GP essay question guide
Can traditions survive in a globalised world?
Define survival before you judge. The best answers show both how global media pushes older forms aside and how the same forces help traditions travel and adapt.
Unpack this question first: 'Can' asks whether survival is possible, not certain. 'Survive' needs defining: staying exactly the same, or living on in a changed form? Lesson: Reading an essay question: terms and scope
Use this question in writing - Sign in, check the question, then write your response.
Topics: Arts and Humanities, Society and Culture, Politics and Governance
Three argument directions
Global culture crowds out local forms
Young audiences often prefer global films and music to older local forms.
Qualification: Global attention can also revive interest in local culture.
Recognition and protection help
Heritage listings and legal protection bring attention, money and respect.
Qualification: A listing cannot make young people take up a craft.
Adapting is surviving
Traditions that mix with new styles reach new audiences.
Qualification: Purists may say a changed tradition is no longer the real thing.
A model paragraph
Our own paragraph for this question. Copy its moves, not its words.
Traditions can survive in a globalised world, but usually by changing form rather than staying exactly as they were. Global media puts songs and shows from Seoul or Los Angeles on the same screen as local ones, and older forms often lose young audiences. Yet the same forces help traditions travel. Singapore's hawker culture was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in 2020, which drew attention and support to a way of eating that many feared would fade as hawkers aged. Some young performers also mix traditional dance with modern styles to reach new audiences. Purists may say that a changed tradition is no longer the real thing, but a tradition that cannot adapt is more likely to end up only in a museum.
How it is built
- Definition: survival means living on, even in a changed form.
- Case: hawker culture's UNESCO listing; dance that mixes styles.
- Rebuttal and judgement: purists answered with 'adapt or end up in a museum'.
Six examples to compare
Traditional Arts: Heritage or History?
Traditional arts face modern pressures. Are they vital for cultural identity or just nostalgic items in our globalised world?
Possible essay use
From 1991 Kelantan's PAS-led state government restricted traditional performing arts, including wayang kulit, as un-Islamic.
Limitation
This is one region and one organisation; how many young people now perform wayang kulit is not well measured, so claims of a full revival go beyond the evidence.
Case or source date: 2002-01-01
Source: Roads and Kingdoms
UNESCO Expands Its Intangible Heritage Lists
UNESCO's 2024 committee session added community practices and expressions to its intangible cultural heritage lists.
Possible essay use
international recognition can raise the profile of living traditions, but it helps only if communities keep control over their practices
Limitation
Listing can raise visibility but may commercialise, freeze, or unevenly represent living practices unless communities retain agency.
Case or source date: 2024-12-05
Source: UNESCO
WIPO Adopts a Treaty on Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge
WIPO members adopted a treaty requiring patent applicants to disclose specified origins when inventions are based on genetic resources or associated traditional knowledge.
Possible essay use
WIPO members adopted a treaty requiring patent applicants to disclose specified origins when inventions are based on genetic resources or associated traditional knowledge.
Limitation
Disclosure rules improve transparency but do not by themselves determine consent, compensation, ownership, or enforcement.
Case or source date: 2024-05-24
Hallyu: Korea's Global Culture Wave Power
The Korean Wave (Hallyu) shows how cultural exports like K-pop and K-dramas boost South Korea's global image and soft power.
Possible essay use
In December 2018 the Hyundai Research Institute estimated that BTS generated about 4.1 trillion won (about US$3.6 billion) of economic activity in South Korea each year.
Limitation
The figure is a think tank's model estimate from 2018, not measured output, and BTS took a break for military service from 2022 to 2025, so it describes one period.
Case or source date: 2018-12-18
Source: The Jakarta Post (AFP)
Singapore Brings Cross-Cultural Dance into Secondary Schools
A new two-year dance programme lets secondary students from different schools learn traditional forms together.
Possible essay use
Singapore announced a two-year Ethnic Fusion Dance Programme for secondary students from different schools, alongside expanded support for traditional and multicultural arts programmes.
Limitation
a programme announcement does not yet prove lasting changes in attitudes, and students may participate without gaining deeper cultural understanding
Case or source date: 2026-03-03
MONDIACULT 2025 Places Culture in Global Policy
UNESCO's MONDIACULT 2025 process brought governments together around culture policy and culture's place in sustainable development.
Possible essay use
UNESCO's MONDIACULT 2025 process brought governments together around culture policy and culture's place in sustainable development.
Limitation
A ministerial declaration can elevate culture politically but does not guarantee finance, access, or protection in national policy.
Case or source date: 2025-10-01
Source: UNESCO