I read an article in the NYT yesterday that got me thinking. It popped up of all places in the Arts section and is titled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/arts/18abroad.html?pagewanted=1">"Abroad: Do-It-Yourself Culture."</a> I read the headline and thought, I'd better read this. Even though I have no idea what it's about based on the title.  I have a hunch lots of people skipped over this article Sunday morning because really what's going on with the title?

In the States, <span style="text-decoration:line-through;">DYI</span> DIY (postscript--it turns out I am actually retarded and wrote the acronym out incorrectly every time I used it in my post. Thank -you, dear readers, for getting me straightened out.) generally refers to projects that you take on around the home yourself rather than say hiring someone to paint your bedroom, re-landscape your backyard, make your own elaborate birthday cake, sweater or other cutesy project rather than buying one at the store. But <span style="text-decoration:line-through;">DYI </span>DIY culture? This seems like stretch, a reach. It seemed confusing.

But it turned out that this is an article about the globalization of culture. Oh. As a rule, I am not sure that this make so much more sense than an arts and crafts project that requires glue, construction paper and copious amounts of glitter but I'll go with it.

It's about the way that American culture is everywhere today--globalization no longer confines American culture (whatever that is) to the boarders of America and the lament that this has caused for many governments who see this as the death of their country's culture.  Sure I buy this. But the author veils this argument in language that is over the top,<!--more--> when he write things like:
<blockquote>The integration of markets and the Internet have certainly brought  billions of people into closer contact. Everybody has access to the same  American movies and music now, and not just American, also Indian,  Romanian, South African and Chinese. But far from succumbing to some  devouring juggernaut, culture — and Europe, with its different  communities and nations living cheek by jowl, is a Petri dish to prove  the point — has only atomized lately as a consequence of the very same  globalizing forces that purportedly threaten to homogenize everything.</blockquote>
The argument, if I follow is simply that American culture is not homogenizing local cultures. Rather technology is for the first time letting people all over the world choose how they are "known, seen, distinguished from others."  Interesting. This is apparently where the DYI comes in.

We now have access to mix, make and take what we want and share it with the world.  Thanks YouTube. It's not a bad argument. But I can't help but wonder what this looks like in a place like Bulgaria.

But maybe that's the point. This kind of self-made culture is harder to name and market. It's value is different. The article ends with this:
<blockquote>Hollywood and Broadway, the major museums and art fairs and biennials  and galleries, buildings designed by celebrity architects and the music  business are all the traditional focus of big media, and they tell us a  lot about ourselves. They constitute our cultural firmament, the  constellation of our stars. But scientists say most of the universe is  composed not of stars but of dark matter. It is the powerful but  invisible force that exists everywhere and requires some leap of  imagination on our part, some effort, to identify.

Most culture  is dark matter.</blockquote>
There's something lovely about this image. Culture as dark matter. Culture as the thing that is in between the constellations--in between the hits, the movies and the pop art. But I am not sure that it's totally helpful.  How do we talk about the dark matter? How do we share it? How do we value it? How do we interact with it?

I am just at a loss for what this means for those of us who live and work abroad.  Those of us who interact with and react to a different culture everyday.  The thing is I am negotiate a life in two cultures--like many people are.  But maybe this is where <span style="text-decoration:line-through;">DYI</span> DIY culture comes into play. Hum.