ABSTRACT
The social and cultural practices of the peoples of the South have often been represented either as static and ‘traditional’, compared with the ‘modern’, ‘progressive’ and ‘dynamic’ North (Chapter 2), or at the mercy of the cultural globalization or Westernization juggernaut (Chapter 5), with its ‘modern’ ideas and commodities which undermine traditions and ways of living (Tomlinson, 1999). However, as has been argued throughout the book, both these representations are overly simplistic and aspatial. Not only are people in the South responding to new fl ows from elsewhere (including other places in the South), there is also a continuous process of reinvention and negotiation of identities in ‘local’ environments.
