Globalization combined with mass immigration has helped unleash new forms of hybridity and cultural diffusion. Hollywood may spell cultural imperialism to the French, but its empire has stalled in India, whose indigenously produced films cater to a large diaspora as well as domestic audiences. Similarly, Al Jazeera, Japanese comics, Taiwanese pop music and Turkish soaps have carved their own spheres of influence in large parts of the world.
World religions, too, have been transformed in the age of mass mobility and communications. Islam has gone D.I.Y. in the hands of televangelists preaching to Muslims who live without the consolations of traditional authority in urban areas of Europe and America. Christianity, rapidly declining in Europe, has a new lease on life among enterprising Chinese and Latin Americans.
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Panka Mishra: What Will Asia’s Ascendance in the 21st Century Bring?
Globalization combined with mass immigration has helped unleash new forms of hybridity and cultural diffusion. Hollywood may spell cultural imperialism to the French, but its empire has stalled in India, whose indigenously produced films cater to a large diaspora as well as domestic audiences. Similarly, Al Jazeera, Japanese comics, Taiwanese pop music and Turkish soaps have carved their own spheres of influence in large parts of the world.
World religions, too, have been transformed in the age of mass mobility and communications. Islam has gone D.I.Y. in the hands of televangelists preaching to Muslims who live without the consolations of traditional authority in urban areas of Europe and America. Christianity, rapidly declining in Europe, has a new lease on life among enterprising Chinese and Latin Americans.
Read it all.