Westernization

About: Westernization is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1154 publications have been published within this topic receiving 15791 citations. The topic is also known as: occidentalization.

El griot no ha muerto, viva el hip-hop

Abstract: Orature in Africa has played a vital role through millennia as a(n only) medium to preserve and transmit the history, culture and imagery of each community. The griot clearly represents the performer of oral arts, but has experienced severe changes in their way of life and the narrative resources available to them. From the time of the patronage of the ancient great kings to the arrival of Islam, colonialism and, finally, the processes of modernization and westernization, griots have been forced to adapt to new patrons, new audience demands and new mass media, and they have lately become politicians or showbiz stars. The appearance of rap and hip-hop from the US claiming to be the “modern griots” has brought about both critical response and viral attraction to this new phenomenon, whether it be a new genre or a reinvention of the ancient griot’s orature.

“Total Westernization” in Kuomintang China: The Case of Ch'en Hsü-Ching

Abstract: (1979). “Total Westernization” in Kuomintang China: The Case of Ch'en Hsu-Ching. Monumenta Serica: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 77-143.

'Chinese Architecture' + 'Western Architecture': A False Dichotomy

Abstract: For some time, even if this is not expressed explicitly, 'Chinese architecture' and 'western architecture' are conceived and perceived as two homogeneous totalities, in opposition to one another. In consequence, the fast transformation of Chinese cities in the last three decades is often accounted for in terms of the influence of 'western architecture' upon 'Chinese architecture'. Indeed, the urban growth in this period has involved architectural expertise, products, technologies and designs from Europe and the USA. To some people, what is seen as 'new' is 'western', and hence, the transformation is a process of 'westernisation'. However, this is precisely what the thesis argues against. It argues that to use the category of the 'Chinese' and the 'Western' to explain the products of architecture and urbanism in last thirty years China is neither useful nor appropriate. This thesis concerns the issue of 'conceptual translation' of architectural discourse from Europe and the USA into the context of China, as an opposition to 'linguistic translation' which concerns literal meanings of terms. Its examination focuses on the category that the concept 'western modern' indicates in Chinese architecture, and relates its operation and construction to the importation history of European and American architecture throughout the twentieth century, as well as pedagogy of architectural training, regularisation of design principles and methods, identification of architectural profession. practice of the architects' offices, organisation of design competition, and management of the city, mode of marketing and purchase in the real estate market, state politics and cultural interpretations. The analysis reveals that while waves of importation have sustained the formation of architecture as a modern practice in China from the early twentieth century up to now, they have not arrived as symmetrical reflection of what they are in the 'original' context. A difference, in comparison to European and American architecture, can be characterised by the absence of a coherent 'modernism' and the continuity of the modified 'Beaux-Arts' practice in Chinese architecture. Therefore, the assumption of 'westernisation' is wrong in its first place, as there is no such distinction that could be made between the 'Chinese' and the 'Western'.

Consuming modernity: women, food and promotional culture in contemporary Korea

Abstract: The process of modernisation has created tension and confusion in selfidentity in spite of its various new opportunities. This impact of modernity is more intense in a non-western society. Korea is experiencing a unique pattern of the dynamics and dilemmas modernity has presented. Korean women are experiencing clashes between modernity and tradition, capitalism and Confucianism, and Western and Korean cultural values. The gap created from these tensions is widely mediated by the logic of consumerism. This process is clearly revealed in women's values and attitudes towards food and eating. Although rapid economic development and social changes have considerably modified people's eating habits, women's roles and expectations in regard to food and eating are much more ambiguous and confusing than in the past. Korean advertising displays sharp contradictions of these aspects. While advertising reflects and actively reshapes the prevailing images of women, women constantly reconstitute their identities by selecting, rejecting and negotiating with the public messages in their everyday lives. This thesis aims to examine the changing female identities in contemporary Korea in the process of modernisation and Westernisation by exploring the tensions and contradictions in regard to women's values and attitudes towards food and eating, through the examination of the representations of Korean advertising and women's everyday experiences and negotiations.