Globalization and cultural diferentiation

Globalization and cultural differentiation is the first of a series of twice-yearly seminars organized by the CCCB and the MACBA. This seminar sets out to discuss various issues raised by the phenomenon of globalization, and more concretely to look at the responses which —in the form of an affirmation of identity and of cultural differentiation— are arrived at in different contexts. The transnationalization of the economy, the internationalization of political institutions, the electronic circulation of information and the increasing weight of of a partially shared and homogenizing culture have brought the issue of cultural imperialism and postcolonial identity into the foreground. The perspectives which have been developed from what is known as cultural studies give rise to a break with traditional disciplinary structures and a coming together of academic practices and social groups traditionally not included in the "Western" cultural debate, in this way constituting an effective form of mediation between the local and the global.