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International studies

MATTELART, Armand, Cultural Diversity and Globalization,

coll. benchmarks, No 411, Paris, The Discovery, 2005, 122
p.

Yves Laberge

White Papers and the foreign policy: Practices Compared

Volume 37, Number 1, March 2006

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Quebec Institute of Advanced International Studies

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Books 175

Cultural Cultures of social groups and societies

diversity and find their expression" (p. 98).
globalization.
As soon as the first pages, Ar-
MATTELART, Armand. Coll. mand Mattelart clearly inscribed the
Benchmarks, No 411, Paris, The opposition between the "Diversity
Discovery, 2005, ass--cultural" and "globalization" in
122 p. terms antagonists: those who pro-
Move the cultural diversity veu- Slow
The sociologist Armand Mattelart
protect their markets in the areas of
seemed to me to be the author any
culture and the audio- visual
indicated for write this seminal work on
representation in the face of the giant
the theme Cultural Diversity and my-
institutions that control their own
globalization, after having published
markets to their place; whereas on the
a twenty books strict on the
contrary, those who benefit from the
communication policy, the offer
mondialisa- tion s displayed not only
ass- Cultural Society, the
as the defenders of cultural diversity,
information society, and what
but dare assert without fear of the
one named formerly "the im-
paradox that the globalization would
Cultural périalisme". Since the use
be the process miracu- lous which
of the media in times of
leads naturally the markets of culture
crisis (mid- chèle Mattelart, toward greater cultural diversity. It
Editions Alain MB- reau, 1979) and will be understood that Mattelart
the excellent book DONALD THE enrolled in false against this second
IMPOSTOR, OR IMPERIALISM TOLD TO
vision (p. 3).
CHILDREN (Ariel Dorfman, Editions
Alain Moreau, 1976), Armand Book of Small format but very
Matte- lart has devoted his entire informative, cultural diversity and
career to the study of ideologie s globalization is divided into seven by-
and the economy policy, ties. The first chapter starts a
particularly in the field of the historical reminder on the
media. He teaches the impossibility to consider a unique
information sciences and culture made for all (hear the United
communication at the University States), or consider a single human
of Paris- VIII, and its research civilization as universal. The fathers
focus since thirty years on the founded- sponsors of the social
culture. sciences have all stated the principle
of the plurality of cultures,
The expression "cultural
civilizations, Patri- monks, since
diversity- relle" now seems devoted
Charles Horton Cooley and Franz
since 1999; however, we are
BOAS at Herbert Spen- cer and
beginning to hear a variant more
Emile Durkheim (p. 7). But as the
nuan- enhanced: "The diversity of
Mattelart explains, "the inter-
content ass- turels and artistic
increasing nationalization of the
expressions". For its part, Armand
circu- lation of ideas, goods and per-
Mattelart cites among other this
neutral definition of cultural
diversity proposed by a Japanese
economist, Saki- KB Fukuda-Parr,
drawn from a WORLD REPORT ON THE
CULTURE , published by UNESCO
in 2000. It defines cultural
diversity, such as the "mul-
tiplicité of the means by which
the
176
People fact gives rise to the fear of the
'nivel- tion'" (p. 6). The reluctance
toward a single model and the
homogéni- nations has yet always
existed. In reality, the emergence of a
unique culture only becomes possible
only by means of powerful
mechanisms: colonialism, then the
cultural imperialism, globalisation
(chap. 2).
The third chapter supports its
demonstration on the example of the in-
dustrie of cinema: Hollywood af- clearly
firm, since 1947, that it must serve of
entertainment but also of export
machine and Fri- Dr. TheAMERICAN WAY
OF LIFE (p. 46). However, as indicated
in the fourth chapter- tre, not only
this system is binding for all
countries tou- chés, but it also
appears as being fundamentally
unequal, that is to say, to unique
sense, because the market of the
audiovisual sector of the United
States of- die to all intents and
purposes closed to foreign
productions. The 1960s mark the
emergence of a ve- ritable awareness
and the establishment of a parallel
system in the field of audiovisual,
confirming the need to design
networks al- ternatifs. In response to
this problem, the famous REPORT
MCBRIDE (1980) of
UNESCO pleaded for a greater
multiplicity of voice: accordingly, as
a result of its publica- tion, the
United States had slammed the door
of UNESCO, followed by the Angle-
land, at the beginning of the years
1980 (p. 56). Moreover, these two
countries have since returned to the
Organization, to cer- tain conditions.
In the fifth chapter, Armand
Mattelart questioned the universitai-
res in the field of social sciences and
certain paradigms brought by the
International Studies, Volume XXXVII, no 1, March 2006
Researchers anglo-saxon
(NOTAM- ment around the axis
of C ULTURAL S TUDIES ), which would
contribute to a favorite- ser" the
neoliberal apology on the absolute
sovereignty of the consumption-
tor atomised" (p. 74). In other
words, some researchers now fail
to consider the spectator as
flooded, invaded, limited in its real
choice under the pretext that the
offer appears abundant (but not
diversified in its sources) and that
it will always be the intelligence or
the pre- sence of mind to refuse
the hegemony of the other:
"suspicious, the concept of
'dominé' has been deleted from
the cartogra- cognitive
philosophy. " (P. 74) Seduced,
FAS- cines by this
hypermédiatisation culture of a
single country, of the univer-
sitaires s will bewitch for devoted
serious studies to the phenomena-
phenomena of popular culture,
such as the television series DALLAS ,
without criticizing the
disappearance of the real choice
of the spectacular- tor in the face
of a unique culture, homogénisée,
standardized.
The sixth chapter illustrates
com- ment Europe has been able to
build, as early as the 1980s, the
ramparts legal for protect themselves
from this invade- ment of the media,
by providing effective cultural policies
and concerted action to boost its pro-
Pre cultural space, if well that the
United States have tried various my-
ber to cede these dams (GATT, WTO).
Where the birth of the principle of
"the cultural exception- Relle,"
claimed by the European countries
wanting to exclude culture from the
negotiations aimed at the opening of
the markets. This expression was
replaced in 1999 by a concept more
positive: the promotion of the di-
Cultural Diversity (p. 90).
LIVRES
The last chapter entered the
current issues of culture in
geopolitical terms and legal Mattelart:
will say in an eloquent formula
"Heterogeneity of actors,
inclusiveness of issues" (p.
99). UNESCO rede- comes a
motor in the exchanges on the
merits of the diversity ass-
cultural, publishing a STATEMENT
UNI- UNIVERSAL OF UNESCO ON THE CULTURAL
DIVERSITY- RELLE (2001). Several States
have mobili- feels, mainly in Europe
and in the southern hemisphere, but
in his overview, Mattelart also
remains on the lookout for the
efforts of Quebec for dy- namiser
cultural diversity, stressing the
financial participation of the federal
government and the Government
of Quebec within the Coalition for
Cultural Diversity (p. 97).
Bright, the conclusion of the li-
VRE stigmatizes the "cult of the
present" to which we have been
witnessing since a de- decade,
according to the expression of the
histo- nothing François Hartog
(in regimes of historicity, présentisme
and experience of the time, Threshold,
2003). It is understood that the
promotion of the diversity ass--
cultural combines hand in hand with
the claims of the antiglobalist
movements: against the excesses of
capitalism, for the respect of identities
and the legitimacy of the States. Then,
Mattelart resumed the words very
wise men of the historian Fernand
Braudel, who "warned the science so-
cial against the habit of 'run at the
service of the current' and to stick to
the only actors who are the noise" (p.
106). In sum, the cultural diversity
fully proved represen- sentera a sign,
a vector of de- mocratie. The author
offers some worse- thy on this
connection, and which should
perhaps be inspire the next
177
Convention on the diversity of cultural
contents and artistic expressions of the
UNESCO .
One reads cultural diversity and my-
globalization with great interest: it is a
living book, well written, well docu- ket;
there the bed almost as a novel (a kind
of novel histori- that on our present, it
goes without saying). As with his
previous books, Mattelart always
impresses by its ease to combine
different concepts and data, but also by
its large capacity of synthesis. However
I will make a reproach to publishers: the
characters are really minuscu- The, and
the texts of boxes sem- involving even
more small, compared- bles, if I dare
say, in the last line of the test of the view
that the optician is not asks you never
read. Be that as it may, the content itself
is not less stimulating, since the
book Cultural Diversity and
Globalization appears to me to
constitute a book essen- Tiel on the
future of culture, which will be
appropriate to the students in the
economy, in geopolitical, cultural
studies, communication policy.
YvesABERGE
DEPARTMENT OF
SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF
LAVAL, QUEBEC
The cultural diversity.
Toward an international
convention effective?
GAGNÉ, Gilbert (eds.). Coll. Hot spots,
Saint-Laurent, QC, Fidès, 2005, 215 p.
Main cultural debate which ca-
ractérise contemporary international
relations, the cultural diversity- relle is
constantly gaining importance; at least
if one is to judge by