Conceptions of Global Culture

Bamyeh's "Postnationalism" contends that globalization reduces the scope in which nation-state culture can be expressed yet expands the scope of solidarity, thus altering the original construction of nationalism. Bamyeh identifies four central human values that explain this newfound solidarity: interests induce material solidarity; universality increases humanist solidarity; freedom augments life-emancipating solidarity; and deep meaning increases spiritual solidarity. Though these four values allegedly exist within nationalism, globalization dismantled and reassembled these values. Postnationalism embraces fragmented values, does not readily exist within the scope of state ideology and embraces an acquired indentity.Bamyeh examines the origins and politically induced impediments of postnationalism; the author also examines the essential differences between nationalism and postnationalism.

Halle's "Apprehending Transnationalism" focuses on transnationalism in cinema. Halle defines and distinguishes globalization from transnationalism. Globalization is an economic process that
alters the fluidity of economic/monetary funding of commodity relations. Transnationalism is an associative and "ideational" network that constructs public spheres and new formulations of community. In concept of transnationalism does not alter national cinema. Halle defines national cinema and shifts to examining the operation of other forms of national communities. Halle notes that national media should not be brushed with assumptions of "minority or hegemony status, " particularly when one might thoughtlessly want to immediately compare other national media with United States media as the gold standard.

Patomaki and Teivainen's "Critical Responses to Neoliberal Globalization in the Mercosur Region: Roads Towards Cosmopolitan Democracy" attempts to connect actual world historical processes to cosmopolitan democracy models by citing the neoliberal globalized political discourse incited in Mercosur region of Latin American which provided the groundwork for cosmopolitan democracy. Patomaki and Tevaninen redefine the concept of cosmopolitan democracy in political economy terms. The authors also provide definitions for the rudimentary concepts they discuss in the article- "globalization", "democracy", and "civic public spaces". The authors also create nuanced categorizations of transnational and supranational reactions to globalization. The authors discuss the problems induced by financial globalization and the repressive dominating nature of the globalizing economy and the imaginative and radical reform the participants of the Mercosur region.

Out of all of the articles, I found it interesting that Halle warns of the "cultural imperialism." Halle seems to suggests that it is patronizing to think certain national cultures are vulnerable to Americanization. The author further wonders that this fear of cultural imperialism is not the desire to protect authenticity but perhaps the unspoken desire to thwart progress.

Also, I wonder about Bamyeh's dissatisfaction with Benedict Anderson's assertion. Anderson does not believe in any possible alternatives to nationalism. Just because nationalism is a successful ideology does not mean it is a stagnant. However, Bamyeh believes that nationalism will never disappear but I wonder if perhaps, though successful and strong, nationalism might one day disappear?
-Lolia