Counterworks: Managing the Diversity of Knowledge (Asa Decennial Conference Series : the Uses of Knowledge : Global and Local Relations)

Globalization is often described as the spread of western culture to other parts of the world. How accurate is the depiction of 'cultural flow'? In Counterworks, ten anthropologists examine the ways in which global processes have affected particular localities where they have carried out research. They challenge the validity of anthropological concepts of culture in the light of the pervasive connections which exist between local and global factors everywhere. Rather than assuming that the world is culturally diverse, this book proposes that culture is itself a representation of the similarities and difference recognized between forms of social life. The authors address issues of globalization in terms of diverse histories and traditions of knowledge, which may include the construction of difference as cultural. In its attention to specific local situations, such as Bali, Cuba, Bolivia, Greece, Kenya, and the Maoris in New Zealand, Counterworks argues that the apparent oppositoin between strong westernizing, global forces and weak concept of culture, which supposes cultures to be integrated and possessed of essential properties, needs rethinking in a contemporary world where a marked sense of culture has become a wide-spread property of people's social knowledge. The book will have wide appeal to anthropologists, to students of comparative studies in history, religion and language, and to anyone interested in the phenomenon of postmodernism

Globalization is often described as the spread of western culture to other parts of the world. How accurate is the depiction of cultural flow? In Counterworks, ten anthropologists examine the ways in which global processes have affected particular localities where they have carried out research. They challenge the validity of anthropological concepts of culture in the light of the pervasive connections which exist between local and global factors everywhere.

Rather than assuming that the world is culturally diverse, this book proposes that culture is itself a representation of the similarities and differences recognized between forms of social life. The authors address issues of globalization in terms of diverse histories and traditions of knowledge, which may include the construction of difference as cultural.

In its attention to specific local situations, such as Bali, Cuba, Bolivia, Greece, Kenya and the Maoris in New Zealand, Counterworks argues that the apparent opposition between strong westernizing, global forces and weak concept of culture, which supposes cultures to be integrated and possessed of essential properties, need rethinking in a contemporary world where a marked sense of culture has become a wide-spread property of people's social knowledge.

This book will have wide appeal to anthropologists, to students of comparative studies in history, religion and language, and to anyone interested in the phenomenon of postmodernism.

"Globalization is often described as the spread of western culture to other parts of the world. How accurate is the conventional depiction of 'cultural flow'? In Counterworks, ten leading anthropologists examine the ways in which global processes have affected particular localities where they have carried out research. They challenge the validity of anthropological concepts of culture in the light of the pervasive connections which exist between local and global factors everywhere." "These essays contend that culture is itself a representation of the similarities and differences recognized between forms of social life. Focusing on specific local situations, including Bali, Cuba, Bolivia, Greece, Kenya and New Zealand, the contributors argue that the apparent opposition between strong westernizing, global forces and weak local resistances is ideologically loaded. Through detailed case studies, the contributors demonstrate that the anthropological concept of culture needs rethinking in a world where a marked sense of culture has become a widespread property of people's social knowledge." "Counterworks is an important contribution to current debates on cultural globalization in the social sciences, and will therefore be of great interest to students of sociology, cultural studies and social geography as well as to anthropologists."--Jacket This work examines the ways in which "globalization" has affected specific localities, challenging the validity of anthropological concepts of culture in the light of the persuasive connections which exist between local and global factors everywhere The papers collected here address the status of 'global' and 'local' as organizing terms of social knowledge with imagination and subtlety, but I shall begin literally and simple-mindedly with an invitation that seems to involve... Counterworks argues that the apparent oppostion between strong westernizing forces and a weak concept of culture needs rethinking in a world where a sense of culture has become a wide spread property of people's social knowledge. The sides in question are the global and the local polarity and, on one reading, the invitation is to act as 'western' sociology's significant other in a debate over the globalization of (largely western) culture.