Society Culture

Black British Culture and Society examines the postwar Afro-Caribbean diaspora, tracing the transformations of Black culture as it establishes itself in British society. Combining classic texts on Black British life with eighteen new articles, Kwesi Owusu's collection represents the rich diversity of the Black British experience. Contributors explore key facets of Black experience, charting Black Britons' struggles to carve out their own identity and status in an often hostile society. From performance poetry and the politics of Black hairstyles to problems of health and economics, articles embrace a range of issues and themes such as popular culture sport, religion, education, carnival, community and race relations, and examines the tense relationship between successful Black public figures and the media. Featuring interviews with noted Black artists and writers such as Caryl Phillips, and including articles from key contemporary thinkers, Black British Culture and Society explores the Black community's distinctive contribution to cultural life in Britain today.

A Frenchman rents a Hollywood movie. A Thai schoolgirl mimics Madonna. Saddam Hussein chooses Frank Sinatra's "My Way" as the theme song for his fifty-fourth birthday. It is a commonplace that globalization is subverting local culture. But is it helping as much as it hurts? In this strikingly original treatment of a fiercely debated issue, Tyler Cowen makes a bold new case for a more sympathetic understanding of cross-cultural trade. "Creative Destruction brings not stale suppositions but an economist's eye to bear on an age-old question: Are market exchange and aesthetic quality friends or foes? On the whole, argues Cowen in clear and vigorous prose, they are friends. Cultural "destruction" breeds not artistic demise but diversity. Through an array of colorful examples from the areas where globalization's critics have been most vocal, Cowen asks what happens when cultures collide through trade, whether technology destroys native arts, why (and whether) Hollywood movies rule the world, whether "globalized" culture is dumbing down societies everywhere, and if national cultures matter at all. Scrutinizing such manifestations of "indigenous" culture as the steel band ensembles of Trinidad, Indian handweaving, and music from Zaire, Cowen finds that they are more vibrant than ever--thanks largely to cross-cultural trade. For all the pressures that market forces exert on individual cultures, diversity typically increases within society, even when cultures become more like each other. Trade enhances the range of individual choice, yielding forms of expression within cultures that flower as never before. While some see cultural decline as a half-empty glass, Cowen sees it as a glasshalf-full with the stirrings of cultural brilliance. Not all readers will agree, but all will want a say in the debate this exceptional book will stir.