Abstract
Cosmopolitan Narratives: Documentary Perspectives on Afghanistan
Cosmopolitanism is a concept discussed in relation to globalization in contemporary societies by sociologists, anthropologists and media scholars (Beck 2006, Delanty 2006, Appadurai 1996). The concept indicates the dialectic between universal dimensions of human life and cultural differences in a more and more mediatized global media culture. How do individuals and groups imagine each other in this new, global media culture, in what Appadurai (1996) has called a new post-national political world with an emerging diasporic public sphere? Belonging to a nation, a culture is of course still a very central thing. We still experience the world from where we are, we view others through a lens of imaginary (Anderson 1983) and real belonging somewhere. The distant ’other’ can still for many be rather distant, and certainly more distant than those close others in our everyday life. But the media play an increasingly strong and important role in developing a cosmopolitan imaginary through narratives that bring us closer to the various distant, global others. Through migration those earlier distant others are also more and more mixed in our daily lives and more cosmopolitan and multicultural societies (Bondebjerg 2014). News play a role here, but more important are documentary film and television, because such narratives of reality can unfold global aspects of everyday life and social realities in a much stronger way. In this paper I develop the concept of global narratives in documentary in a sociological and cultural theoretical sense. Following that I look at how life in Afghanistan has been described both by documentary filmmakers with a European background (for instance Havana Markings Afghan Star and Phil Grabsky in The Boy Mir) and filmmakers with a background in Afghanistan (for instance Nagieb Khaja My Afghanistan).
Cosmopolitanism is a concept discussed in relation to globalization in contemporary societies by sociologists, anthropologists and media scholars (Beck 2006, Delanty 2006, Appadurai 1996). The concept indicates the dialectic between universal dimensions of human life and cultural differences in a more and more mediatized global media culture. How do individuals and groups imagine each other in this new, global media culture, in what Appadurai (1996) has called a new post-national political world with an emerging diasporic public sphere? Belonging to a nation, a culture is of course still a very central thing. We still experience the world from where we are, we view others through a lens of imaginary (Anderson 1983) and real belonging somewhere. The distant ’other’ can still for many be rather distant, and certainly more distant than those close others in our everyday life. But the media play an increasingly strong and important role in developing a cosmopolitan imaginary through narratives that bring us closer to the various distant, global others. Through migration those earlier distant others are also more and more mixed in our daily lives and more cosmopolitan and multicultural societies (Bondebjerg 2014). News play a role here, but more important are documentary film and television, because such narratives of reality can unfold global aspects of everyday life and social realities in a much stronger way. In this paper I develop the concept of global narratives in documentary in a sociological and cultural theoretical sense. Following that I look at how life in Afghanistan has been described both by documentary filmmakers with a European background (for instance Havana Markings Afghan Star and Phil Grabsky in The Boy Mir) and filmmakers with a background in Afghanistan (for instance Nagieb Khaja My Afghanistan).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 6 Sept 2014 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Publication status | Published - 6 Sept 2014 |
| Event | World Documentary - University of Falmouth, Falmouth, United Kingdom Duration: 4 Sept 2014 → 6 Sept 2014 |
Conference
| Conference | World Documentary |
|---|---|
| Location | University of Falmouth |
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Falmouth |
| Period | 04/09/2014 → 06/09/2014 |
Keywords
- Faculty of Humanities