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Fatima Bhutto explains how and why our tastes have changed in her new book
Popular culture is becoming more and more global. No longer the only child of Hollywood cinema and English pop music, she now has sisters born in South Korea, Turkey, Nigeria and India. The book tries to tell how and why this could happen. New kings of the world. Correspondence from Bollywood, Dizi and K-Pop From Fatima Bhutto.
The author, 41, granddaughter of Pakistan’s first female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, is a global citizen herself: after studying in Syria and Columbia University, she is now at home in London, where she writes for The keeper.
Interview with Fatima Bhutto
An elegant stateless woman with three romances under her belt, Fatima has just married American Graham Byra in an intimate Muslim ceremony in Karachi. Even his personal style transcends local boundaries: “Fashion changes so often that I prefer to dress in jeans and a white button-down shirt, but I also love the shalwar kameez (traditional Southeast Asian clothing, ed.), fresh for summer . and beautifully cut,” he explains. “However, saris represent the most elegant and feminine garments in the world.” Given the look and life accustomed to differences, it seems almost obvious that Fatima loves to talk about the extraordinary changes in the world. A world that, on the contrary, reopens borders – and not always in the best way.
What prompted you to write this book?
I wanted to study the politics of culture, more specifically how culture is used as a form of power. Hard power is tanks, guns and war, soft power is Elvis, Coca-Cola and rock and roll. He conveys ideas gently, but not innocently.
Why are we increasingly attracted to non-Western pop culture? And why do you think the latter are losing ground?
The process of globalization has changed a lot, but it has also betrayed many promises: it was said that it would bring wealth and opportunity to everyone, that it would connect us across oceans and change our lives for the better. It happened, but only for some. Millions of people were indoctrinated with the same promise, which led them to leave their homes in the villages and move to the big cities, expecting to be treated like captains of industry, but there they found themselves alienated, isolated, abandoned.