Mar
26
Hybridity: The Most Timely Theory Thus Far
Posted by: Brian | March 26, 2009 | Comments Off on Hybridity: The Most Timely Theory Thus Far
“Canadian consumers buy cars from Germany, Germans take holidays in Italy, Italians buy spices from Africa, Africans import oil from Kuwait, Kuwaitis buy Japanese cameras, and the Japanese buy Canadian lumber.”
This quote from my macroeconomics textbook on The Gains from International Trade, best highlights the notion brought up in Canclini’s text of how “life consists of constantly crossing borders.” The fact that Canadians consume cars from Germany, Germans take holidays in Italy… demonstrates the interconnectedness of our world today and the notion brought up in class, that “borders are now everywhere”. Reading this quote over again really illustrates how the boundaries of nations are slowly disappearing or rather are being redefined. We went into in class on how the the purpose of borders are no longer simply there to divide nations, rather to connect through its facilitation of trade. Inevitably this interaction of goods and services between countries results in a point where cultures mix with one another.
The reason why I decided to include this quote is because of how its relevance to term hybridity as I have interpreted from Canclini’s text. Hybridity as I understand, is not just a repetition of all the other terms we’ve studied so far, rather it tries to capture the current reality of our world. It is complexities reflect the reality of the complexities that are occurring all around us. Hybridity takes into account the expansion of global neo-liberal economic policies. These policies are reshaping the economic, political and social landscape of every country within this world. With increasingly spread of globalization, knowledge technological improvements, immigration, internet and trade, cultural mixing becomes more complex. Canclini introduces a term about mixing that truly takes into account all the changes and complexities that our world is going through today.
I think when countries export and import goods, it is impossible for them to separate aspects of their culture from the good it exports. Every good that a country produces is influenced by its culture and vice versa. Even the very trade agreement made by nations is done through some from of communication where cultural mixing happens. The very usage of products made in other countries brings with it its culture.
This is concept is so complicated I cannot even properly express myself. But it is definetly the most interesting one that we’ve discussed thus far.
