Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation

Advocates of cultural imperialism theory have continued to argue that indigenous cultures, especially of African societies, are daily eroded in the age of globalisation. Their argument is based on Schiller’s debatable notion that a society is brought into a modern world system when its dominating s...

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Main Author: Nnamdi Tobechukwu Ekeanyanwu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2022-10-01
Series:Communicare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1703
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author Nnamdi Tobechukwu Ekeanyanwu
author_facet Nnamdi Tobechukwu Ekeanyanwu
author_sort Nnamdi Tobechukwu Ekeanyanwu
collection DOAJ
description Advocates of cultural imperialism theory have continued to argue that indigenous cultures, especially of African societies, are daily eroded in the age of globalisation. Their argument is based on Schiller’s debatable notion that a society is brought into a modern world system when its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, cajoled and sometimes bribed into accepting its traditional system and values as inferior, outdated and mundane; and shaping such system and values to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system. This paper submits that this argument is no longer tenable in the age of globalisation. This is because the major arguments of the cultural imperialism theory now strike a discordant note with global-village and media-convergence tunes. Second, the theory - as suggested - builds on masssociety and magic-bullet perspectives that have long been discredited both in media practice and in scholarship because they do not acknowledge audiences’ ability to process information and interpret cultural messages differently based on their cultural environment. The paper therefore concludes that cultural imperialism theory needs a re-examination in line with the contemporary realities of today’s world as a global village made possible by the advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs).
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spelling doaj-art-350001202f8a4502b1adbdc2516684572025-01-20T08:52:57ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0128110.36615/jcsa.v28i1.1703Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisationNnamdi Tobechukwu Ekeanyanwu0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9784-504XCovenant University Advocates of cultural imperialism theory have continued to argue that indigenous cultures, especially of African societies, are daily eroded in the age of globalisation. Their argument is based on Schiller’s debatable notion that a society is brought into a modern world system when its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, cajoled and sometimes bribed into accepting its traditional system and values as inferior, outdated and mundane; and shaping such system and values to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system. This paper submits that this argument is no longer tenable in the age of globalisation. This is because the major arguments of the cultural imperialism theory now strike a discordant note with global-village and media-convergence tunes. Second, the theory - as suggested - builds on masssociety and magic-bullet perspectives that have long been discredited both in media practice and in scholarship because they do not acknowledge audiences’ ability to process information and interpret cultural messages differently based on their cultural environment. The paper therefore concludes that cultural imperialism theory needs a re-examination in line with the contemporary realities of today’s world as a global village made possible by the advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs). https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1703information and communication technologies (ICTs)globalisationIndigenous culturesAfrican societies
spellingShingle Nnamdi Tobechukwu Ekeanyanwu
Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation
Communicare
information and communication technologies (ICTs)
globalisation
Indigenous cultures
African societies
title Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation
title_full Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation
title_fullStr Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation
title_full_unstemmed Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation
title_short Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation
title_sort indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation
topic information and communication technologies (ICTs)
globalisation
Indigenous cultures
African societies
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1703
work_keys_str_mv AT nnamditobechukwuekeanyanwu indigenousculturesintheeraofglobalisation