Creative Economy and Culture by John Hartley Wen Wen Henry Siling Li

Author:John Hartley, Wen Wen, Henry Siling Li [John Hartley, Wen Wen, Henry Siling Li]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857028785
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2015-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Part II Forces and Dynamics of Change: The Three Bigs in Action Everywhere

10 Geography (1) – Brics Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa

I am not sure that I have the answer to many of the current difficult questions, but I would argue that handing more power to the BRICS is a good place to start.

(Jim O’Neill)1

A planetary system of difference

Critics have worried that the very idea of the creative industries, and the creative economy following through, are intrinsically Western notions, a ‘white’ problem, a problem of affluence, etc. This is not surprising, as prominent policy initiatives and published research work have come from the UK and former Dominions (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa), and affluent Europe. However, some of the most enthusiastic applications of creative industries and creative economy policies have been in developing and emergent countries, especially China and Brazil, both of which have combined large-scale central-government investment with significant business enterprise investment.

In the SE Asia region, there’s hardly a country without a sophisticated creative economy policy, a government agency devoted to its implementation, and ambitious cities anxious to be dubbed ‘creative’. Indonesia (especially during the Yudhoyono Presidency), Malaysia, Thailand before the 2013 military intervention, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, even tiny but rich Brunei – which, uniquely, manages to maintain a creative economy policy (Lennon and Abdullah, 2013) and new draconian Sharia laws at the same time2 – have all taken the creative path as part of development. Cities such as Bandung in Java, Cebu in the Philippines, Chiang Mai in Thailand, and many others, vie for creative status.

Thus we are left with a pattern in which the ‘idea’ of the creative economy has generated considerable critical discourse in the Anglosphere, but it is being implemented most vigorously in jurisdictions with development imperatives, young populations and – at least in the case of China – a balance of payments surplus ripe for investment in the domestic economy. It is time, in short, to extend the geographical scope of creative industries and creative economy studies to planetary dimensions.

This chapter provides a glimpse of the emerging creative economy, as traditionally measured by policy and state agencies, in developing countries, in particular the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and MINT countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey), two acronyms for emergent-economies-to-watch that were both coined by Jim O’Neill, former chief economist with Goldman Sachs.3 In some regions the creative economy is more developed, while in other regions the business potential of culture is yet to be explored. Cities are the direct hubs and destinations of creative people and activities. This conjures up a picture of the creative economy taking root globally, growing and blooming ‘everywhere’.

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