'Scapes' Approach to Studying Globalization

While studying international communication, it is helpful to always be thinking about the world in terms of patterns and themes. Thussu uses the word 'scape' in conjunction with a prefix to describe the general theme or 'landscape' which it represents. For example the theme of ethnoscape refers to a way of looking at the world map in terms of the people who are living in certain locales, and who move from place to place. This term represents a wide variety of people including tourists, refugees, immigrants, students on exchange and professionals who move from one part of the world to another (Thussu, 62). Those of us who enjoy traveling to other places and countries will fall into this category in one way or another. Finanscape refers to the international flow of money, particularly with regards to foreign investment. The other two main 'scapes' are mediascape, which represents the global flow of media, especially the flow of electronic information as it flows around the world and lastly, technoscape, which as you can probably guess, refers to the transfer of technologies as it flows across national borders Thussu, 62). An example of technoscape would be the flow of laptop computers from factories in Shanghai to the hands of consumers in North America.

While these 'scapes' can exist in harmony with one another, it is often the case that two are present in the same area but are moving at completely different directions or perhaps are moving in the same directions, but at different speeds. These differences are called disjunctive flows and can result in dramatic differences experienced at the local level. For example of where two 'scapes' are at a disjunct with each other, China stands out as an interesting case study. When the ethnoscape and finanscape themes are applied to China, one interpretation would say that they are at a disjunct, traveling in opposite directions. With regards to finanscape, in the past decade foreign investment has dramatically increaded and China has become one of the worlds fastest growing economies as a result. Each year, 10's of billions of dollars flow into the country as direct foreign investment. However, with regards to ethnoscape, each year there are more people who have emmigrated from China, than there are people who immigrated from China. To make it clear, one can see that as money is flowing into the country, people are moving out of it, and migrating to countries like Canada.

An example of a disjunctive flow of mediascape versus technoscape could be seen with regards to the United States. American media is exported to many parts of the world, including Japan, who seem to love American media content and often try to emulate it. However, much of the technology America receives has come from Japan, who is generally a few years more advanced than the West. As entertainment media flows one way, technology flows in an other and opposite direction.

THinking about the world in terms of the movements and relationships of these 'scapes' gives globalization scholars a system for discussing themes and patterns which have emerged in our highly globalize world. It represents the diversity which is present between nations and can provide clues into the sorts of relationships that are taking place between countries as they interact with eachother. As globalization continues to occur at ever-increasing rates, consciously looking at and studying these 'scapes' will be beneficial indeed as a means of understanding more about what is happening on national and particularly international levels.

Thussu, Daya Kishan. "The Historical Context of International Communication" and "Contraflow in Global Media." International Communication: Continuity and Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. 62.