Multiversity of physical and cyberspace

The multiversity of physical and cyberspace has merged into a confluence of online and offline cultures that can no longer be classified

With globalization, migration, and cutting edge technologies that tie people over vast geographical distances once unimaginable, ethnicity, culture and identity have blurred to the point where many have argued that “race is dead.” Just how true is this? The answer seems to be more historical than it is contemporary, stemming from theorists and academics laying the foundation of these answers to the present early in the 20th century.

Cultural relativism - As a paradigm shift in 20th century, Boaz and his followers ascertained that civilization is not something absolute, but relative, with the caveat that “ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes." The idea eventually evolved into "cultural relativism."

MacLuhan’s Gutenberg Galaxy - In the 1960s, Marshall McLuhan painstakingly argued that communication technology (alphabetic writing, the printing press, and the electronic media) not only influences human cognition, but also profoundly changes human social organization. As he saw it, a “new technology extends one or more of our senses outside us into the social world, then new ratios among all of our senses will occur in that particular culture.”

Identity in cyberculture - A concept first coined by science fiction writer William Gibson in the 1980’s, cyberculture relies on establishing identity and credibility. Although in the absence of direct physical interaction, thus leading the process for such establishment to be more difficult, human relationships are two-way in cyberculture, with identity and credibility being both used to define community in cyberspace and to be created within and by online communities.

Cultural Diversity as Software Package - With the rise of social media in the web 2.0 mashup and remix world, some have coined this era “diversity 2.0” where technology impacts the way people view themselves and interacts with those around them. This cultural engineering in fact takes on the cyber qualities of mashing up videos, text, and web coding and remixing them with anachronistic analogies and metaphors.

Empires at War

In my Choice review of Empires at War, Francis Pike offers a concise geopolitical analysis of Asia since WW II subsequently followed by the political and economic emergence of the continent. In meticulous fashion, the author spans the entire continent, focusing on the century-long nation building of each state from the Far East to the South Asian subcontinent. The chronology begins during the Cold War era of political bargaining and struggle between the US and the Soviet Union, and Asia emerges from the ashes of a century-long struggle for land and power that was in many ways a continuation of the struggle with European colonial powers. Contrary to the dominant Western-centric viewpoint that Asian nations were powerless colonial regions carved up after centuries of warfare, historian and journalist Pike argues that modern Asia's development was, for the most part, independent of the struggle between the two superpowers. Chronicling the major characters during this period, such as Mao, Gandhi, Kim Il Sung, and Sukarno and their roles in leading their nations to independence, the author reveals that Asia very much determined its own path into the present day. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above.

Playing Our Game: Why China's Rise Doesn't Threaten the West

At the moment Liu Xiaobao was announced as this 2010's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu was most likely incarcerated in his cell in the very country he had set to free. Interestingly, in my review of Playing Our Game, Edward Steinfeld's argues that contrary to China's perception as rising superpower threatening America's place in the world, it is the opposite that is true: China's growth not only solidifies America's trade dominance but democratizes China, forcing the authoritarian regime to "play by the rules" of American trade diplomacy. Even though the majority of Chinese products are assembled for export to the West, elements of those products are bought from the West: American global production has increased since China's liberalization of its economy. Although both Chinese and Americans benefit from China's global integration, the implications for China's social and economic development are enormous, as the majority of its citizens earn so much less than Americans, with few luxuries or a social safety net, and the country's most talented researchers are gravitating to the West. VERDICT A superb analysis of the political economies of China and the United States, dispelling some of the myths of China's rise as a superpower. Recommended for all interested in globalization and Chinese-American global relations.—Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver