Coronil Vs. Gikandi

The two articles focus on one common theme: which is to rid the world of Globalization. In Coronil's essay "Towards a Critique of Globalcentrism: Speculations on Capitalism's Nature," he talks about the western influence on the east and how much of the influence comes from the mass media and other circuits of communication. He continues to focus his essay on the economic state of the country that is being targeted. I like his ideas about the mass media and how their influence can change the perception of the people in that country. For example, the phenomenon of Bollywood has taken on a life of its own. Bollywood produces more films a year than Hollywood and their fan base spans from country to country. The stars of these films are treated as royalty, this showcases the biggest problem for Globalization: the division between the people. For Gikandiin his essay“Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality" states that however the problem of Globalization started much earlier and those who have survived globalization cannot articulate what happened, they are lost and silenced forever. Both articles do a very good job in placing the blame on the society itself for creating a division amongst their people.I thoroughly enjoyed reading both articles and getting a different perspective on the damaging effects of Globalization.

Globalization and its unequal effects in Slumdog Millionaire

Sharlene Moss
Professor Wexler
English 495ESM
12 May 2010


Globalization and its unequal effects in Slumdog Millionaire

Simon Gikandi states in his essay Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality, that “Globalization and postcoloniality are perhaps two of the most important terms in social and cultural theory today. Since the 1980s, they have functioned as two of the dominant paradigms for explaining the transformation of political and economic relationships in a world that seems to become increasingly interdependent with the passing of time, with boundaries that once defined national cultures becoming fuzzy”.

Similarly, in the film “Slumdog Millionaire” it is evident that globalization has a great impact on the lives of the Mumbai people. The depiction of the varying slums and the development and dislocation of the poor illustrates the unequal effects that globalization has on the people of India, versus the depiction of Western traditions imitated in the East.


For example, in the film the audience can see the impoverished nation town that is the backdrop for the film. The audience is also made aware that there are only two options in India: to turn to crime and corruption or to continue to live in poverty. For Jamal he only knows how to be poor, he refuses to turn corrupt like his brother Samil. The unequal effects of the impoverished nation of India can be seen throughout the film. In one scene you see the slums and how the thousands of people are struggling to survive and on the polar opposite side you see individual’s who are so rich they don’t know what to do with their money anymore. It is bittersweet to see Jamal succeed and win “Who wants to be a Millionaire”.

Fernando Coronil states in his essay Towards a Critique of Global Centrism - Speculations on Capitalism's Nature that the West and Europe have a direct division which causes problems amongst the city-states“These two interrelated processes are linked to a host of cultural and political transformations that redefine the relations between the West and its others. The image of a unified globe dispenses with the notion of an outside. It displaces the locus of cultural difference from highly Orientialized others located outside metropolitan centers to diffuse populations dispersed around the globe. Nations have become increasingly open to the flow of capital, even as they remain closed to the movement of the poor. While the cities of these nations are increasingly integrated in transnational circuits of work, study, leisure, and even residence, their impoverished majorities are increasingly excluded from the domestic economy and abandoned by their states.”(Coronil 368).

Another example of globalization is the mass media. India produces more films than America does. Their “Bollywood” has become a mass phenomenon and is responsible for much of their expanding economy. Bollywood brings people together and can reach the poor, rich and even westerners. Coronil adds that “Their image of globalization offers promise of a unified humanity no longer divided by East and West, North and South, Europe and its Others, the rich and the poor. As if they were underwritten by the desire to erase the scars of a conflictual past or to bring it to a harmonious end, these discourses set in motion the belief that the separate histories, geographies, and cultures that have divided humanity are now being brought together by the warm embrace of globalization, understood as a progressive process of planetary integration.”(351-352).

Though the depictions of India in the film “Slumdog Millionaire” are hard to watch, the truth of the matter is that Globalization affects everybody and it is our responsibility to make sure that progress does not turn into corruption. The westernization of a country doesn't have to have a negative effect. The east and the west can co-exist together; we can share our ideas and inventions with each other without exploiting the people of our country.




Works Cited
Coronil, Fernando. "Public Culture." Towards a Critique of Globalcentrism: Speculations on Capitalism's Nature 12.2 (2000): 351-74. Print.

Gikandi, Simon. "The South Atlantic Quarterly." Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality 100.3 (2001): 627-58. Print.