ABSTRACT
Beyond these quotes from two “non-Western” intellectuals, it is what their messengers represent in the cultural realm of globalization, both historically and in terms of personal experiences and observations, that is significant. Simply expressed, the message cannot be separated from the messengers, as their lives offer a microcosmic window into the contradictory “duality” of Western culture and its impact on non-Western humanity. This duality is a result of Westernmodernization’s global diffusion and imperial “reach,” which began with the onset of colonialism; itself, a decisive phase in the long history of global imperial adventurism (Chanda 2003; Memmi 1965; Fanon 1963; Rodney 1974; Shrestha 1995; Wallerstein 2000). In other words, not only do their lives reflect the multifaceted manifestation of Western-promoted, globalizing processes – politicaleconomic, social, cultural, technological and ideological – they also experience the hegemonic as well as liberating power of western modernization and cultural diffusion and, hence, pose a cultural paradox in the challenges to contemporary globalization’s influences, today.
