Globalization and Transculturality from Antiquity to the Pre-Modern World by Serena Autiero Matthew Adam Cobb

Author:Serena Autiero, Matthew Adam Cobb [Serena Autiero, Matthew Adam Cobb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Asian, India, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Archaeology
ISBN: 9781000432855
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2021-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

From globalization to oikoumenisation and glocalization

In Seland’s view, the term globalization cannot be applied prior to the Second World War due to the inherent implications of modern technology such as fast, affordable travel and telecommunications.5 Certainly he is right to highlight that the word globalization does carry with it these connotations and it has even been called a replacement for westernization.6 Despite this, it forms the basis of several recent edited volumes on the ancient world by Pitts, Versluys and Hodos among others. This stems primarily from a partial shift away from seeing globalization as a phenomenon relating to modern technology and a geographically interconnected ‘globe’ (i.e., a planetary-wide phenomenon) and instead, towards questions of cultural exchange, connectivity and identity.7 These are problems which have been especially prevalent in scholarship on the ancient world.8 While globalization offers an important and potentially useful theoretical framework for the study of antiquity, it should be explored in tandem with terms that are less closely associated with the developments of modernity. Seland is correct, therefore, to propose that a different term should be utilised (or at least explored) to describe this process.9 The result of this advice, as will be seen, is a term which sits within the limits of the evidence and places globalization closer to the conceptual worldview of certain social-cultural groups in antiquity.

The concept of globalization possesses numerous characteristics, many of which could be appropriately applied when describing phenomena in the ancient world. These include the intensification of social or economic contacts over great distances, the impact of political events being felt over increasingly large geographical areas, time-space compression and cultural heterogeneity to name but a few.10 However, Seland offers Watson’s definition as the basis for his new term: ‘[Globalisation] is the process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas can foster a standardization of cultural expressions around the world.’11

Seland sees this description as the most appropriate to apply to the ancient world and specifically to the growth in trade between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean from the first century CE (it is worth noting that there is no single definition of globalization).12 This is for two reasons, the first of which is because it primarily emphasizes culture and so recognises the absence of statistical economic information. To account for this absence, Seland adopts a part of the criteria for globalization proposed by Flynn and Giraldez and suggests that the economic effects of trade on the ancient world must be measured by assessing the long-term impact on people.13 The second advantage of Watson’s definition, according to Seland, is that it does not mention technology. This, to Seland’s mind, makes it applicable to all periods of history, including antiquity.14 Certainly, this latter point is quite convincing. Similarly, Seland’s other premise, that the economic impact of globalization in the ancient world can be more effectively studied in terms of the qualitative impact on various peoples, also seems pertinent when studying ancient societies for which we generally lack ‘quantitative data.

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