Globalization/Colonization, by Khala Flanagan

From the textbook:

The historical process of colonization transformed the world, creating a process of globalization. But the world is not a global village. It’s one of privilege and exclusion, rapid change, and shocking inequality.
The end of colonial rule brought challenges – of poverty, the presence of multination corporations, urbanization, population growth, immigration and emigration, ecological disaster, war, and instability – to newly independent nations. Under colonialism, economic plans focused on making colonies productive for their owners.
Colonialism differs in important ways from the earlier expansion of European power. Whereas much of the initial phase of European expansion was carried out by private companies and often took the form of raid and pillage, colonialism involved the active possession of foreign territory by European governments. Once colonies were seized, they had to be administered and they had to be made profitable. Finding ways to extract taxes and create the conditions in which corporations could make money often meant the systematic undermining of indigenous ways of life.
The European expansion and the era of colonization were historic processes that changed the world from a collection of relatively independent economics and societies to a complex world system.

Basically, what this means is that even though colonization opened up new worlds and promoted healthy expansion, it did so at the cost of other cultures’ ruin and demise. For example, the culture of the Native Americans slowly died out when the whites arrived in the New World, and Africans were enslaved to make Great Britain one of the most powerful empires in the world.
Now, in our current age of unimaginably fast globalization, people are connected everywhere across the world in “active possession” just like colonization did back the early centuries… it’s just in a different form. Tourism is a perfect example: you have people from wealthy countries travel to undeveloped places in the non-western world to taste the “exotic” cultures and traditions of different people… but, sadly, these are just illusions in our modernizing, global world. Traditional cultures are more or less just constructed for tourists and profit. Tourism marks the 3rd largest form of trade in the world, and many nations are financially stable because of it. Still, colonization remains present in its 21st century version: students study abroad, people buy villas and secondary homes overseas, modern means of transportation are built in the most rural areas, and many communities still try to cling onto their traditional ways amidst the “easy access” and lighting speed of modern technological change.

Final Discussion, Khala Flanagan

As someone who loves to write, I’ve always felt that my college studies and subjects help me tremendously with my stories, just like real life experiences do. When you go to college or attend a class, you don’t just learn the subject matter. You learn the art of being challenged, being prompted to speak your mind, and being humble with your work. You learn the art of responsibility, accountability, and respect. You learn what it means to sometimes be discriminated and isolated because of your beliefs. And it opens your eyes to see things you never saw before about people, the world, and even yourself. All in all, education gives a window of opportunity for us students to grow up, change, and become better people (and, for me, a better writer!), only if we let it. He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.

So, I try and take as much as I can from all my different classes, especially when it came to anthropology. As a soldier, my Dad has traveled all over the world and seen thousands of different places with bizarre cultures. The stories he tells me and my siblings when he returns are so fascinating, it’s hard to believe that we’re all on this same earth. I was captivated to study anthropology so that I could perhaps get a little bit closer to the worlds my Dad has seen… but most importantly, I wanted to come respect other cultures because I believe we all are made in the image of God.

To me, it’s a shame this class was online. I feel that I would have taken so many more valuable “life lessons” about anthropology if we all could have been together in a classroom, discussing things verbally instead of always through the internet. When you’re talking about human cultures, it helps to have a “real” human being to talk to instead of a computer screen!

But even though that wasn’t the case for this class, I still feel the effects of what I’ve learned. I HAVE come to respect other cultures much more profoundly than before because of where they are geographically on our earth, their kind of livelihood and customs, and how they see life. Even though I don’t agree with many others’ ways and cultures, my faith has helped to remind me of the sacredness of life, and that God’s grace falls upon everyone… especially those who don’t know or reject Him.

One special moment happened to me this week that proved just how anthropology has helped me see things differently. My little sisters returned from the library with bags full of picture books, and one book they had picked out was “People” by Peter Spier. The book colorfully shows the different people across the world, how they live, where they live, and what they believe. Because it’s a children’s book, it’s perfectly innocent and explains things in the simplest terms possible. Yet, the ending of the book really struck me, because I think it’s exactly what I can summarize about my anthropology experience with this class:

Six billion human beings… young and old, sick and well, happy and unhappy, kind and unkind, strong and weak. People everywhere. And all different. It is very strange: Some people even hate others because they are unlike themselves. Because they are different. They forget that they too would seem different if they could only see themselves through other people’s eyes. But imagine how dreadfully dull this world of ours would be if everybody looked, thought, ate, dressed, and acted the same! Now isn’t it wonderful that each and every one of us is unlike any other?

Final Disussion

During the course of this class, i took into consideration that there are many different cultures in the world and they all have a unique way of expressing what they believe in. I learned many views on things like marriage, race, religious practices, and much more. What i found most interesting in this course was all the different forms of cultural celebrations. The many different ways that cultures around the world did their religious practices. What i found least interesting about this course were some of the readings. I learned in this course that I cannot judge someone by the way they look unless i really look into what their culture is about.

Final Discussion - Stephanie Reynolds

   This class was interesting in some aspects, I liked the chapters that dealt with different marriage styles and how other cultures defined relationships. What we would consider a good or successful marriage could be taken completely different in someone else's culture. What was least interesting to me though was some of the market/economy material we had to cover near the end of the book. I've read so much on global warming and population increase that it gets old after awhile.

Anyways, I guess anthropolgy would somewhat useful to me since I work in a hospital. There are so many different types of people there, and not just based on race or religion, and it's a good idea to know a little bit about how to react to a different culture. There are so many different ideas, traditions, and values for every individual that I might encounter at the hospital, so this class would useful in the fact that it gave me more reason to be tolerant of who others are.

Final Post, Sam Stangl

This class was very important to me. I am going to school to be a Biomedical Engineer, and my advisor told me that this class, although it would help me complete my associate's degree, would not be of much use to me. I disagree. I have learned a lot about culture, about humans in the past and their progression into the future. I also learned how people in different places are, and why those personality traits and culture changes are important when tryig to understand a person. I was most interested about the chapters both in Religion and in Kinship, but I was not interested in learning about anthropologists views on the economy. I understand that anyone who wants to be a historian or a political scientest, or of course an anthropologist, might need to know the economics side of anthropology, but it was my own least favorite chapter. I needed this course more than my advisor thought I would, and better yet, more than I thought I would. I can now relate to more cultures, and I can be more open-minded toward the way people in other cultures live, think, and try to understand me. I think this class also helped me to learn how online classes are, and what kind of things will be expected of me, as this was my first ever fully online course. I'm glad that I took it, for sure, because other than learning a lot I really enjoyed reading The House of the Spirits and analyzing it, and I also learned to communicate my thoughts thoroughly about humans and culture. This course made me a better student and a better person.

Colonialism and Global Market Economy, Sam Stangl

I think I should start off by saying that until I read everyone else's responses to this question, I had no idea what the comparisons between these two things could possibly be. Colonialism is possessing foreign territory and sharing politics, culture, and language not with their surrounding governments. What I have learned global market economy has in common with colonialism is foreign aid and development programs, which unfortunately ignore women, that incerease male productivity. These programs often fail, though, because of their ignorance toward women's economic roles. Also, war is found both in colonialization and in global market economy. Territory, government, and finances are of utmost importance.

Final Discussion

Honestly I'm not to sure what I will be able to take onto my future classes. I'm going to UNCW next semester to study Marine Biology. If I was to do a lot of field work in other nations I would see heavy need to do some culture research. Also being in the military I have opportunities to experience more cultures so I need to understand new cultures before I go to a new nation. I always find it interesting to learn about and experience different cultures.

Colonialism and Global Market

Colonization and Global Marketing are in my opinion to sides of the same coin. Colonialism was used in the 1600's as a means to gather materials and minerals and sell them to other nations to turn profit. Today's word uses the Global Market system. Today colonies are not around but they are not needed for the goods to be available. Today it is just a matter of going to another nation's port and buying or trading for the goods. However big companies in the world have learned on how to exploit other nation's resources, primarily people. Many Chinese and Indian people are paid near to crap by American businesses in exchange for cheap labor on products sold either expensively or cheaply in US stores. US companies exploit the poverty of the lower class in most nations.

Final Discussion - Becca Libby

I actually took this class a few years ago, and ended up dropping it. I really wanted to stay in the class, because it seemed so interesting, but due to personal crap I dropped that whole semester. I am so glad I decided to take the class again. Going through each subject makes you consider things that you would not think about as in depth in any other situation. I loved all of the articles that Mrs. Reeves chose for us. It is so much more interesting to have some outside reading rather than just the text book. My favorite readings were at the very beginning, the Eskimos were my favorite. My least favorite topic was probably Economics. Although it is a very important aspect of our society, I cannot help but find it incredibly dull.

I will leave this class slightly more enlightened about other peoples views. Having read and responded to other peoples posts about the topics was really eye opening in a lot of cases. It's nice to think about things from another perspective.

Globalization And Change - Becca Libby

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Globalization is technology and communications. It creates a bigger market for shipping and trading of goods all over the world. However, there are a lot of issues with this system as well. Many people would prefer to buy goods that were made in the USA because, in many cases, they are better quality. For example, I personally boycott Wal-Mart because they sell cheap products that have been made overseas by children in sweat shop being paid pennies for their labor. Big businesses like Wal-Mart and Best Buy seem like good American companies, but 99% of the products they sell come from overseas.
I support trade with other countries, but I do not support unfair treatment of workers. Globalization and demand for more products at a faster pace create these kinds of conditions.

Some argue the Modernization Theory, that high income countries go into low income countries and help them out by hiring them to do things like build and operate oil rigs, and this is creating a more modern and technologically advanced society. Unfortunately this is not the case, high income nations go in to exploit cheap labor from the natives and leave their factories and airports, but those people do not know how to operate these establishments, so they crumble and become unusable. Technology has no doubt been a huge help in creating a global market for goods and services. Many people benefit from this, but only the people who are educated about computers and cell phones and such. It has become almost impossible for lower income countries to become educated about technology (other than the select few rich families in the countries). So although technology and globalization has it's benefits, it also has many downfalls.

Final Discussion-Abbey Dahl

On the first day of classes this semester I accidently got the book for this class instead of world religions. I glanced at a couple pages and decided this class could be very interesting. Even thought the class was filled online, by going all around campus and having professors sign off on sheets I was able to get into the class. I am so fortunate to have been able to apart of this online class. Anthropology was by far one of my favorite courses I have ever taken.
The most important aspect that I will take away from this class is to have much more respect for other cultures. I am not saying I did not respect other's beliefs prior to taking this course, but my respect level has certainly been amplified to a much greater amount.
I do not believe I found anything not interesting. This was a subject I had only heard about, and once I started reading the chapters they got more and more intriging!
In my life I thing that Anthropology will allow me to be apart of more worldly discussions, and it will help me to show other people that other cultures are just as important and fascinating as their culture. I feel like it is all about respect, and from respecting others things can be a lot more peaceful.

Final Discussion, Dawn Depouli

What will you take from this class? In thinking about your response, you may want to address the following questions:
What did you find most interesting? Least interesting?
What did you learn that you feel will help you in other courses, your career, or your life in general?

What makes anthropology interesting is the capacity to understand culture and make you more “understand” other culture. That makes one respect other culture and avoid the greatest sin in anthropology - being ethnocentric - the belief that ones culture is the more superior than others. It make a person accepting, so to speak.

Aside from this, when one knows the basic understanding and appreciation of culture study you will appreciate other people more. Even just sitting down at a café and observing how people do their things is an example of methods in anthropology.Most interesting to me was learning about how things are still in place today, we just don't think of them in the terms that we were taught in this class. There wasn't really much that I didn't enjoy. I had a very tough semester in general with medical so I can only hope that I took in the information the way I needed to.

Although I won't need this class for my career or degree I always had a strong desire to learn about cultures other than my own and I wanted to gain an understanding of the world that might help me teach others. It really interests me to know just how things truly started out. A degree in anthropology can open countless doors to many careers. Majors can continue their studies and pursue advanced degrees, conduct research, write ethnographies, and become professors. Majors can also apply anthropology to numerous fields. Observation and analytical skills prove to be useful in almost any situation. The ethnographic method intrigues students. If anthropology interests you, negative views and assumptions should not discourage you. A liberal arts education of any kind does not necessarily have to relate in any way to your future career; it is simply a way of teaching you to think critically and gain knowledge of an area of study in depth.

I enjoyed the semester and thank you for your time

Marriage, Dawn Depouli

I definitely learned a lot of new cultural perspectives on marriage after reading Chapter 7. First of all, the idea that marriage involves a "need to regulate sexual access" was a shocking way to start the chapter. Obviously, one can agree that marriage is a way to help with the care of children, the economic exchange of products and services, and the extension of social alliances. As Americans, we are encouraged to find our soulmates, find true love, and make those relationships last a lifetime. However, the text states that in most societies, marriage is less about individual romantic love and more about linking two families or kinship groups together. When I got married, the last thing I was thinking of was linking my in-laws to my nuclear family. It's true that monogamy is a more European and American concept or ideal, but I had no idea that most societies permit and prefer plural marriages, usually in the form of polygyny. The statistics involving 415 societies out of 554 in the world actually prefering plural marriage (75% of the world!) was mind-blowing. Also, I was actually unfamiliar with the concept of polyandry, one woman being married to several men. Overall, this was definitely an eye-opening read, and definitely leaves me with a new perspective of worldwide romance.

Colonialism, Dawn Depouli

What I believe is that Exploitation is when a larger country colonizes smaller and weaker countries in order to benefit from the resources or use them so that its less they have to do. Exploitation is very similar to how the global economy works for smaller countries. Countries pay their workers minimal pay but are required to do tons. One form of exploitation that I found was when the land was pretty much colonized by the Europeans, the industrial revolution took place. Europeans started Colonialism by coming to North America to seize the land. There were advantages and disadvantages to Colonialism, similarities are that the native people of the land ended obviously ended up losing their land and of course their lives. Despite the similarities there are differences as well. Colonialism brought many diseases, while the industrial revolution came with advances in medicines that in return helped people survive and live long.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Exploitation and the Global economy is an assembly line, they work hard but get paid very little, not to mention they are required to put in long hrs.

Religion, Dawn Depouli

Religion supports the status quo by promoting and reinforcing it through various means. One way is the cooperation of church and state. This was very common in European history, with clergy and high church officials working with monarchies to reinforce society’s rules. Religious groups often support rulers, monarchs, royal families, and politicians thereby having an effect on society. Morality is a big part of religion and can be seen in the enacting and enforcing of many of man’s laws. Laws about marriage and sexual relationships are greatly affected by religion since in many states gay marriage laws have not been passed due to the people’s religious views. God’s laws and man’s laws are often the same and punishment by law enforcement is usually the consequence from breaking religious moral codes. According to our text, religion helps to reinforce history and government with stories and rituals. When people have religion or similar religious values in common, there is more “social solidarity” leading to less change in society’s status quo. Lastly, initiation rites can teach people about their society’s culture and practice.

Religion can also be a radical force that can change society. For example, the civil rights movement definitely changed America as a society. The Religious History of America is the text for another class of mine and has many examples of religion changing the status quo. In the late 1800s in America, conditions for factory workers were horrible. Because of clergy, issues like child labor, hourly wages, days off, hours worked in a day, and labor unions were all addressed. During and after World War I, religion gave way to many pacifist opinions about America going to war which in a way led to the U.S. going to war primarily to fight for human rights. The WCTU or Women’s Christian Temperance Union was created in 1874 (and still exists today) to combat the use of alcohol. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, their efforts helped change communities by making them alcohol-free and these religious women helped to make Prohibition a possibility. The YMCA was also started as a religious group trying to change the status quo. They help adults and children of course but in the past helped people down on their luck such as those in jails, settlement houses, and the homeless, by offering food and shelter.

Race and Ethnicity, Dawn Depouli

I personally have never run into any experiences with race, ethnicity, or my sexual orientation except with one of my children. He was being bullied and they told us that because we are white and they were black that sometimes kids come in with a chip on there shoulders and that we needed to be understanding of any needs.

As for the "white privledge" article, it sure did put into perspective of how other races were treated and it makes me feel horrible for them as a person. Nobody should ever have to be treated any less than someone else sitting next to you, regardless of race, sexual orientation, or ethnicity and we cant forget wealth. It always seems to amaze me how differently you get treated depending on either of the above listed. Just like with local schools I have noticed that you have to have money to get far or you have to be broke to get additional help for a child in need.

The "Heterosexual Privilege" does not affect me the way the other article does for the simple fact that you are who you chose to be. I dont really care to see someone of the same sex doing things in public for the simple fact that I do have kids and it makes for a list fo questions. I realize that you cant stop someone for they way they feel or who they love.

The American Dream, Dawn Depouli

The term, “30 Thousand Dollar Millionaire” is used to describe people who spend money lavishly while in public, but live either mediocre or poor lives in private. Perceived wealth in America conveys prestige. Luxury cars, expensive watches and classy clothing are all markers of a person living the American dream. People in America will kill themselves to obtain just the mere illusion of wealth.

Prestige, in America, is heavily dependent upon your career. Certain careers produce nearly limitless amounts of prestige, such as being a politician or doctor. Other careers can be shaming in our society, particularly the older you get; for instance, working with fast-food or being a valet driver. Wealth and prestige play a combined role in American culture.

Power, it seems, derives from the proper use of actual wealth. For example, wealth can be invested in starting a business, which in turn equates into power; which power, according to the text, is the capacity to persuade individuals to accomplish tasks they would not otherwise accomplish. The powerful railroad and steel tycoons had immense power in historical America, just as the oil tycoons exhibit nearly limitless power in our society today.

Concerning my subculture, I find substantial differences from the accepted norms of American society. My subculture encompasses a variety of different people with only one similarity, the ability to play music. In my subculture, wealth is determined more by the beauty of an object rather than the price. Prestige is obtained through skill rather than status. Power only becomes possible if you are indeed a capable leader. Though we may gain wealth, prestige and power from the stage, we do not fancy ourselves as a part of this society. We have abandoned the American dream in favor of something more real, something tangible; a world where friendships do last a life time, a world where you can finally be who you are at the very core of your being. Music brings all types of people together, and from that vantage point we are able to take the good from different cultures, and leave the bad somewhere behind us.