Sumblog 11

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

On the topic of development in Kenya, where the global system is in direct conflict with the local population, the term cultural imperialism has a large role. In this case, cultural imperialism refers to the global influence of the west on the development of other "less developed" areas of the world. Assuming that there is more than one way to develop, this could mean that as one area is taking its own path towards development, the global model of development (which is a mostly western version of development) is being imposed on that country, altering its course. We can see an example of this in the film we have recently viewed in class, where the views of what it means to be poor differs between a Kenyan family and an international farming company. The company had built a new rice farming installation in Kenya which they claimed was bringing needed development into this poor region of Kenya, however, it destroyed some of the livelihoods of these "poor" families. When you look at this from the Kenyan families' perspectives, they are not poor at all. A few of these families were quite rich in terms of livestock and land, which had just been destroyed by the company. The international company saw houses insulated with mud and struggling farmers, where in actuality, there were happy prosperous farmers.

What could be seen as poverty by our definition, could be seen as prosperity by another

I chose the picture (left) to demonstrate that what we see as a lack of wealth (houses made of sticks and tattered novels), could be interpreted differently by other cultures. I see this issue as something difficult to solve. I see the solution as education emphasizing the understanding of other cultures and their perspectives instead of considering only the western ideals. Like many solutions requiring more education, this goal would be almost impossible to achieve on a large scale, however, most of those making decisions with international impact are well educated and a change to the educational system would benefit the globe through its future leaders.

Sumblog 10

What ain't no country I've ever heard of!

Recently, the topic of population came into discussion while talking about the environmental facet of Globalization. There are many different ways of controlling population falling under two main categories: Population Control (pertaining to the births/potential births) and immigration control.


Visual depictions of the effects of China's one child policy.
I chose these three charts in order to demonstrate the effects of
population control on a country's pop. growth and demographics


 

Population control focuses on preventing or even limiting births through voluntary and involuntary methods. Voluntary methods include the promotion of birth control and other forms of family planning. Involuntary methods include sterilization (linked to necessary government aid) and laws only allowing each family to have one child.

Immigration control attempts to limit or restrict the number of people that move across borders and settle down. Some countries create large legal barriers to live, work and act within their borders without citizenship status, while others physically deport immigrants or physically protect their borders.

My take on the issue of population control is that as effective as some government's actions on pop. control may be, countries have often regulated their pop. through social and structural means (i.e. as more people move to the cities, children become less productive, as they were in rural areas, and more of a liability. This often has led to declining fertility). As times and environments change for a country, so should the population. Also birth and immigration policies tend to be very difficult to enforce in my opinion. While it may be hard for a non-citizen to find legitimate work, they may have a very easy time finding illegitimate, unregulated work.

Sumblog 9

A Better Brand of Berger Makes a Nation-State Stronger

In class, we discussed Berger's argument that the strongest cultures have a balance between fundamentalism and relativism. Both fundamentalism and relativism are ideal types, which no culture can be entirely one or the other. That would be impossible! If a culture was entirely fundamental, there would actually be no fundamentalism; without new and changing ideals, the resistance against them (fundamentalism) would not exist. If a culture was completely relativist, there would be no guidelines or ideas of right and wrong. There would be a massive feeling of anomie throughout the culture. This brings it back to Berger's argument; a strong culture is a mix/balance of these two extremes. The culture would exhibit relativism by accepting new, changing ideas and showing tolerance towards the non-traditional. For example, the existence of the sign below, is a testament to America's relativism. It reinforces the relativist idea that a belief in God is not the only way to live, it is not an immutable truth.

 

Fundamentalism would be exhibited by maintaining a set of morals and rules that are held as truths (i.e. our systems of laws; instead of looking at each crime case by case, we have set truths which become our laws). An example of this is depicted in the image below. The idea that "There can be only one!" is itself fundamentalism, because the "one" is seen as the only truth/option.

 

I agree completely with this model/idea of a strong culture. If our country was more fundamentalist, there wouldn't be as many different sects of religion present and accepted as we have today. There could even be only one religion accepted and every other idea practiced would be prosecuted. On the other side of the coin, if America was more relativist, we might not have judicial system. If someone was to commit murder, we might see it as his/her own version of what one can and can't do, instead of deeming it right or wrong.

Sumblog 8

It's a Series of Tubes!

A large portion of this week's lecture/discussion has been the film on Anonymous and other sects branching off of it. Anonymous is a group of people (most of them with vast amounts of computer hacking and programming skills) who had found their shared values, beliefs, etc. in posts on an online forum called 4chan. Through this outlet, they became a globalized culture with their own symbols and language. The group's dynamics were always changing as time went on and the "membership" started to widen even into the domain of activism. Eventually those in the globalized community began to diverge slightly, based on their ideas and values, and formed sub-cultures within the Anonymous/4chan culture. One example of this was Lulzsec; a group with a stronger inclination towards chaos and trying to shake the powers that be.

When you look at how this community formed, it appears to be the definition of culture; It formed solely on the basis of shared values, beliefs and symbols. Anonymous not only shares a huge value placed on freedom of speech and information, but they also share symbols, known as memes (see below), as well as a language (the ridiculously vast amount of Internet slang). Anonymous/4chan also develops over time and takes on different forms based on these developments, whether it is producing a new sub-culture within itself, or shifting from merely pranking to legitimate forms of activism. In my opinion, I would say that Anonymous/4chan is almost an even better example of pure culture than most nation-states.

Top Ten Memes
I choose this somewhat small list of memes in an attempt to recognize that although they are not the kinds of symbols we associate with cultural symbols (I.e. a flag), they are still symbols with a shared meaning for a vast amount of people.