Paper short abstract:

This paper is to demonstrate that in order to observe and examine contemporary socio-cultural phenomena in this globalized world more dynamically and effectively, we need to focus on the simultaneity of and mutual interaction between globalization and localization, known as “glocalization.”

Paper long abstract:

This paper is to demonstrate that in order to observe and examine contemporary socio-cultural phenomena in this globalized world more dynamically and effectively, we need to focus on the simultaneity of and mutual interaction between globalization and localization, known as "glocalization."

From the very beginning of the popularization of "globalization" around the early 1990s, it was well-recognized that globalization would always develop in tandem with and through interaction with localization. Hence, the telescoping Japanglish word/concept of "glocalization" was introduced into sociology and anthropology to emphasize the tension and mutual interaction between global and local factors.

However, when we argue about globalization, we focus on the one-way interaction from global to local factors. Some consider globalization as a homogenization process, and criticize it for causing the demise or disappearance of local factors. Others consider globalization as a diversification process and appreciate it for creolizing and reconstructing local factors, but both sides have rarely talked about "reverse globalization" or the globalization process from the periphery to the center.

In order to shed light on the hitherto not fully examined socio-cultural dynamics within myriad contact zones between the global and the local, the center and the periphery, and the outside and the inside, I would like to demonstrate that "glocal studies" based on the concept of glocalization are needed. Using the framework of glocal studies, we can also focus on movements that symmetrize socio-cultural power imbalances between the center (mostly Euro-American global cities) and the periphery (typically non-Euro-American local towns and villages).

Paper short abstract:

This paper is to examine the cultural interactions between Japan and Hong Kong in terms of the cross-cultural migration of goods through the study of the venture of a Japanese supermarket chain, Yaohan, into Hong Kong and mainland China in the 1980s and 1990s as a historical event.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is to examine the cultural interactions between Japan and Hong Kong in terms of the cross-cultural migration of goods through the study of the venture of a Japanese supermarket chain, Yaohan into Hong Kong and Mainland China in the 1980s and 1990s as a historical event. Many previous studies tended to understand the social effect of such migrations either as homogenization or creolization. The homogenization paradigm, however, is running into some serious difficulties raised by many other studies of the proliferation of Japanese popular culture, one of which was the lack of explicit homogenizing force. The creolisation paradigm is also not without problems. One major problem is its ignorance of foreign cultural goods' own force, shape, and causes, which can make a difference to the social effect of their cross-cultural migrations. For the social effect of cross-cultural migrations of cultural goods is the result of the mediation between foreign cultural goods and the local socio-cultural order. The actual social consequences of cross-migration of goods are far more complex, rich and contingent than the two general paradigms are meant to represent. In order to capture the complexities, richness, and contingencies involved in the reciprocal mediations between foreign cultural goods and local socio-cultural order, I would like to propose that cross-cultural migrations of cultural goods be understood as what Sahlins called historical events because doing so can enable us to study cross-cultural migrations of goods as social processes and understand the historical consequences of such migrations as contingent.

Paper short abstract:

This paper is an anthropological attempt to trace how Japanese pop music migrated to Hong Kong in the 1980s and how it was ultimately turned to the provisioning of local notions of music production.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is an anthropological attempt to trace how Japanese pop music migrated to Hong Kong in the 1980s. Since the late 1970s, J-pop has been massively imported into Hong Kong. But 'Japaneseness' was not invoked when these Japanese music pieces were marketed in Hong Kong. They were instead replaced with Cantonese lyrics and published as cover versions. Notwithstanding their Japanese origins, these Cantonese covers were unambiguously recognized and appreciated by local audiences as Hong Kong pop. Similarly, the use of foreign, especially Japanese, melodies to record cover versions is as old as the Hong Kong pop recording industry itself and thus an accepted practice within the industry. I shall argue that the cultural openness displayed by Hong Kong pop has its historical root in the Cantonese opera music tradition where incorporation of foreign melodies has been a normal mode of music production. Thus, while Japanese music is increasingly omnipresent in the local music scene, ultimately it must be locally integrated and made sense in terms of the local musical scheme. Whatever the compulsion of the Japanese musical forces, the local musicians and audiences are not simply overwhelmed by them, since they also bring their own understandings to bear upon the encounter. Such cultural incorporation resonates powerfully with Sahlins' (2000:171) idea of 'develop-man' where global capitalism is often harnessed to develop local traditions. This study provides a unique opportunity to explore how global processes can often be turned to the provisioning of indigenous notions of good life.

Paper short abstract:

The paper presents Hayao Miyazaki’s anime as a glocal phenomenon. By applying analytical methods of folktale study, the author reveals the two layers of Japan-bound and boundary-free characteristics composing Miyazaki’s art, to answer questions on its domestic and world impact,distribution and role.

Paper long abstract:

Fairy tales (and folklore in general) have always been examined in their local frame and background in the same extend in which they have been thought as a universal phenomenon. Be it on socio-historical level with the theory of Lutz Roehrich, or within the depth-psychology stream initiated by Sigmund Freud, on structural level applying Vladimir Propp's morphological parsing or through Max Luethi's literary analysis, in the methods of geographic-historical school of Krohn and Aarne, or the theories of origin and distribution developed by von Sydow, Benfey, and Bastian, folktales have always been as much local as a global phenomenon.

Shiro Yoshioka calls Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away "a folktale for the 21 century which teaches that contemporary culture is an extension of, or even a part of, a much larger context of Japanese tradition" (2008: 258). In the proposed paper we would argue that Miyazaki's anime is a glocal phenomenon and we shall come to the conclusion by applying methods of analysis originating in folktale study. In this sense, the work examines some of Miyazaki's anime features to see their Japan-bound and boundary-free characteristics. In this way the author hopes to clarify also the impact Miyazaki's works have over both domestic and foreign audiences. In this new anime-lore the author traces the emerging medium for transmission of ideas and visions, which are born in the interaction of local and global cultures.

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes how the outer islanders of Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia, living in urban areas raise money to purchase land and pay for medication and funerals. Rather than being an aspect of globalization, the monetization of land and life reinforces ethnic identities of the outer islanders.

Paper long abstract:

This paper reports that the monetization of land and funerals reinforces the ethnic identity of the outer islanders of Yap state, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

U.S. policy toward the Trust Territory of Pacific Islands and the Compact of Free Association between the U.S. and FSM poured money into Micronesian societies, characterized as societies with gift economy. The monetization occurred mainly in the government sector located in district centers and state capitals, areas which attracted the outer island population.

Living in urban areas necessitates money for housing, food, and health, which government employees are unable to afford on their salaries. When the government could not provide public housing to migrants from the outer island in the 2000s, employees from this area raised money to secure the land for outer islander communities on the Yap main islands. The traditional trade partners from Yap proper also offered their land to communities from the outer island.

Recently, money became essential for medical treatments and funerals for the outer island patients. When the government morgue service was privatized and their fees became unaffordable, the outer island employees established funds to subsidize the costs of morgue and funeral services. Trading partners from the Yap proper also provided burial places to their outer island partners.

The monetization of land and life has reinforced the ethnic identities of the outer islanders as they struggle for the money indispensable for their urban life; further, the fund-raising practices have been expanded though the migrant network beyond the national boundaries.

Paper short abstract:

The concept of glocalization is utilized to explore how both Japan and Palau have, in reaction to the medicalization of childbirth that has attended modernization, turned to traditional values and practices to create newly re-indigenized maternity care systems suitable for their particular needs.

Paper long abstract:

In the modern era, traditional systems of childbirth have become increasingly medicalized as childbirth moves from the home to an institution, from deliveries involving midwives to those overseen by obstetricians, and as the state becomes involved in matters of birth. This globalization of childbirth does not proceed in uniform manner in every culture, however, as the form of the state's intervention, the interactions of obstetricians and related medical personnel, and the reactions of mothers, their families, and the larger society, are all highly varied. The result can be taken as the glocalization of childbirth, which provides not only hints for reassessments in societies where the medicalization of childbirth has progressed too far, but also prospects for developments in societies where it has yet to occur.

This study utilizes the concept of glocalization to explore dimensions of childbirth in a comparison of Japan with the Republic of Palau, in Micronesia. In both societies, the influences of modernization and Western culture have resulted in the medicalization of childbirth and movements to reject the traditional roles of professional midwifes. Yet today we witness attempts in both Palau and Japan to recreate former maternity care systems of afterbirth. In Palau, the matrilineal chiefs have revalued the traditional system of the maternity care. In Japan, NPO and voluntary groups are working to help women and their babies after birth. Both societies have sufficient resources of traditional practice available for the creation of newly re-indigenized maternity care systems suitable for their particular needs.

Paper short abstract:

In Solomon Islands, the transfer of administrative power to local government has been a political agenda. How do Solomon Islanders define their relation to nation states and local governance? This paper argues that Solomon Islands exists as a modern state from the perspective of the local people.

Paper long abstract:

In the Solomon Islands, domestic conflicts described as "ethnic tension" have occurred since 1998. Stemming from regional gaps in development benefits, this tension was caused by complaints against the current administration system, which does not provide benefits from natural exploitation (e.g., forestry) to the local people. In addition, people from the provinces are enraged with the central government for not completing economic development in local areas since independence. These situations, which have become issues since the outbreak of ethnic tension, have caused sentiments of alienation among the people and movements to change to a federal system or secede.

Solomon Islanders know through the experience of ethnic tension that the national government cannot respond properly to their expectations. The concept of "provincial society" in the contexts of ethnic tension and decentralization is based on the people's desire for development and their feelings of alienation. That is, provincial society can be called a "public sphere of development." The decentralization movement seeks to strengthen provincial authority based on provincial identity and conquer feelings of social alienation. In this context, provincial society for Solomon Islanders is the most important societal space for benefitting from development. Provincial society, however, is constantly exposed to judgment on whether it can meet the people's development expectations. This means people can always shift their identity from one societal space to another according to the conditions of development. Solomon Islanders maintain the nation state and deal with development by manipulating the "public sphere of development," as in the decentralization movement.

Paper short abstract:

In order to compromise the indigenous chiefly system and democracy, Western Samoa introduced the chiefly suffrage for its independence. The glocalized election system, however, brought a significant change. This paper is to discuss the Samoan endeavor to glocalize democracy in their society.

Paper long abstract:

The Samoa Islands, in the indigenous political form, had been integrated into several chiefdoms in rivalry before contact with West. After colonial situation, in seeking its independence and the worldwide recognition right after World War II, Western Samoa had to accept democracy, the global standard as a modern state. In its nation building process, Western Samoa adopted a unique suffrage in which only chiefly title holders can vote. The chiefly suffrage was the transitional system adopted by the New Zealand colonial government to prepare Western Samoa for its independence. The Samoan political leaders in those days insisted that since the chiefs were elected within respective kin groups, the chiefly suffrage was based on their indigenous democratic way. Western Samoa proudly achieved the first independence in the South Pacific in 1962. The glocalized election system, the chiefly suffrage, however, ironically brought significant change to the Samoan chiefly system. Because, in order to gain more ballots, Samoan chiefs started to give as many chiefly titles to kin as possible for the election. They gave titles to many youth, women and children who were not suitable for the position in the Samoan indigenous idea. After a long turmoil and many debates, Western Samoa introduced universal suffrage in 1990 and the first new election was executed in 1991. Nevertheless, the story did not end. Independent State of Samoa (present Western Samoa) still needs incessant endeavor to glocalize election system in order to keep up their own local political system in the age of globalization.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the glocalization of skateboarding as subculture through the narration of four young Japanese “skaters” sojourning in Santa Barbara, California.

Paper long abstract:

Skateboarding as participant oriented lifestyle sport and "subculture" has reached worldwide popularity and has attracted many young people seeking alternative identifications or trying to create new values. While many elements ascribed to "skate culture" including the more consumerist aspects and the alleged image of "slackers" and "anti-mainstream flair" predominate worldwide, the recognition and connection as skaters appears to be locally bound. This paper explores the glocalization of skateboarding in Japan by narrating first hand experiences of four young Japanese self-declared "skaters" who's lifestyle triggered them to embark on a sojourn in California, the birthplace of skateboarding. The four individuals introduced have very different backgrounds, previous life experiences and dreams, yet their identification as skaters binds them together in different ways. This paper shows how the identification with subcultures such as skateboarding on the one hand creates a more fluid and borderless perception of the world while at the same time stressing the sense of belonging to a localized community by giving insights on how young Japanese full blood skaters abroad struggle with identifying with the lifestyle they considered key in their perception of self while at home.

Paper short abstract:

The glocalization of ‘Eastern spiritualities’ in Cuba is discussed. These global flows modify the local religious field, but also receive new forms and functions from Cuban adherents. Symmetrical interactions are evident in hybridizations with local religions and new glocal meanings.

Paper long abstract:

Asian religions and related spiritual elements spread increasingly beyond their traditional enclaves. Their impact in Europe and North America is such that some see it as an "Easternization of the West", while others announce a predominance of this trend in the overall globalization process. Whereas this view questions notions of the hegemony of Westernization/Americanization, it still stresses the idea of globalization as homogenization, thereby neglecting the symmetrical interactions involved in glocalization. The latter is especially necessary to understand social contexts like Latin America (and elsewhere) where cultural mixing is largely normative and where Asian religions have also been introduced recently. This presentation focuses on some instances of 'Eastern spiritualities' in Cuba, which develop in the Caribbean island since the 1990s. Previous field research on Reiki is reconsidered from the glocalization perspective, and insights from the author's own fieldwork on Soka Gakkai in Havana in 2011 are discussed. While acknowledging that these global flows bring unprecedented changes into the local religious field, it also shows that far from occurring in a unidirectional relation, these (globalized) Asian religious elements take new forms and functions among Cuban adherents. Symmetrical interactions are evident in hybridizations with the local religious culture and with new meanings attached to these spiritualities that allow for interpretations of social reality and the creation of new glocal identities.

Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses the historicity of intellectual and political influences on the shifting conceptual approaches of diaspora studies of Thailand over the past fifteen years.

Paper long abstract:

The paper reviews and analyzes theoretical approaches of diaspora studies adopted by anthropologists affiliated with major academic institutions in Thailand over the past fifteen years. The paper discusses the historicity of intellectual and political influences on the shifting conceptual approaches of diaspora studies of Thailand. Recent studies of diaspora (and transnational anthropology) in Thailand have been influenced by the postmodern theory and conditions. Many have become global anthropologists through their higher educational training overseas. They have refined and developed western models with the use of anthropological field research data emphasizing on local knowledge and concepts. Diasporas are cultural phenomena. Contemporary culture of peoples who are mobile has become increasingly glocalized, reflecting the nature of local and global cultural assemblage. Within the context of global shifts in the movement of peoples, a classical paradigm of cultural and ethnic identities bounded by a village community and a nation-state has come into question. Emerging diasporic movements and communities have the potentials for investigating and conceptualizing a range of new cultural and ethnic identities. Recent key theoretical strands contributed by some anthropologists in Thailand relating to newer studies of diaspora and ethnic identities tend to emphasize the dynamic and complex acts of cultural construction involved in the social processes and consequently the necessary multiple, fluid and often over-determined the nature of disaporic conditions.

Paper short abstract:

The report presents the results of the anthropological research of the interactive process of globalization and localization in consumer culture of Tatars and Russians at polyethnic region (with the financial support of RFH, project № 12-01-00018).

Paper long abstract:

Impact of global consumption by traditional national consumer practices considered by the example of the behavior of consumers in the markets of food, clothing and festive entertainment.

Analysis of the local context of globalization of consumer culture has led to the following results:

1. Erosion of cultural space; 2. The emergence of new forms of global consumer practices; 3. Growing interest of ethnicities in their ethnic culture, the revival of traditional cultural forms and practices.

These results are recognized in the linguistic landscape of the city. The degrees of manifestation of glocalization processes in consumer practices Tatars and Russians are different. Formalization of the results of these processes is not similar too. The degree and forms of consumer practices in glocalization processes of Tatars and Russians are on the axis between opposite poles. First - preservation of their consumer culture and second - openness to new global cultural forms in the sphere of consumption. Russia's WTO membership has increased as the processes of globalization and localization. Research shows how manufacturers and retailers rely on traditional cultures of Tatars and Russians, inscribe it in a global context for strengthening of its own competitive position.

The report is prepared with financial support of Russian Foundation for Humanities, project № 12-01-00018 "Ethno-cultural models of consumer practices: the case of the Republic of Tatarstan".