Category Archives: Global Interactions

Cultural Imperialism

The IB defines this concept as: ‘The practice of promoting the culture/language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one.’

Here’s one example of one culture being promoted over another…

British Council

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China and Africa

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China in Africa – the real story

China in Africa – soft power, hard cash

Coca-Cola

Click the image for an article on a French alternative to Coca-Cola:

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Cultural imperialism, a very good explanation http://visar.csustan.edu/aaba/Essay.pdf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_3_64/ai_n6060907/
Wikipedia on Cocacolonization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocacolonization
Coca Cola’s company website http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/index.html
Coca Cola’s sustainability page http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/index.html
Coca Cola’s Middle Easter rumour busting webpage http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/contactus/myths_rumors/middle_east.html
Coca Cola UK http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/
Coke’s micro distribution centres in Africa http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/community/micro-distribution-centres.html
Cokezone http://www.cokezone.co.uk/home/index.jsp

And there’s plenty of anti-coke sentiment out there:

Killer coke
http://killercoke.org/
Russian calendar
http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/02/05/russian-anti-coca-cola-calendar/
India anti-coca cola
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2004/risingstruggles.html
War on Want on Coca Cola drinking the world dry http://www.waronwant.org/news/latest-news/15153-coca-cola-drinking-the-world-dry
The War on Want alternative report on Coke is very good and covers water, pollution, anti-union and marketing activity, good additional reading http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Coca-Cola%20-%20The%20Alternative%20Report.pdf

ESSAY

Use all three examples to answer the following Paper 3, part b question:

“Cultural imperialism is facilitated by growing access to electronic media.” Discuss this statement. [15]

P3 Mark bands

Landscape Homogenization

Students had to speak for three minutes without “repetition, hesitation, or deviation” about the homogenization of landscapes. The basic rules:

“Repetition” means the repetition of any word or phrase, although challenges based upon very common words such as “and” are generally rejected. Words contained in the given subject are exempt unless repeated many times in quick succession.
“Hesitation” is watched very strictly: a momentary pause before resumption of the subject can give rise to a successful challenge, as can tripping over one’s words.
“Deviation” means deviating from the subject, but has also been interpreted as “deviating from the English language as we know it”, “deviation from grammar as we understand it”, deviating from the truth, and sometimes even logic, although often leaps into the surreal are allowed.

A student scores a point for making a correct challenge against whoever is speaking, while the speaker gets a point if the challenge is deemed incorrect.

A student who makes a correct challenge takes over the subject for the remainder of the two minutes, or, until he or she is correctly challenged. A student also scores a point if they are the person speaking when the 120 seconds expires. An extra point is awarded when a student speaks for the entire three minutes without being challenged.

The result?