Cultural Presence is Economic Power
Cultural Economics
Cultural presence can generate economic values through tourism, food, creative industries, and global visibility.
Visibility
When a culture is invisible, people never get the chance to learn, support, or invest in it.
Cultural visibility
One question that I have is why people know Pad Thai from Thailand, or Pho from Vietnam? But nobody knows any Lao dishes.
When I say I am from Laos, people don’t know where it is or even that it is a country, although we are right next to well-known countries like Thailand, or Vietnam, or Cambodia; the list goes on.
I don’t see it as a disadvantage; I see it as an untapped opportunity. There is so much richness in our cultures, yet they remain largely invisible in global spaces.
Take Ta-Koh (ຕະໂກ້), for example, a Lao corn pudding dessert that is simple, smells good, and unlike anything I’ve tasted before. During the summer of 2024, I lived with friends from many countries, and that was when I began to think seriously about food as a form of cultural identity.
I made Ta-Koh for my housemates, and they loved it. One of them, from Morocco, shared that in her culture, corn is often used in savory dishes; she had never thought it could be made with dessert. The experience went both ways. I tried dishes from Morocco and Namibia that they made, and it opened my eyes to how differently food can be prepared, and how much I've not known because those foods never get to mainstream media.
That’s the core issue; our cultures are not absent because they lack value, but because the global media space leaves very little room for them. Not many people get the chance to encounter these foods or stories.
To put it simply, our cultures are not part of dominant global narratives.
This is where my economics and sociology knowledge intersects. Countries with strong economies often have strong cultural presence (but sometimes cultural capital also helps build economic capital). When countries share their culture with the world, they make people familiar with their stories, values, aesthetics, and experiences. That familiarity encourages people to want to try their food, visit their cities, follow their artists, and engage with their media. In other words, cultural visibility can enhance economic strength.
What about Laos? That is what I'm thinking about right now. I'm still trying to connect the dots and understand more of this; but this is where I am at, thinking about cultural presence, its connection to economic strength, and how I could do this for my country, for my culture.
A world shaped by a few dominant cultures leaves many valuable perspectives untold.
Cultural & economic capital
Diving into the Numbers
The global cultural and creative industries generate $2.3 trillion annually, mostly captured by dominant cultures.
(UNCTAD 2024)
%
Developing countries accounted for less than 1% of global exports of cultural goods and services
(Locksley 2009)
%
Creative industries contribute as little as 0.5% of GDP in some countries, but over 7% in others, highlighting disparities in cultural industry development worldwide
(UNCTAD 2024)