Qutb and Appadurai

In this post I will be writing about Seyyid Qutb's Milestones and chapter 3 of Modernity at Large by Arjuan Appadurai.

Viewing Milestones in light of Appadurai's conceptualization of globalization, it seems that Qutb focuses mainly on ideoscapes (as opposed to any of the other scapes outlined by Appadurai). Qutb's ideal society is based in Muslim ideology. He focuses more on Islam than on anything else as a foundation for society. He argues that Islam is "the only system" that can provide humanity with the values necessary for life and with a lifestyle that is "harmonious with human nature" (p. 8).

Of course, Qutb's writing also addresses other scapes, including finanscapes. Qutb argues that both communism and capitalism are inadequate: he writes about "the humiliation of the common man under the communist systems" and "the exploitation of individuals…under the capitalist systems" (p. 11). According to Qutb, communism is dehumanizing, while capitalism produces greed, materialism, and imperialism. Here we see something interesting. Qutb believes that Islam offers the only economic solution. But Islam is an ideology, not an economic system. Thus we see one intersection between finanscapes and ideoscapes.

I am surprised that Appadurai's conceptualization of globalization doesn't include "politicoscapes," or something similar. A relevant example of the spread of global flow within the political arena is the spread of democracy (or at least the desire to spread democracy). Isn't this a part of globalization? When the U.S. hunted Saddam Hussein "in the name of democracy," isn't that a product of political globalization? It is therefore surprising to me that Appadurai did not include such an important aspect in his theory of globalization. Perhaps he meant for the political arena to be subsumed under ethnoscape.

-GGM