Warwick 1B response to B1 Glocal mindmap

The mindmap response by B1 to our keyword, ‘Glocal’, brought our attention to the possible transactions that takes place in cultural interaction processes, with those listed being ‘space’, ‘identity’ and ‘communication’. However, we were unclear of the relationship between these terms of transaction with the ideas of ‘local’ and ‘global’ in ‘Glocal’.

To us, deciding on the term ‘Glocal’ was our response to the challenge of finding a ‘critical apparatus for understanding the complexities of cross-cultural interaction’ (Gilbert and Lo, 11). What ‘Glocal’ signified for us that we thought surpassed the other terms of ‘cross-fertilisation’, ‘Universopolis’ and ‘postcolonialism’ was a neutral platform that allowed embodied possibilities. It was also a term that was free from the historical, economic, political and cultural baggage. By creating a dialectic between the global and the local, a space which allows for the very real tensions that exist when we address plural identities emerges. This space is void of vertical status relations and is rather like an open horizontal plane where our competing cultural identities can be challenged and re-formed. An example of such a space would be:

‘Theatre, [which is] lucidly described by Yan Haiping as ‘a humanly animated site where living community and live performance are mutually engendered and the lifeworld at large is writ small with human materiality’, provides an exemplary site through which to examine the limits as well as the potential of cosmopolitan thinking. The materiality of theatre, manifest at multiple levels, offers practical ways of grounding the abstractions of theory, allowing us to relate ideals and concepts to tangible ways of living in the world.’ (Gilbert and Lo, 12)

Warwick 1B Annotation to: Introduction: Performing Cosmopolitics

In Gilbert and Lo’s Introduction: Performing Cosmopolitics the authors discuss the complexities found within the ever evolving discourse revolving around cosmopolitanism. The authors give reference to the multiple terms that attempt to rectify issues raised by thin cosmopolitanism, ‘which lacks due consideration of either the hierarchies of power subtending cross-cultural engagement or the economic and material conditions that enable it.’ Examples of new cosmopolitanism are:

Critical cosmopolitanism: (1986) cognizant of transnational experiences that are particular rather than universal, and coerced as well as voluntary. This idea has been met with the following extrapolations or proposals:

Discrepant cosmopolitanism: (1992) refers to actually existing practical stances as opposed to theoretical ideals.

Rooted cosmopolitanism: (1992) grounded in the sociocultural specificities of the nation state.

Postcolonial cosmopolitanism: (1992) which proclaims multiple cultural detachments and reattachments from within a critique of imperialism.

Working class cosmopolitanism: (1999)focusing on demotic and popular experiences of transnationalism.

“The general aim of these ideas are to remake cosmopolitanism into a more worldly and less elitist concept, an endeavor that includes recuperating ‘cosmopolitans from below’ defined along class and racial lines and encompassing refugees, migrant and itinerant workers – and accounting for the recent emergence of a new meritocratic ruling class of transnationals ‘cosmocrats’ or ‘technocrats’ . For some theorists, cosmopolitanism operates as a prescriptive vision of global democracy and world citizenship while, for others, it offers a theoretical space for articulating hybrid cultural identities.”(Gilbert & Lo, 5)

Agreeing with the writers that a new perspective is needed and the need for a space for hybrid cultural identity exploration, we have presented ‘glocal’ (Blog entry Warwick 1B: GLOCAL; Comment to B1 response to GLOCAL) as a term that is not prescriptive and yet creates the space needed to articulate complex cultural dynamics.

B1 response on keyword GLOCAL (a smaller mind map)

As Belgrade is the smallest cohort and each group was assigned to make two mind maps, we decided to put more effort into the one word which was the most inspirational.
These were "ephemerality" and "dissemination", while "glocal" and "shadow theatre" received less attention.