I think that the government should provide support for cultural diplomacy (through money, travel, contacts, etc.), but that these cultural diplomats certainly need not be members of the government. As the speakers at the conference talked about, ambassadors to the U.S. can be anyone from famous basketball players to dancers to study abroad students. In many ways these person to person relations can build much stronger connections than government to government relations can. As successful friendships and partnerships are built between Americans and citizens in other countries their views of America will hopefully begin to become more positive and in turn these positive images will spread throughout the country.
On a different, but somewhat related note, I think that the reading "The rising East Asian 'Wave'" could provide a framework of cultural diplomacy that America could follow. Rather than trying to spread its influence through policies, the South Korean government used pop culture and cultural diplomacy to spread the popularity of Korean culture. Korea took the stars of the country's most popular TV shows and music groups and transformed them into ambassadors of Korean culture. Now Korea TV shows and music are hugely popular throughout East Asia. This export of pop culture has created more tourism at home and also a better image of Korea abroad. America would be smart to follow this example.
Aren't you a little worried that if the U.S. government is seen as promoting American culture abroad that it will be viewed more as cultural imperialism than anything else. American multinational corporations have already been very successful in distributing American cultural products all around the world, much to the chagrin of many other countries. In fact, many of the backlashes the can be seen today against things like globalization, is just as much a backlash against the overarching American influence over cultural products like films, music, etc. I might even go so far as to argue that the American government has to reign in its cultural influence abroad, not expand it, so as not to further exacerbate relations with other countries.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the U.S. has to be careful about their cultural diplomacy being seen as cultural imperialism. Once aspect of the Korean Wave's cultural diplomacy that might help avoid this is that their cultural diplomats show respect to the culture of the countries they visit. Many of the music groups learn the languages of the countries they visit so their that they can have a shared cultural experience rather than impose their culture on others. I think this is what America is really missing. American pop culture is exported in mass without much thought as to the effects of these products abroad or how they will be received. In spreading their own culture Americans need to show that they also respect other cultures. As I said, this could be done through ambassadors that are not affiliated with the government. Also America would do well to create more collaborations as were mentioned at the conference, creating art or music between Americans and people from other countries.
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