Appadurai's Landscapes

In this blog, I will focus on Appadurais theory of his landscapes; the five dimensions which he believes is the simplest way of exploring the ‘disjuncture’ between the different schools within the global economy (Appadurai 1996) Appadurai reasons that his use of the suffix ‘-scape’ in each term creates fluidity, indicating the ever-changing environment in which we live but also showing that each person can have a different perception on how the ‘landscape’ influences the global community(Appadurai 1996) this is perhaps due to the socialisation a person will experience as they grow up.

The term ‘ethnoscape’ refers to the constant migration and movement of people one country to the next, whether it is due to tourism, immigration or refugees (Appadurai 1996) This enables a transfer of culture, which aids globalization. However, Appadurai does say that the movement of these groups of people ‘appear to affect the politics of (and between) nations to a hitherto unprecedented extent’ (Appadurai 1996:33) indicating that the government has a hold on this kind of movement and transfer of cultures. ‘Technoscape’ also refers to a transfer of information, not from physical contact and interaction but through the ever broadening world of technology which has broken down what Appadurai refers to as ‘previously impervious boundaries’ (Appadurai 1996:34) proving the advances technology has made in relation to bringing cultures together. He explains that different countries are also linked through ‘financescape’, that some countries share an economy (Appadurai 1996)

From what I understand, Appadurai categorises his ‘landscapes’ further into ‘mediascapes’ and ‘ideoscapes’ and both are broadcasts of information. However, ‘mediascapes’ are that which broadcast ‘large and complex repertoires of images, narratives and 'ethnoscapes’' (Appadurai 1996) to the general public in many countries whereas ‘ideoscapes’ are 'purely political ideas' (Appadurai 1996) therefore generally confined to their own country.

Word Count: 298

References:
Appadurai A. 1996 'Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization'