Global perspectives presentation

1. Global Perspectives in the Curriculum

2. Ugly Betty is no simple Imperialistic tale of a
transatlantic trade in programmes from the US
to Britain, the stylish and award winning US hit
dramedy Ugly Betty, is the latest incarnation of
a truly global phenomenon. It started life as a
Colombian telenovela back in 1999 and
migrated to Mexico and Russia, from Germany
to Israel; Greece and Spain - 20 countries in
total. The Ugly Betty phenomenon has much to
say about the international circulation of TV
fictions as the locally produced Latin American
telenovela is sold to, and/or re-made for and
within, different national contexts. It tells of
tensions between the commercial demands of
multi-media conglomerates pursuing
international ambitions, the regulatory forces of
national broadcasters struggling in competitive
markets, and the known preference audiences
have for local TV fare. And what is more, the
global exportation of the ugly duckling tale has,
for many, led to a branded homogenisation of
cultural storytelling and audience experience,
obliterating the local and threatening
indigenous cultural representation.

3. Netflix for
international drama
and it’s free!
In January this year Channel 4
launched its new global digital
streaming service offering the
best drama from around the
world. The on-demand service is
named after Walter Iuzzolino – a
former TV producer based in
London - who curates the
collection of top rated
programmes from around the
world for UK viewers who are
currently less familiar with global
TV.

4. Mindscape
This Canadian animation Mindscape
exemplifies an alternative animation
method (i.e. pin-based stop-frame
animation), developed outside of the
mainstream studio system.
Its exploration of the relationship between
subjectivity and human perception of
physical and abstract spaces is connected
to themes we trace through lectures on, for
example, film worlds and mind-game
narratives.
Its concern with landscape and the
fluctuations of imagination also relate to the
lecturer’s research interests in garden
history and psychedelic culture, interests
which have in turn shaped my teaching at
UH.

5. Gamer Identities
In my “Gamer Identities” lecture,
I use this slide to discuss the
representation of gamers, as well
as the in-game representation of
various genders, races, gender
identities, sexualities and
disabilities. The slide, and the
lecture as a whole, help stimulate
discussion about those issues
from students of a wide variety of
backgrounds and nationalities.

6. This slide is one of a number
used to raise the topic of so
called ‘Primitivism’ in western
avant-garde art of the early 20th
century, and discuss issues of
colonialism/appropriation of
artefacts and modes of
representation from colonised
countries in Africa & Oceania and
other countries regarded in the
West as exotic or ‘backward’.
Karl Schmidt Rottluff, Two
Women,1912o/c, 76.5 x 84.5cm,
Tate Modern
Abstractions and
Expressionisms

7. The fashion business- from sheep to shop.
Fashion and
Fashion Business

8. Rana Plaza
garment factory
collapse, Dhaka
District of
Bangladesh,
April 24th 2013

10. Postmodernism in
the 21st Century
1.Kenneth Cobonpue renewable
furniture
2. Mine clearance device
Massoud Hassani
3. Folding plug Min-Kyu Choi
In Product Design, these products
are not labelled as global or
international but simply as
examples in their design contexts
– sustainability, community,
innovation. The aim is to make
global design a natural default
wherever possible.

11. Design for the First
World: The Rest
saving the West
We’re calling artists, designers,
tinkerers, makers and thinkers with
an idea to participate. Two
conditions: You were born in and live
right now in a developing country and
you are 13 years of age or older
(2010).
This competition epitomises the
various, and often conflicting,
ways "socially
motivated design" is perceived in
different global contexts.

12. C&CS without
Teachers
To be honest, I don’t like the term
'global perspectives’ I would rather
have local perspectives with
universal truths! The infinite in the
finite. To this end, I am trying to
develop a non-hierarchal system of
education (if that doesn’t sound too
grand), where the students take
control and the staff fall away (and
are only there if the students - we
need to find a more egalitarian term,
as it implies a position of subversion
to teacher/master - need them). In
this instance, a global perspective
really becomes a collective
perspective that cuts across
differences, and in such moments a
creative commons is created. This is

13. Teaching students about Global brands- Comme les
Garcons owned by Japanese designer Rei KAWAKUBO

14. ‘A borderless
volunteer
community of more
than 1400 writers
online’

15. Japan: Emptiness (‘Ma’)
Emptiness is “limitless potential” - A blank
space that is potentially all things.
(Hara, 2007, p. 39)

16. The Global Recorded
Music Industry
The IFPI represents the recorded
music industry worldwide, with
more than 1,300 members in 63
countries.
Members include the
three ‘major’ labels and hundreds
of independent record labels
across the world.

17. A 2,000,000
year old knife
Olduvai stone chopping tool, from
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, 1.8 to 2
million years old (British Museum)
An artefact used, to open up
discussions about (a) the long
traditions of humanity as ‘homo
faber’ and (b) the global scope of
cultural understanding.
It can also prompt discussion on
cultural appropriation, etc., given
that it resides in the British
Museum in London, not in
Tanzania…

18. WHERE NEXT?