India and the IT Revolution

The 'Indian Techie' has become a global icon, taking its place alongside McDonalds and MTV as one of the key symbols of contemporary globalization. India and the IT Revolution explores the contemporary emergence of cosmopolitan, high-tech India as marking the arrival of a truly global cyberculture. It argues against the notion that globalization is a process of 'Westernization', which radiates out unilaterally from the core, imposing itself upon a passive, backward periphery. Instead, it conceives of global culture as a dynamic, innovative network, which proceeds primarily from its edges.

Autorentext

ANNA GREENSPAN is an independent scholar working in the areas of digital culture and globalization, focusing particularly on Asia's giants, India and China. Anna currently spends her time teaching and writing in both Canada and Shanghai. She is a founding member of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit.

Zusammenfassung
Western visions of India tend to be locked in one of two modes: either pitying India for its underdevelopment and poverty or praising its indifference to material progress as a mark of its spiritual superiority. Yet, today images of naked mystics and starving children are being supplemented by those of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, software engineers in Bangalore and the proliferation of call centers and back office businesses across the country. These phenomena signal the rise of a new India, one that is confident, high tech and fully connected to the rest of the world. This book examines how this new globalized India emerged, telling the dramatic story of its economic reforms, influential IT diaspora, software revolution and contribution to the controversial growth or offshore outsourcing. This rise of India is not only transforming the country, it is shaping the economic and cultural realities of the 21st century world.

Inhalt

Introduction The Idea of Westernization Opening Up Eastern Influences Marginal Influences The Technological Edge Peripheral Competencies Digital Dividend Global Networks Zero Logo Bibliography