Counterworks

Globalization is often described as the spread of western culture to other parts of the world. How accurate is the conventional depiction of 'cultural flow'? In Counterworks, ten leading anthropologists examine the ways in which global processes have affected particular localities where they have carried out research. They challenge the validity of anthropological concepts of culture in the light of the pervasive connections which exist between local and global factors everywhere. These essays contend that culture is itself a representation of the similarities and differences recognized between forms of social life. Focusing on specific local situations, including Bali, Cuba, Bolivia, Greece, Kenya and New Zealand, the contributors argue that the apparent opposition between strong westernizing, global forces and weak local resistances is ideologically loaded. Through detailed case studies, the contributors demonstrate that the anthropological concept of culture needs rethinking in a world where a marked sense of culture has become a widespread property of people's social knowledge. Counterworks is an important contribution to current debates on cultural globalization in the social sciences, and will therefore be of great interest to students of sociology, cultural studies and social geography as well as to anthropologists.