Global Culture/Individual Identity

Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket

Gordon Mathews author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

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Global Culture/Individual Identity cover

Most people still think of themselves as belonging to a particular culture. Yet today, many of us who live in affluent societies choose aspects of our lives from a global cultural supermarket, whether in terms of food, the arts or spiritual beliefs. So if roots are becoming simply one more consumer choice, can we still claim to possess a fundamental cultural identity?
Global Culture/Individual Identity focuses on three groups for whom the tension between a particular national culture and the global cultural supermarket is especially acute: Japanese artists, American religious seekers and Hong Kong intellectuals after the handover to China. These ethnographic case studies form the basis for a theory of culture which we can all see reflected in our own lives.
Gordon Mathews opens up the complex and debated topics of globalization, culture and identity in a clear and lively style.

'Clearly written, avoids jargon, and uses theory in a direct and unpretentious way' -Richard Wilk, JARI

'The theoretical breadth of this work is paralelled by its ethnographic breadth ... the three short cultural portraits are competently done ... and some might want to use this book in an undergraduate course in order to provoke discussion about gloablization, relativism or the culture concept.' - Anthropological Forum


'Clearly written, avoids jargon, and uses theory in a direct and unpretentious way' -Richard Wilk, JARI

ISBN: 9780415206150

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 600g

244 pages