globalization, imaginations, culture, space, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech

The dominant imaginations of globalization create an illusion of a borderless world. In view of the intimate relationship between space and culture, we argue that implicit in this imagination is also a cultureless space. While many scientists have noticed the a-spatial aspects of the imagination of globalization, not sufficient attention has been paid, in our view, to the a-cultural aspects of this imagination. Using the Huyndai Motor Manufacturing Czech car plant in Nošovice, Czech Republic, as our case study, we demonstrate that all actors, presumably involved in this feat of globalization, remain firmly rooted both spatially and culturally. Rather than seeing globalization as an actually occurring process, we deem it more appropriate to view it as a mediating imagination, effectively obscuring and legitimating spatial and cultural inequalities in the present world.

The dominant imaginations of globalization create an illusion of a borderless world. In view of the intimate relationship between space and culture, we argue that implicit in this imagination is also a cultureless space. While many scientists have noticed the a-spatial aspects of the imagination of globalization, not sufficient attention has been paid, in our view, to the a-cultural aspects of this imagination. Using the Huyndai Motor Manufacturing Czech car plant in Nošovice, Czech Republic, as our case study, we demonstrate that all actors, presumably involved in this feat of globalization, remain firmly rooted both spatially and culturally. Rather than seeing globalization as an actually occurring process, we deem it more appropriate to view it as a mediating imagination, effectively obscuring and legitimating spatial and cultural inequalities in the present world.