The theme of the talent of the place and of specific energy firstly emerges from reflections on architectural theory elaborated by Norberg Schulz in the book titled Genius Loci.
The philosophical-literary root can instead be identified in flanerie interpreted by Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin’s travel diaries, and affirms in his book on Moscow that Berlin can be better understood, only if confronted with the experience of other cities.
The theme then explodes in Anglo-Saxon non-fiction in parallel with the affirmation of the concept of globalisation: the works by Lewis (When cultures collide) and Gannon (Understanding global cultures) represent only two of the many examples in this regard. The years in which Samuel Huntigton developed his theory on the conflict of civilisations in The clash of civilizations, that met with great success following the September 11th attacks, as a principal key of interpretation for these events.
At the same time the research conducted by the exponents of post-colonial anthropology, from Amselle, Bhabha and Appadurai, up to Clifford and Tomlinson, propose an alternative and original point of view on the progressive crossbreeding of culture and on the spontaneous message of behaviours. For these authors the civilisations are hostile within and therefore cannot be set against one another in such a schematic way.
A further original point of view, supported by articulated field research in many different countries, is proposed in the organisational culture of the work of Gert Hoffstede who monitors the weight and the depth of cultural universal values, mapping them onto axis that go from male/female influence up to the weight of autocratic/tolerant behaviours in the exercising of power. We recommend reading Modernity at large by Arjun Appadurai and consulting Understanding global cultures.
