Communications and Media

The concepts of globalization, media and culture have become closely knit because of different perspectives on the interrelationship. The continuous discourse and debate over the links between these concepts is due to the complexity created by different ideas of cultural globalization and the role of the media. One perspective is globalization of culture through media and another perspective is media as an outcome of cultural globalization (Jan 69). Regardless of the perspective, media is a component of cultural globalization, whether as a tool and outcome or both (Rantanen 9). Indigeniety as a cultural force (Merlan 303) has also been presented from different perspectives. The dominant perspective considers indigeniety as a blurred context subject to strong global influences via media (Glynn and Tyson 210). However, the emergence of indigenous cultural expressions through media that were able to make a global mark by reaching the mainstream audience has challenged the dominant perspective. The article that explores these complexities in the context of the Maori media Mataku in New Zealand has its strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The encompassing strength of the article is its objective perspective towards global culture, media and indigenity. The article does not proceed from a particular perspective but considers the merit of different perspectives before presenting a new perspective explored through the case of the Mataku, a Maori media that was described as able to spark the interest not only of the Maori but also the mainstream market in New Zealand. By considering different perspectives and presenting an alternative view, the article was able to contribute to a new direction of discourse that could contribute to a deeper understanding of globalization, culture and media not only in the theoretical but also in the empirical setting.

One of the specific strengths of the article is the consideration of the weakness of the global-local bifurcation that also limited the perspective of globalization, culture and media into either good or bad. The discourse has divided perspectives into the global, expressed through the idea of the global village, dominated by strong cultural influences via the media of the European or American culture (Glynn and Tyson 209-210) as well as into the local identified through the retention of cultural beliefs and practices amidst external influences (204). In response to the limitation of the bifurcated perspective, the concept of glocalization emerged, which is defined as the advocacy or assertion of indigenous rights and interests through the venue of international politics (204). Glocalization understood in this sense covers the inclusion of indigenous interests in international human rights and in policies of international bodies such as the United Nations. By bringing indigenous interests into the global scene, indigenous culture is able to exert influence on the dominant culture or other cultures resulting to cultures in-between (207). The idea of cultures in-between, as a way of understanding globalization and culture, provides an alternative perspective that is able to connect the global with the local through influence and counter-influence relationships. This transcends the consideration of the impact of globalization on culture and the role of the media as either good or bad and directs focus on how these relationships emerge and develop.

While the alternative perspective deviated from the bifurcated ideas of globalization, culture and the media, the idea of cultures in-between creates space for inter-cultural negotiation. This recognizes influences between cultures. Nevertheless, this does not mention the difficulties of the negotiation when there are unequal influences. There are dominant cultures in the global context and although the influence depends on the allowance provided and the counter-influence exerted by indigenous culture, the control of media remains with the dominant culture (Wilson and Stewart 12). Media is a common tool for exerting cultural influences by different cultures. Nevertheless, access to media and the extent of influence derived from its use depend on control over media distribution (Hafez 155). There are only a few media distribution companies with global reach and these are American, European, Australian and Japanese. These are able to exert influence over different cultures through cultural texts presented in media. Indigenous media continuously struggles to achieve a breakthrough to give way to vibrant cultures in-between.

Another of the specific strengths of the article is the deviation from the homogenous-heterogeneous perspective of culture in favor of a hybrid culture. This follows a similar rationale as glocalization and cultures in-between. The dominant idea of cultural globalization is strong cultural influences as a unifying experience in establishing a global culture. As such, heterogeneity was replaced by homogeneity of the global culture. This failed to recognize the influence exerted by local or indigenous cultures via media in the international context. The article proposed the hybrid perspective of culture (Glynn and Tyson 211). This means that indigenous culture takes aspects or elements of other cultures seen or experienced through media and transform or integrate these into indigenous media. In the same way, dominant cultures draw aspects of the indigenous culture and use this in media such as themes of movies, televisions shows, online games and other media. This alternative perspective is able to capture more accurately the dynamism of indigenous culture instead of just a passive receiver of the dominant global cultural influences.

Hybridization explains the link between dominant cultures and indigenous culture and the manner that indigenous media can exert counter-influence. However, the article does not explain in-depth the complexity of cultural hybridization and how hybridized indigenous media can change indigenous culture, which some members could perceive negatively or positively. Hybridization and the two-way influence of cultures have been idealized in the article. In the example of the Mataku, a hybrid indigenous media that adopted the x-files format to recreate stories of magic and mysticism, which were originally told orally across generations, in a television series, this expressed global influence. The success of the show in receiving funding, placement in a prime time slot, and capturing the mainstream audience in New Zealand reflect the influence of indigenous culture. However, there was no concrete evidence on how well this indigenous media has changed mainstream culture. It has captured the Maori audience but there was no indication of the extent of reach in the mainstream market. There was also no mention of the impact on the Maori culture or the dominant culture (Nair 4). The impact on the Maori culture could be diverse from the divisiveness of the community between traditional and modern to the emergence of issues on cultural identity (Guenther 18). The impact on the global culture could range from building awareness of Maori beliefs and practices to inciting fear that reinforces or creates stereotypes of the Maori culture (Shah 1806). Hybridization through indigenous media used as an ideal alternative perspective may not be able to capture the complexities of the interplay between globalization, culture and indigeniety in the real world.

The article provided alternatives to the dominant bifurcated perspectives of globalization, culture and indigeniety. It discussed glocalization and cultures in-between as an alternative to the global-local cultural perspective. It also propounded hybridization of media and culture as alternative to the homogenous-heterogeneous perspective. While these supported a new direction of discourse on these subjects by using the Mataku as an example, the application of these principles as solutions had limitations in describing the complexities of inter-cultural negotiation and in idealized use of hybridization.