In The News

The Dying Fish Swims in Water

January 6, 2006
Within Russia, a small group of ethnic minorities fight for the survival of their languages and cultures, prompting a strong reaction from the Russian government. Finno-Ugric groups such as the Komi, Mari, and Udmurt resist a Russocentrism that makes traditional ways of life increasingly tenuous. The nationalist self-preservation in this case is a wistful nod to the origins of Finland and...

Entr’acte: On Screen, Globalization and a Deadly Discontent

Alan Riding January 4, 2006
The Greek director Constantin Costa-Gavras has made a French film that some describe as a disturbing combination of the ludicrous and the all-too-real. “Le Couperet” is a thriller based on the 1997 novel, “The Ax,” by US author Donald Westlake. In the book, a downsized paper mill executive in his mid-fifties is unemployed for two years before he starts killing off competitors for a dream job....

Politicus: U.S. Model for Europe: Immigrant Work Ethic

John Vinocur December 14, 2005
As the recent riots in France show, Europe faces a conundrum when it comes to integrating its immigrant populations into their host societies. Some acknowledged and indisputably real factors need to be addressed, including discrimination and lack of education. However, a new notion is garnering attention from some European politicians – the idea that the US has had more success integrating...

It’s Now Hollywood Outsourcing to India

December 14, 2005
The Indian government is altering its decades-old stance of suspicion towards Hollywood and foreign cultural influence, and deliberatly positioning India as an outsourcing destination for the international film industry. India has become an attractive location for future blockbusters, offering cost savings of forty to sixty percent on typical big-budget productions and potential for profit. The...

Why Globalization Hurts Football

Andre Santamaria December 12, 2005
To most people, issues related to globalization revolve around open economies and free trade. Yet the effects of globalization can be felt in many more arenas, including in the world of professional football. From a certain standpoint, globalization may be said to be the enemy of the distinct styles of play that have traditionally made the sport a theatre for the display of national character...

Open Letter to the French Minister of the Interior

Edouard Glissant December 9, 2005
This "Open letter" to French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy comes at a time of global scrutiny for France, and from the pen of two leading Martinican authors, Edouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau (Winner of the French Prix Goncourt for literature in 1997). The duo, well-respected writers and new-wave philosophers of the African diaspora, take Sarkozy and the French Republic to...

Ogre to Slay? Outsource it to Chinese

David Barboza December 9, 2005
Online gamers with money to burn, who have neither the time nor patience to battle their way up to the higher levels of games such as World of Warcraft and Magic Land, are willing to pay others to do it for them. A business known as "gold farming" has appeared in China, in which young men, mostly with dim employment prospects, spend hours playing online games, accumulating points,...