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5. Global Hybridization and the Cultural Other in US Children’s Television: Dora, Kai-Lan, & Caillou

Mon, August 24, 2:30 to 4:10pm, TBA

Abstract

This project uses the apparently innocuous measure of children’s TV programming in the US as a window onto the globalization debate. While globalization critics generally assume the forces of culture to be predominantly monodirectional (US/West outward), arguments for hybridity argue for a mixing of cultures. We examine more than 50 different examples of children’s TV programming in an effort to peel away the layers of the globalization debate, exposing not just levels of hybridity, but a more complex vision of global cultural hybridization. Doing this provides a meaningful and more nuanced tool for teaching about globalization.
I examine the countries of origin of children’s TV shows, but also production companies producing content, and the presence or emphasis on “global” or multicultural messaging in the programs.

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