Living in a Global World

What is Globalization?:

• The process by which the world increasingly becomes one market, dominated by electronic culture
• Scope and scale is changing - happening much faster
• Examples: Colonialism, Language, Agriculture, Sweatshops
• Neoliberalism: minimal government interference

The Global Economy:

• International market replacing nation-state as main focus of economic activity
• Reorganization of investment, production, and trade
• Increase in scale and power of transnational corporations
• Liberalization of government economic policies
• Unequal distribution of benefits

o Ex: privatization of water (Bolivia)

• Rural-to-urban migration of unskilled workers (urbanization)

Cultural Minorities:

• Members of ethnic or cultural groups who have become minorities in their native lands, due to:

o Migrations of other peoples into their territories

• Ex: Aboriginals in Canada, Dubai, etc

OR

o Historical configurations of a nation-state made up of diverse groups

• Ex: Yugoslavia (broke up into separate countries),

Migration:

• Voluntary migrant:

o Temporary:

■ Students

• Work permits

o Permanent:

• Immigrants
• Even work permits for example is not always voluntary - need to make money for families (India, etc)
• Migration is not always by choice (leave because they have to leave)
• Refugees:

o War

o Civil strife

o Asylum seekers

• Immigration in Canada

o Before 1961: 90% Europe, 6% Other, 4% Asia

o 1991-2001: 59% Asia, 20% Europe, 21% Other

o Origin in foreign born population of Canada: 21% Other, 37% Asia, 42% Europe

• In between voluntary migrants and refugees, there are floating populations
• Floating populations: China - large groups of people, mostly unskilled workers, that become part of China's manufacturing company

Ethnogenesis (birth of a culture) and Ethnic Identity:

• Formation and reformation of ethnic groups
• Ethnic labels
• Politicization of ethnic identity
• Tribalization: the process of identification with ones tribal origins
• Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality
• Definition for ethnicity:

MOVIE: Call Centers:

• Globalization
• Western culture taking over (culturally, economically, linguistically)
• Asking the people change who they are a bit (people receiving the call)
• Indian's mimic Americans with their accents at call centers
• Changing identities for other people
• Americans want to talk to other Americans

Transnationalism:

• Processes by which immigrants maintain social, economic, religious, and political ties to both their immigrant communities and their communities back home
• Trans = cross
• Also knowledge that is passes back and forth between nations

Nationalism and Pluralism:

• Nationalism: allegiance to the nation as a symbolic identity

o 18^th-20^th centuries

o Nation=contested

o Anderson imagined communities

o Nations divide based on religion, ethic groups, language, culture, boundaries, folklore

• Artificial idea - ex: Canada does not have just one of any of those (many religions, many languages, etc)

o Do we feel a strong tie to Canada, or would we pick up and leave if given the chance?

o Ethnic cleansing: when we want people who don't belong in Canada to leave

• Ethnic groups as structural features in states
• Tensions between ethnic differences and national identity - state strategies
• Decolonization and ethnic pluralism

o Ex: Aboriginal decolonization, India (pre-British 1947) - get rid of the colony and make a nation

• Difficult with so many different cultures, languages, religions o Decolonization results in violence

Islamization:

• The process of imposing the Islamic religion and associated cultural values within a nation to foster cultural uniformity
• Also Christianization, Indianization, etc (different parts of the world) to foster cultural uniformity
• Indonesia: 4^th largest nation, largest Muslim nation, send Javanese people to colonize the rest of the country (spreading the ideas of Islam)

Reactions Against Pluralism:

• Pluralism: two or more states coexist and come together
• Anti-immigration

o Changes groups

o Mostly against Asians and women (especially Asian women)

• Xenophobia

o Fear of outsiders/difference

o Leads to anti-immigration laws and institutionalized discrimination

• Discrimination

Globalization and Cultural Identities:

• Global culture of consumerism

o Consuming other cultures

o Ex: Western corporations consuming other cultures (McDonalds)

o Ex: Westerner's consuming Shakira (half Lebanese and half Columbian)

• Global identity based on social class

o Ex: University students sharing social class based on age (not based on gender, ethnicity, race, etc)

• Influence of mass media
• Global spread of English

Cultural Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in a Global World:

• Indigenous peoples: comparatively homogeneous peoples or small-scale societies who share the same culture and are “native” to their territory, or have occupied it for a long time

United States and Canada:

• History:

o Colonization of Aboriginal peoples and their lands

o Federal jurisdiction over Aboriginal communities

• Very different in US (kill them) vs. Canada (make treaties)
• Converting nature into culture
• Converting chaos into order
• Conversions are often violent (physically and mentally)

o Historical policies of assimilation

• Issues today:

o Self-government and limited sovereignty

o Land claims and resource rights

Oka Crisis - 1992:

• Sacred burial ground for Aboriginals and Oka people wanted to create a golf course on the land
• Aboriginals became violent protecting their cemetery/land
• Canadian forces vs. Mohawk rebels
• Golf course cancelled
• The idea of developing policies of indigenous rights issues and land claims came from this for the Aboriginals

Mexico and Indigenismo:

• Inconsistent government policies toward indigenous peoples
• 1993 Constitution - Idigenismo
• Development of resources and ignoring of indigenous rights
• Led to the Zapatista movement

o Small part of Mexico fought back

o Music was used to get the message of the Zapatista movement across in Mexico

Brazil and the “Indian Problem”:

• Indigenous communities mostly in isolated regions in the Amazon

o Wavering government protection of indigenous lands and rights

o Operation Amazonia - opened up the rainforest for development

o Yanomami at risk - extinction, changing, and losing their culture o “Urban Indians” - ex: Indian coming to New York (short clip)

Costs of Economic Development in Ecuador and Bolivia:

• Majority population of indigenous peoples
• Movements to oppose resource extraction and development of indigenous territories
• Oil drilling and pipelines
• Coalitions with environmental groups

Developments in Africa:

• Complex delineation of “indigenous” and “tribal” peoples
• Sudan and the Dinka

o Control of water

• Kenya and Tanzania

o Maasai and Barabaig lands

• Nigeria and the Ogoni

o Oil drilling and bioprospecting

Legal Rights and International Recognition:

• Coalitions to protect lands and cultural rights
• UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples

o Indigenous people do have rights and need to be recognized

• International law and claims to land, resources, and cultural heritage