ABSTRACT
Is the notion of cultural imperialism helpful when applied to Africa? Certainly the concept has long been popular in Africa. But has ‘cultural imperialism’ been overtaken by notions like cultural hybridization; by the growth of popular culture and popular media; and by the idea that active audiences and/or active local cultural producers now ‘resist’ external ‘imperial’ culture by producing their own local culture? For some the emergence of new media and local popular media renders the idea of cultural imperialism redundant because such local media apparently generate a communicative ‘antidote’ to global media and to any externally-imposed ‘imperial’ communication flowing through the global media. This raises a related question – is popular media an effective site of ‘resistance’ to cultural imperialism or is it simply a platform that facilitates the process of Americanization and semiAmericanization (hybridization) by passing on a ‘reworked’ version of the global media’s content? This chapter revisits cultural imperialism with a view to opening debate about whether development, democratization and popular media should be viewed as necessarily ‘anti-imperial’. This question is raised in the context of the assumption built into this chapter that America currently operates a global informal empire. The resultant Pax Americana is seen to have a vested interest in promoting global trade, socio-economic development (Westernization) and the building of liberaldemocratic states across the globe (Louw 2010). Within this context those promoting the discourses of ‘development’, ‘democracy’ and ‘good governance’ effectively promote American cultural modernization within a second wave of globalization. (Globalization’s first wave was driven by the British Empire). By promoting the discourse of ‘development’ they become agents of modernization, Westernization, economic growth and hence the expansion of (Pax Americana) trading opportunities. One of the consequences of this ‘development’ and ‘democratization’ is that people in places like Africa are experiencing a form of cultural change that encodes significant Americanization and semi-Americanization (cultural hybridization). Africa’s popular media naturally provide a platform for the circulation of these Americanized and semi-Americanized cultural forms. So, effectively, certain forms of popular media can also become ‘helpful’ to the operation of an informal empire.
