Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCMs)

from this:

to this:

The above pictures show the product change in a particular traditional chinese medicine, namely the cordyceps. It is changed from the plant-like structure of a herb, into its condensed 'aftermath' of cordyceps capsules.

i cannot help but wonder, are the cordyceps capsules a product of East meets West? can we qualify it as a hybrid? this remains arguable. but one thing is for sure, traditional chinese medicine in this 'after' form, has taken a radical change due to globalisation (homogenization). if you are still not convinced thus far,

take a look at this:

does this not look like the antibiotics capsules we are given in our western medication? not only is this product a result of globalisation, it has also undergone process globalisation. this product itself has been standardised, with the help of modern technology of course. the process is so precise till each pill weighs exactly 0.4gm each, one looking just like the other. without a doubt, it is mass manufactured, and sold in quantity. as such, it is definitely going to come at a cheaper rate as compared to the original herb. anyway, why not try to guess how much the price difference actually is?

ok, the real herb itself, is in fact sold according to how much it weighs. and a bundle like this (below), could easily cost up to S$200.

and just how much does a bottle of the cordyceps capsules cost? there are 30 pills in a bottle and they cost only S$9.00. a paltry sum compared to the cost of the real herb i must say. then again, just how much benefit does these capsules do the your body, i seriously have no idea. but my bet is that having being processed technically and chemically, the capsules will be less effective as compared to the real herb. what do you think?

so, just what are the social processes behind these changes? just the cost, explaining for people's receptiveness over it? nah, in fact, i was told that apart from the vast difference in cost of the 2 products, making the capsules more appealing to Singaporeans, the fact that the capsules are more handy and less cumbersome to consume makes it even more attractive. the traditional herb requires boiling, and sometimes even double boiling in order to be consumed appropriately by the body and thus producing maximum benefits for the body, but the capsules on the other hand simply requires swallowing. no hassle of cooking and attending to the preparation part of it. how convenient. =) it's no wonder it is preferred over the the traditional herb.

besides, the fact that the product is homogenized, now even health concious non-chinese can have similar experience with these capsules. it is no longer the prerogative of chinese to take tradtional chinese medicine. just a matter of trust for these TCMs.

lastly, and most importantly, we have to understand, that despite major changes in our lives due to globalization, where even products such as traditional chinese medicine had to change its form in order to keep up with the people, who obviously lead a hectic life, some things never change. have we ever probe, 'why traditional chinese medicine? and not any other forms of medication?' that is simply because, our great grandmothers told our grandmothers it was good, and our grandmothers then told our mothers it's good and our mothers are telling us it is good and the cycle goes on... the beliefs and traditions hasn't changed. as such, we consume the traditional chinese medicine alright, but we still want to take it via the shortest cut and tada... you have your 'evolved' cordyceps capsules ready for immediate consumption :)

Shufen.

Fusion Food in Singapore

Website Link
This is definately a hybridisation where you combine two cuture in turn of foo and get the 3rd type, FUSION food, but then yet how real are such creation?In relation with globalisation, this can definately be seen as culture of food of different countries are being exported and imported and combined. Most interestlingly, this site is part of the Singapore tourism board effort of promoting SIngapore as a tourist attraction

Tourism is definately a globalsiation issue whereby in this case, tourist attraction are created in order to market singapore. In this case, Fusion food had been created by combinng food in particular the local whihch are more eastern and the western. No body wants to go to a place that is the same or similar to theirs and so things have to be created?

What is interesting about this website is that it state it as local speak and saying that it would be boring just to have local food and they actually introduce fusion food such as Pizza Prata, chilli crab spaghettie, ba kua pie, Laksa pesto pasta and most astonoishingly DURIAN fried rice....ya, durian friend rice, i bet alot of you do not even know that you can use durian to fried rice, but hey, they actually did it. The intersting is that most of these fusion food which are supposed to be so singaporean are actually quitte unfamiliar to most of us, SIngaporeans. There are also other many instances of local fusion food such as Peranakan and roti John but yet they were not mentioned in this section as part of the foreign attraction?

WEida

Peranakans

The Peranakans are a cultural hybrid of the immigrant Chinese and indigenous Malay in Malaya, Singapore and some parts of Indonesia. They are also known as the Straits-born Chinese.

The Chinese were traveling and trading in Malaya as early as the 15th Century. They first had to learn the lingua franca, which was Malay. A linguistic common ground was achieved through Baba Malay, which is a Malay dialect. Hokkien, a Chinese dialect, was also easy to pick and and its loanwords were used for items and concepts that had no Malay equivalent. This resulted in the meshing of Hokkien and Malay, creating Baba Malay. (The Cantonese and Teochew dialects were also mixed with Malay in other circumstances)

When the Chinese (male) traders settled down, they married the local Malay women. Through many generations of inter-marriage between male Chinese/Peranakans and female Malay/Chinese/Peranakans, the Peranakan culture was solidified. It's practices and traditions were unique, for they were hybrids of Malay and Chinese culture. The Peranakans dressed like Malays, spoke a Malay dialect, and had adapted Malay cuisines. They also retained some aspects of Chinese-ness like ancestral worship, Chinese names and Chinese religions.

In colonial Singapore, their culture was preserved, though it was affected the English language. But post-independence posed a threat to their culture. They no longer had the support from the British. The PAP government's "CMIO" categorisation of it citizens poses problems for the Peranakans. Moreover, the standardisation of Malay to Bahasa Melayu affected the dialect they spoke, just like the effect of the promotion of the Mandarin language over other Chinese dialects.

The Peranakans are a good example of hybridisation (of culture/language/food) owing to globalisation. Nation-building, on the part of the Singaporean nation-state, has posed some problems for the continuation of this culture. However, cultural festivals are regularly organised to encourage the celebration of this unique culture and of course, its food. The Peranakan culture could have been a victim of the cultural standardisation, but it has endured the trials of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan
http://www.peranakan.org.sg

Sam

BARBIE

The Barbie product line is the most successful in the history of the toy industry, having sold more than 1 billion Barbie dolls since 1959 (placed head-to-toe, the dolls would circle the earth more than seven times!!!). It is currently sold in more than 150 countries around the world and at a rate of 2 dolls every second. A regular American girl between the ages of 3 and 11 owns ten Barbie dolls and on average buys 2 or 3 more each year.

Barbie was introduced at a unique time in history: a time when the luxury of fashionable attire had become available to more women, when roles for women were beginning to change dramatically, when the term "teenager" had emerged as a definition of the distinct period between childhood and adult life, and when teenagers had been embraced by television and movie producers as a viable target market. Mattel capitalized on these trends in American culture when it introduced the Barbie doll in 1959 as a teenage fashion model.

Barbie homogenises the desires of teenage girls. It pretty much defines childhood for girls, allowing them to affiliate themselves to a certain class by the very fact that they possess a Barbie. Having a Barbie doll has become a must for girls. Barbie is deemed as aspirational for girls and studies have shown that playing with Barbie dolls can help enhance one’s self image.

Barbie symbolizes an idealized version of western beauty (i.e.blond, thin waisted, big breasted) and has since been a central figure in debates about women’s role in society, independence in workplace and dependence on men. It is thought to equate a woman’s worth with her beauty, hence raising questions about what defines a woman’s success. Obsession with Barbie’s physical appearance and lifestyle (knowned as the Barbie syndrom) has also been associated with pre-teen and adolescent females, leading up to cases of plastic surgery addiction and anorexia.

Barbie, a product of the west, is thought to embody individualism, freedom and narcissism. The Arab world sees Barbie as a threat, saying that “Barbie is more harmful than an American missile”. They have since came up with Fulla and Sara which have been a huge success in their local markets. They see this as a contest with America and is celebrating Full and Sara’s victory over Barbie.

Vivian

mr bean

Mr Bean, is like many of the soya products' stores that have sprouted out all over the island in recent years. It is visible through their franchises and operations that they have undergone process globalisation.

Under their Corporate Profile heading of Our Story, there is a self-description of what and how Mr Bean as a company functions. I quote, "Adopting a fast food concept, Mr Bean possesses the experience and technology to produce fresh and delectable product offerings with traditional nutritional value."

This is made more obvious by the mass manufacturing of their products, such that there is a consistent standard at all their franchises. Whilst the local traditional soya milk business was very personal to the manufacturers, today the soya milk production is factory made and hardly personal to the stakeholders. You can see this from the photo below:

Indeed, gone are the days when people slave over the stone grind, perspiring as they slog, to come up with homemade soya milk.

Another aspect of globalisation imminent in this case would be that of changes in their menu. This is product globalisation whereby new additions that fuse the influence of the West with the East arise in their soya products. There are soya milk shakes, much akin to the milk shakes that we get from Western food outlets, and also soya ice-cream which is not common to the traditional soya products business.

There is also a hybrid mentality in their corporate organisation. Although soya drinks business used to be family run, employment is open to everyone. The adoption of a hybrid mentality becomes clearer only when one looks to their writeup on the career opportunities. The subheading reads - Our Family, even though the workers are not just family members. Hence, the company has strived to incorporate both a global perspective and yet retaining some of its old traits in their operations.

The customers that frequent Mr Bean are of a wide variety of ages. The common trend among these customers is the fact that they frequent Mr Bean because it is first and foremost, conveniently located. Some others choose Mr Bean because of the packaging which has the cute bean animation on it. Upon further probing, the customers "confessed" that the quality of the soya products were satisfactory, but not superb. They purchased the soya products mainly out of convenience.

Our lecturer mused that this recent flowering of soya milk fast drinks chain in Singapore could very well be a fad which might die out in time to come. We will just have to wait and see I guess.

Dorcas Fong.

WOMAD

WOMAD is an arts festival which is held in Singapore (and in other countries) every year. In 2006, WOMAD took place in August (link to official WOMAD Singapore website).

Here is an excerpt from WOMAD's official press release:

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WOMAD Singapore Grows

WOMAD Singapore 2006 features two large outdoor stages and three smaller, more intimate spaces for performances and workshops. The Subaru Groove Tunnel at Fort Gate provides an atmospheric club setting which will be rocking till the early hours!

Once again, the site will feature a Global Village of some 30 traders selling a diverse range of unique local and international crafts and foods.

And fresh for this year, a number of artists appearing at WOMAD Singapore will be dipping into their recipe books and cooking up their favorite dishes from South Africa and China in our Taste the World festival kitchen.

“Tantalising tastes and succulent samples will be on offer at WOMAD’s new fifth stage. It gives the chance to hear how these artists connect music and food,”
says Ms Sarah Martin, Festival Director, WOMAD Singapore 2006.

Throughout the weekend, in familiar WOMAD style, there will be many opportunities for festival-goers to meet the artists in a series of workshops for children and adults. On stage the Festival will be presenting sounds from Peru to Korea, from Australia to Nigeria — and all points between.

This year’s WOMAD Singapore line-up is as follows:

Bukky Leo & Black Egypt (Nigeria); Chico César (Brazil); Risenga Makondo (South Africa); Dulsori (Republic of Korea); Guo Yue (People’s Republic of China); Jimmy Cliff (Jamaica); Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan (India); Radio Mundial (Puerto Rico); Association of Capoeira Argola de Ouro (S) (Singapore); Sam Tshabalala (South Africa); Soul Jazz Soundsystem (UK); Stevie Goldsmith (Australia); Movida DJs Marvin Kam & Adrian Wee (Singapore); Susana Baca (Peru); T-Bone (Thailand); Kng Mian Tze & Dahlia Osman (Singapore)

The WOMAD organization, based in United Kingdom, presents festivals worldwide in an array of beautiful venues – from verdant parks in Australia and New Zealand, beaches in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, the historical backdrop of Sicily and Madrid, to the banks of the River Thames at Reading, UK. The location of WOMAD Singapore – a garden in the heart of the city of the world’s most famous Garden State – provides yet another stunning location in which to present the WOMAD philosophy.

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I think WOMAD is a good example of cultural globalization, not just because it is about "the globalization of World music" but at the social level, it suggests that there are a lot of Singaporeans who feel that they are part of this "global village". In other words, they are fully aware of the many cultures around the world, and have this (a) curiosity and (b) appreciation for the music, arts and dances of various cultures. Viewed more critically, WOMAD is also globalization in that WOMAD is now a "product" that is "consumed" by a select segment of society, i.e. usually the more highly educated, higher social status, well-travelled etc. generation.

Alexius Pereira
18 October 2006

Below are some pictures from WOMAD 2006, from the official Global WOMAD website