40 Chapter 10: Globalization
Learning Objectives
• Define globalization and the 5 “scapes” that can be used to characterize global flows or exchanges.
• Explain the relationship between globalization and the creation of new “glocal” lifestyles and forms of consumption.
• Describe some of the ways people use agency to respond to globalization including syncretism and participation in alternative markets.
• Assess the relationship between globalization, neoliberalism, and neocolonialism.
• Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the intensification of globalization.
• Discuss the implications of globalization for anthropology.
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It is Tuesday on campus as you enter the dining hall. The next station is offering made-to-order Asian stir-fry. At the sandwich counter, tuna salad, an all-American classic, is being served in a pita. Now, are these dishes authentic? That, of course, depends on how you define authenticity.1 A similar question was asked at Oberlin College in December 2015 when a group of students claimed that adapting foreign cuisines constituted a form of social injustice.2 Their claim, which raised a great deal of controversy, was that the cafeteria’s appropriation and poor execution of ethnic dishes was disrespectful to the cultures from which those recipes were taken. Many people dismissed the students’ concerns as either an overreaction or as an attempt to rephrase a perennial com-plaint (bad cafeteria food) in a politically loaded language of social justice likely to garner a response from the administration. Regardless of what one thinks about this case, it is revealing of how college campuses—as well as the larger societies in which they are situated—have changed over time. The fact that dishes like sushi and banh mi sandwiches are even available in an Ohio college cafeteria suggests that globalization has intensified. The fact that the students would be reflexive enough to question the ethical implications of appropriating foreign cuisine suggests that we are truly in a new era. But what, in fact, is globalization?
OVERVIEW AND EARLY GLOBALIZATION
Globalization is a word commonly used in public dis-course, but it is often loosely defined in today’s society (much like the word “culture” itself). First appearing in the English language in the 1940s, the term “globalization” is now commonplace and is used to discuss the circulation of goods, the fast and furious exchange of ideas, and the movement of people.3 Despite its common use, it seems that the many people using the term are often not defining it in the same way. Some treat globalization as simply an economic issue while others focus more on the social and political aspects. What is clear, however, is that globalization has influenced many different facets of contemporary social life. This actually makes globalization an ideal topic of study for anthropologists, who pride themselves on taking a holisti