Globalization: From Geo-cultural to Biopolitical Perspectives
Most of the authors who deal with globalization point out the economic aspects of this phenomena. Anthropologists are more concerned with its geo-cultural dimension. The works of Arjun Appadurai who focuses on the crisis of nation-State and the impact of global flows of people and informations (mass migration and electronic mediation), reflect this geo-cultural approach. In this context, imagination in now central. New postnational identities emerge, new localities are produced. We confront the contribution of Appadurai with another perspective which emphasizes the importance of the flow of people, but focuses on the biopolitical dimension of this situation. By reference to the works of Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, we show that this biopolitical perspective can be helpful for anthropologists, in order to better understand aspects of the globalization which the geo-cultural approach does not take into account.