Nedim Cano
GS 150
Unit Essay 2

Cultural Globalization
Culture, Identity, and Globalization, for quite sometime, has been the topic of discussion. Generally culture is perceived as “the way of life” of a person, from language, imagination, arts, music, patterns of eating, and images such as dress and conceptions of beauty are all added into the set of norms, beliefs and values that form the culture. It is important to understand identity because we are faced with the challenge of accepting and appreciating other culture systems in order to avoid ethnic nationalism and hostility. Everyone has a natural idea of what cultural identity is, just like anybody else I can tell you about my background and where I come because of the ideas I adapted growing up in life. But the change in awareness is that I can identify my self as a Bosnian American because I understand the shared beliefs and behaviors of the people that raised me. While changes in cultures are ongoing and inevitable, the change in understanding globalization has facilitated a greater transfer of ideas for me from both Bosnia and the United States. These concepts manifest themselves to my culture because it creates the idea that norms and practices can be shared amongst each other. Whether one lives in the United States, China, or Bosnia and Herzegovina, globalization is having a profound affect on how people live their lives.
In order for you to understand how globalization has helped me better understand my culture and identity I would like to clarify the principal terms of the paper: “Culture” and “Globalization.” According to our week two readings culture, “is the full range of learned behavior… which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Culture provides continuity and order within a society, though it is far from being static. Indeed, culture is a process that is in continual flux because of its reliance on human learning and communication. Yet its transcendence from the present to the future often goes without notice. It is like the “white” noise that frequently clutters our favorite radio or television programs and that occasionally works itself into our everyday consciousness. It is only when we can compare our radio and television reception with that of our neighbor’s can we discern a marketed difference, one that sometimes stirs us to action. It is the same with cultures.
What about “Globalization”? In our week nine reading, according to National Geographic, “Globalization is the connection of different parts of the world… that results in the expansion of international cultural, economic, and political activities. Globalization brings out the increasing of diversity in products, ideas, beliefs, values, knowledge, customs, and the like. This diversity, in turn, results in an expanding array of things for people to pick from in their continual struggle to make a better life for themselves and their family, an array from which people can begin to choose in very similar ways, thus making people more and more similar.
For example Bosnians in Sarajevo and Tuzla are no different than Chinese in Guangzhou and Hangzhou. Although American delicacies like hotdogs and hamburgers have not replaced Cevapi (Bosnian National Dish) and seafood dumplings, other aspects of American culture have been made available to Bosnians and Chinese, things that they have taken advantage of: films, music, the English language, and American political and moral ideals. Forget about every Bosnian and Chinese looking and acting like Americans. It just will not happen. Some aspects of the cultures in the Balkans and Asia are too deeply embedded for Americans culinary tastes and preferences in apparel to have much of an impact. Yet American cinema and music are extremely powerful forces that have made fans worldwide. Furthermore, there is the language itself and the political and moral ideals of freedom, democracy, equality, and fairness that are being learned and adopted by many in the hope that they will lead to a better life. The dream of many students is to study in the U.S. or to be able to live in their own country in much the same way that Americans live in there’s, governing themselves in peace and prosperity.
However, the fear of American consumer culture and way of life sweeping the world is somewhat overstated. History, religion, and language are crucial to the identities of those living in the Balkans and elsewhere. Their imprint on the consciousness of people makes certain aspects of their cultures more resistant to some foreign influences.
Globalization can contribute to the growth of individuals, societies, and countries because diversity generated from cultural exchange leads to an increase in personal freedom, thereby allowing people to “experiment” with different identities. For example, people can acquire new tastes in music, film, and books, thus creating new identities for themselves. University students in Sarajevo can learn English while students at University of Washington can learn about the Balkans and prepare for their first visit to Sarajevo. Although their dominant identity continues to be, for example, Bosnian, Croat, Serb, or American, they have chosen to superimpose other identities that satisfy certain needs, desires, and interests.
What is especially important for post-conflict environments like Bosnia is that intercultural education has the potential to liberate people from received opinion, the sort of opinion that often divides us along certain ethnic, racial, and religious categories. In the best case scenario, it allows individuals to distance ourselves from that opinion and from their interests, so that they can at least recognize that the perspective of the “other” is sometimes as deserving of respect as their own. Learning about other cultures allows us to see ourselves in the “other” therefore allows us to empathize with them and to act in a civically responsible way toward them. Increasing our contact with narratives and customs from different ethnic, racial, and religious groups promotes this sort of response. Coming into contact with the written and spoken word, or the tragic image, of the “other”, whether the other is Bosnian, Serb, Croat, or American moves people closer to humanity. In Bosnia, as elsewhere, conflictual relationships change over time because people think, feel, and act differently when they have replaced the “us and them” relationship with a “we” relationship. As a result, the mutual trust that that is created between members of the ethnic groups leads to expressions of solidarity, friendship, and citizenship within multiethnic Bosnia.
In the United States many cultures are constantly undergoing change it is happening in a number of Islamic countries with the struggle against certain aspects of modern Western life; and it is taking place in Bosnia, where the political and economic ideas of liberalism are struggling to create new identities and institutions in a post-conflict multiethnic and multinational society. In some ways, cultures are becoming more alike, in part because of the advances in communication technology and means of transportation. Given that we are all human beings who are endowed with free will and the capacity to reason, perhaps we should endeavor to lead as human of a life as possible, not only for ourselves, but for others as well.