulrich
Beck,
Sociology
Perspective:
no. 1 (2000): 79-105; Jacques Derrida,
Cosmopolites de
of Sociology 51,
nity," British fournal
tous lespays, encore un effort! (Paris: Galil?e,
1997); Mike Featherstone,
"Cosmopolis,"
Theory,
1-16.
?f Society 19, nos. 1-2 (2002):
from a Cosmopolitan
Point
Immanuel
Kant, "Idea for a Universal
History
IN: Bobbs-Merrill
On History,
Beck
ed. Lewis White
Publishers,
(Indianapolis,
Culture
5
6
For a recent
example
Slavoj Zizek, Contingency,

Verso,
2000).
The Cheah/Robbins
7
of theorizing
Hegemony,
the universal,
Universality:
see
Butler,
Judith
not a single
collection
contains
of media
and does so
the question
essay mentions
on
no
on
media
and does
has
essay
essays
"cosmopolitics"
at all: Daniele
and
of media
raise the question
Archibugi
in
16.
1963),
Laclau, and
on the
Left (London:
Ernesto
Contemporary Dialogues
Spivak
of View,"
the Gayatri
essay on media. Only
collection
of
briefly. Yet another
not mention
Mathias
media
theorists
or
eds.,
Koenig-Archibugi,
2003).
(London: Verso,
Debating Cosmopolitics
or Citadel:
as Cosmopolis
On
the
and Barry
8
Martin
Hand
Sandywell,
"E-Topia
a
of the
or De-democratizing
of the Internet,
or, Toward
Critique
Logics
Democratizing
no. 1-2 (2002):
New Technological
197-225.
Fetishism,"
Theory, Culture ?f Society 19,
9
See, for example,
(London: Methuen,
John Fiske and John Hartley, Reading Television
Culture
Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory
(New
1978) and Henry
Jenkins,
York: Routledge,
1992).
The Internet Galaxy: Reflections
10 Manuel
Castells,
Oxford
Univ. Press, 2001).
on the Internet, Business,
Society
(Oxford:
or Citadel,"
as Cosmopolis
202.
Sandywell,
"E-Topia
or Citadel,"
202.
and Sandywell,
"E-Topia as Cosmopolis
and Its
Media
and
Telecommunications
of
Global
13 Barney Warf,
"Oligopolization
for Democracy,"
10, no. 1 (2007): 89-105.
Ethics, Place ?f Environment
Implications
or Citadel,"
as Cosmopolis
198.
14 Hand
and Sandywell,
"E-Topia
or Citadel,"
as Cosmopolis
202.
and Sandywell,
15 Hand
"E-Topia
16 Lisa Parks, Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual
(Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press,
11 Hand
and
12 Hand
2.
2005),
17 Wendy
Control and Freedom: Power

Hui Kyong
Chun,
MA: MIT Press, 2006).
Optics (Cambridge,
18 Gary Hall, Digitize This Book!: The Politics ofNew Media,
Univ. of Minnesota
Press, 2008).
(Minneapolis:
19 Max Horkheimer
and Theodor
W. Adorno,
Dialectic
1972).
(New York: Continuum,
ming
"The Work
of Art in the Age
20 Walter
Benjamin,
trans. Harry
Zohn
Illuminations,
(New York: Schocken,
Benedict
Anderson,
Imagined Communities: Reflections
ism (New York: Verso,
1983).
The Letters of theRepublic: Publication
22 Michael Warner,
Univ. Press,
MA: Harvard
(Cambridge,
Century America
21
in the Age
and Paranoia
or
Why We Need
of Enlightenment,
of Fiber
Open Access Now

trans. John
Cum
in
Reproduction,"
1969), 217-51.
on the
Origin and Spread ofNational
of Mechanical
and
thePublic
Sphere in Eighteenth
1992).

702
23
Hill,
Marshall
McLuhan,
24
1964).
Katherine
25
Fiske
Understanding
Media:
NEW7 LITERARY
The Extensions
ofMan
HISTORY
(New York: McGraw

Hayles, Writing Machines
(Cambridge,
and Hartley, Reading Television.
"The Identity Engine: Print and Publication
26 Adrian Johns,
in the Age of the Knowledge
in The Mindful Hand:
toEarly In
Economy,"
Inquiry and Invention from the Late Renaissance
ed. Lissa Roberts,
Simon Schaffer,
and Peter Dear
dustrialisation,
(Amsterdam:
Koninkliijke
van
Nederlandse
Akademie
403-28.
2007),
Wetenschappen,
Lev Manovich,
The Language
ofNew Media
(Cambridge,
Alexander
Protocol:
Control
How
Exists
Decentralization
MA:
Galloway,
After
(Cambridge,
MIT Press, 2004).
29 David Morley,
"Where the Global Meets
the Local: Notes
from the Sitting Room,"
in
27
28
Planet
Univ.
30
TV: A Global Television Reader,
Press,
Manuel
2003),
Castells,
ed. Lisa Parks
and
Shanti
Kumar
(New York: New
York
286-302.
The Rise
of theNetwork
Society
(Cambridge,
MA:
Blackwell
Publishers,
1996).
31 George
"We Are Not the World,"

Social Text 31/32
Yudice,
(1992) : 202-16.
"The Task of the Translator,"
in Walter Benjamin:
Selected Writings, vol. 1, ed.
Benjamin,
et al. (New York: Schocken,
Marcus
Paul Bullock
1996): 217-51.
33 Rey Chow, Primitive Passions:
and Contemporary Chinese
Visuality, Sexuality, Ethnography,
32
Cinema
Univ.
(New York: Columbia

Press,
34
Univ.
Press,
1996)
and Writing Diaspora
(Bloomington:
Indiana
1993).
Primitive
180.
Chow,
Passions,
194 (Chow's emphasis).
Chow, Primitive Passions,
36 Richard
The Rise of the Creative Class (New York: Basic Books,
Florida,
2002).
37 John Hartley,
ed., Creative Industries
(New York: Blackwell
Publishers,
2005).
38 John Hartley,
"'There are Other Ways of Being
in the Truth': The Uses of Multimedia
International Journal
140.
Literacy,"
of Cultural Studies 10, no. 1 (2007):
35
39
40
Hartley,
Catherine
41
See Don
are Other
140.
Ways,'"
toWork,"
The Baffler
"Putting Creativity
The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril
Tapscott,
"There
17 (2006): 87-91.
in theAge of theNetworked
Rise of theNetwork Society.
1996) and Castells,
ligence (New York: McGraw-Hill,
42 Dan Schiller, Digital
the Global Market System
Capitalism: Networking
(Cambridge,
MIT Press,
1999).
Liu,
Intel
MA:
43 Toby Miller,
"Can Natural
or Travel Faster? The New
Luddites
Make Things
Explode
Cultural
and
Creative
in Media
Industries: History,
Humanities,
Studies,
Industries,"
Policy
ed. Jennifer
Holt and Alisa Perren
forth
(New York: Wiley-Blackwell,
Theory, and Methods,
.
coming)
44 Kevin
"Transnational
Cultural
and European
Robbins,
Policy
Cosmopolitanism,"
Cultural Politics 3, no. 2 (2007):
147-74.
45
See Aihwa Ong, Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural
(Durham, NC:
Logics of Transnationality
Duke
Univ. Press,
Consumers and Citizens: Globalization
1999) and N?stor Garc?a Canclini,
and Multicultural
Univ. of Minnesota
Press, 2001).
Conflicts
(Minneapolis:
46 Robbins,
"Transnational
Cultural
158.
Policy,"
47 John Tomlinson,
and Culture (Chicago: Univ. of
Globalization
Press, 1999).
Chicago
48 For an excellent
discussion
of media
see Edward
concentration
its inception,
from
Herman
and Robert
McChesney,
"The Rise
of Global
Media,"
in Planet
TV, ed. Parks
21-39.
Kumar,
49 Rosemary
and
The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties:

Coombe,
Authorship, Appropriation,
The Future of
(Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press,
1998) and Lawrence
Lessig,
Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World (New York:
2001).
Vintage,
and
the Law

GLOBAL MEDIA AND CULTURE 703

50
and
51
Laura Gurak, Persuasion and Privacy in Cyberspace: The Online Protests over Lotus Marketplace
the Clipper Chip (New Haven,
CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1997).
The Power of Identity (Maiden, MA: Blackwell,
Manuel
Castells,
1997).
the Borders:
Turner,
Globalization,
Culture,
"Shrinking
Politics 3, no. 1 (2007): 5-19.
53 Parks, Cultures in Orbit, 73.
and Cultural Articulations
54 Ramesh
Ethnic,
Srinivasan,
"Indigenous,
no. 4 (2006): 497-518.
International fournal
of Cultural Studies 9,
52
Graeme
and
Belonging,"
Cultural
55
Ien Ang,
Consumption
363-75.
"Culture
and Communication:
in the Transnational
Media
Toward
System,"
of New
Media,"
an
of Media
Ethnographic
Critique
in Planet TV, ed. Parks and Kumar,


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Global Media and Culture

Author(s): Mark Poster

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

for their satisfaction

rial borders? What are the major discursive

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

occur only with the mediation

tory from a Cosmopolitan

in 1784, the problem

years, major publications

of the issue. For the eighteenth-century

of view for him

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This "universality" included

One might well claim a cosmo

term for the phenomenon

I shall argue that contemporary

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

ism. Their Marxist

that all consumers

that the technology of networked

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

in every nook and cranny.

of the efforts of the capitalist class (as well

the array of media

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

itself, there is another side to the question

with their cultures of origin. They also enable geographic

are now digital,

to the future of culture,

are beside the point and

in culture from analog to digital and have mobilized

the corporation.18 The fate of global culture is currently at a

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

its way, American

of the oppressed.19 For others, such as Walter

role of the analog technology

creates what I call fixed cultural

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for the creativity of readers.25 And finally historians

altered file, copy it, and distribute

Second Life, and so forth. In each case,

in quality to the analog

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to pay the creators, turning what was a completely

of YouTube and the other sites mentioned

that falls under

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of the World Trade

at the time embedded

about it remains the (usually) unwanted

for the task. Anyone

in the work. Walter

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

on what does the brunt of the

of what is called "creative industries," and

not at all as an oxy

School of the 1960s. It arose first

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.79 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:20:15 AM

of everyday life lent itself

of art and economics

to the same categorical

shifts from its posi

the upgrade globally.