Jan Nederveen Pieterse
Encyclopedia
Jan Nederveen Pieterse is Mellichamp Professor of Global Studies
and Sociology
in the Global & International Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara
. He specializes in globalization
, development studies
and cultural studies
. His books include:
.
Work on empire and hegemony includes the early study on Empire and Emancipation (1989). This large study includes kaleidoscopic takes on both empire—traced back to the classical empires, the Crusades, to the new imperialism and contemporary hegemony; and emancipation—with chapters on Native American liberation, African and black emancipation movements, and decolonization movements. Besides historical chapters, the work includes five theoretical chapters, two on empire, two on emancipation, and one on their dialectics.
The work on emancipation is taken further in an edited volume, Emancipations, Modern and Postmodern (1992) with contributions by Sandra Harding, Ernesto Laclau, Alberto Melucci, Sudipta Kaviraj, Bhikhu Parekh and others.
Globalization or Empire? (2004) continues this interest and combines hegemony and global political economy. The book features chapters on neoliberal globalization, neoliberal empire, globalization and war, global inequality, American exceptionalism, representations of North and South, and capitalisms after Enron.
These perspectives are also developed in (co-)edited volumes such as Humanitarian Intervention and beyond: World Orders in the Making (1998), Global Futures: Shaping Globalization (2000), Globalization and Social Movements (2001), Politics of globalization (2009) and Globalization and Emerging Societies: Development and Inequality (2009).
The interest in the limits of American hegemony is taken up in Is there hope for Uncle Sam? Beyond the American Bubble (2008) which includes chapters on social inequality in the United States, the financialization
of the American economy, pending economic crisis and the rise of new emerging economies.
Particularly well known is Nederveen Pieterse’s work on hybridity. The often cited article on ‘Globalization as Hybridization’ appears in his volume Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange (2003). A second edition appears in 2009. A sequel study is Ethnicities and Global Multiculture: Pants for an Octopus (2007) with probing treatments of ethnicity, social capital, multiculturalism, Islam and cosmopolitanism.
but has recently become very significant to Cultural Studies
. Originating from the Latin hybrida, a hybrid is simply anything that is mixed. Key thinkers in the development of Hybridity
Theory (HT) include Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall
, Gayatri Spivak, and Paul Gilroy
. For Nederveen Pieterse, the concept of hybridity serves as a hermeneutical tool for interpreting the cultural dimensions of globalization
. While most assessments of globalization are confined to a narrow time frame (modernity
), Nederveen Pieterse considers globalization in broader anthropological terms. In this sense, he argues that globalization “belongs to a deep dynamic in which shifting civilizational centers are but the front stage of history” with ongoing intercultural traffic forming the backdrop. While globalization is often dismissed as mere westernization
, Nederveen Pieterse points out that from an evolutionary perspective, such analysis is historically shallow:
in communication, production, consumption and travel goes together with the emergence of new borders (as in rising restrictions on migration) and new politics of risk containment (as in relation to conflict areas). As some borders fade new ones and or internal boundaries emerge; besides the advantages of the erasure of boundaries are not evenly distributed. Contemporary globalization can be understood as a process of hierarchical integration in which integration (the spread of global capitalism and its political and cultural radius) fosters borderlessness while hierarchy imposes new boundaries and forms of stratification.
Global Studies
Global studies, in its broadest definition is the academic study of political, economic, social and cultural relationships of the world. Furthermore, it can also include the study of political and cultural processes, the impacts of globalisation, markets and communications. Global Studies...
and Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
in the Global & International Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
. He specializes in globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, development studies
Development studies
Development studies is a multidisciplinary branch of social science which addresses issues of concern to developing countries. It has historically placed a particular focus on issues related to social and economic development, and its relevance may therefore extend to communities and regions...
and cultural studies
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
. His books include:
- Development Theory: Deconstructions/ Reconstructions (Sage, 2010)
- Is there hope for Uncle Sam? Beyond the American Bubble (Zed Books, 2008)
- Ethnicities and Global Multiculture: Pants for an Octopus (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007)
- Globalization or Empire? (Routledge, 2004).
- Global Mélange: Globalization and culture (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
Biography
Nederveen Pieterse received his doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Nijmegen. He speaks Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian and is a noted scholar in the area of globalization and culture, particularly globalization and cultural hybridityHybridity
Hybridity refers in its most basic sense to mixture. The term originates from biology and was subsequently employed in linguistics and in racial theory in the nineteenth century. Its contemporary uses are scattered across numerous academic disciplines and is salient in popular culture...
.
Globalization and hegemony
Nederveen Pieterse’s work on globalization involves several dimensions: empire and hegemony, global political economy, development studies, and culture.Work on empire and hegemony includes the early study on Empire and Emancipation (1989). This large study includes kaleidoscopic takes on both empire—traced back to the classical empires, the Crusades, to the new imperialism and contemporary hegemony; and emancipation—with chapters on Native American liberation, African and black emancipation movements, and decolonization movements. Besides historical chapters, the work includes five theoretical chapters, two on empire, two on emancipation, and one on their dialectics.
The work on emancipation is taken further in an edited volume, Emancipations, Modern and Postmodern (1992) with contributions by Sandra Harding, Ernesto Laclau, Alberto Melucci, Sudipta Kaviraj, Bhikhu Parekh and others.
Globalization or Empire? (2004) continues this interest and combines hegemony and global political economy. The book features chapters on neoliberal globalization, neoliberal empire, globalization and war, global inequality, American exceptionalism, representations of North and South, and capitalisms after Enron.
These perspectives are also developed in (co-)edited volumes such as Humanitarian Intervention and beyond: World Orders in the Making (1998), Global Futures: Shaping Globalization (2000), Globalization and Social Movements (2001), Politics of globalization (2009) and Globalization and Emerging Societies: Development and Inequality (2009).
The interest in the limits of American hegemony is taken up in Is there hope for Uncle Sam? Beyond the American Bubble (2008) which includes chapters on social inequality in the United States, the financialization
Financialization
Financialization is a term sometimes used in discussions of financial capitalism which developed over several decades leading up to the 2007-2010 financial crisis, and in which financial leverage tended to override capital and financial markets tended to dominate over the traditional industrial...
of the American economy, pending economic crisis and the rise of new emerging economies.
Development studies
Another area of interest is development studies. The book Development Theory: Deconstructions/ Reconstructions (2001) has been used widely as a textbook from Scandinavia to South Korea and has gone through six printings. A new edition is appearing in 2009. The book combines global political economy with development policy with critical, probing chapters on alternative development, post-development, culture and development and futures of development thinking.Globalization and culture
Nederveen Pieterse’s first major work on culture and representation is the 1992 study White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture. This interest is developed further in a volume co-edited with Bhikhu Parekh, The Decolonization of Imagination (1997).Particularly well known is Nederveen Pieterse’s work on hybridity. The often cited article on ‘Globalization as Hybridization’ appears in his volume Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange (2003). A second edition appears in 2009. A sequel study is Ethnicities and Global Multiculture: Pants for an Octopus (2007) with probing treatments of ethnicity, social capital, multiculturalism, Islam and cosmopolitanism.
Globalization and Hybridity Theory
The term 'hybridity' originates with agricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
but has recently become very significant to Cultural Studies
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
. Originating from the Latin hybrida, a hybrid is simply anything that is mixed. Key thinkers in the development of Hybridity
Hybridity
Hybridity refers in its most basic sense to mixture. The term originates from biology and was subsequently employed in linguistics and in racial theory in the nineteenth century. Its contemporary uses are scattered across numerous academic disciplines and is salient in popular culture...
Theory (HT) include Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall
-People:*Stuart Hall , British radio and television presenter*Stuart Hall , British cultural theorist and first editor of the New Left Review...
, Gayatri Spivak, and Paul Gilroy
Paul Gilroy
-Biography:Born in the East End of London to Guyanese and English parents , he was educated at University College School and obtained his bachelor's degree at Sussex University in 1978. He moved from there to Birmingham University where he completed his Ph.D...
. For Nederveen Pieterse, the concept of hybridity serves as a hermeneutical tool for interpreting the cultural dimensions of globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
. While most assessments of globalization are confined to a narrow time frame (modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
), Nederveen Pieterse considers globalization in broader anthropological terms. In this sense, he argues that globalization “belongs to a deep dynamic in which shifting civilizational centers are but the front stage of history” with ongoing intercultural traffic forming the backdrop. While globalization is often dismissed as mere westernization
Westernization
Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...
, Nederveen Pieterse points out that from an evolutionary perspective, such analysis is historically shallow:
The evolutionary backdrop of our common origins in Africa confirms that humanity is a hybrid speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. The species' subsequent “clustering” in different regions of the world has not precluded large-scale contact and population movements across and between continents (Gamble 1993). This mixed heritage is confirmed by the “cultures” identified by archaeologists which in PaleolithicPaleolithicThe Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
and NeolithicNeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
times sprawl widely and do not coincide with the boundaries of much later times.
New trends in globalization
With contemporary globalization comes new dialectics of borders. Increasing transnationalismTransnationalism
Transnationalism is a social movement and scholarly research agenda grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding economic and social significance of boundaries among nation states....
in communication, production, consumption and travel goes together with the emergence of new borders (as in rising restrictions on migration) and new politics of risk containment (as in relation to conflict areas). As some borders fade new ones and or internal boundaries emerge; besides the advantages of the erasure of boundaries are not evenly distributed. Contemporary globalization can be understood as a process of hierarchical integration in which integration (the spread of global capitalism and its political and cultural radius) fosters borderlessness while hierarchy imposes new boundaries and forms of stratification.