Globalization and Cultural Identity

Shantel Lawrence



In John Tomlinson's book Globalization and culture he spoke about the era before globalization and there existed local, autonomous, distinct and well-defined, robust and culturally sustaining connections between geographical place and cultural experience. He mentioned that these connections constituted one’s, one’s community’s and cultural identity.

However, globalization as Tomlinson mentioned in his book has swept like a flood tide through the world’s diverse cultures, destroying stable localities, displacing peoples, bringing a market-driven, ‘branded’ homogenization of cultural experience, thus obliterating the differences between locality-defined cultures which had constituted our identities. Cultures in the West and, specifically, the United States saw a sort of standardized version of their cultures exported worldwide while the ‘weaker’ cultures of the developing world has been most threatened and at risk.

The developing countries cultural existence has been penetrated with globalized media and communications technologies such as television, mobile phones, email, the internet and ‘international’ food cultures. This is evident by the way we dress, the music we listen to and type of food we consume. In addition, our local festivities are dying out, as I remembered growing up as child in Trinidad, particularly the San Juan/Laventille region and looking forward to Best Village competition amongst the various communities. This I have observed in recent years has dwindled down and we are now seeing these multinational corporations funding and backing more westernized competitions such as ‘rising star’ themed after the US ‘American Idol’.

We need to hold on our culture, beliefs and norms as this gives us a people a sense of where we came from to guide and motivate us in our journey ahead.



REFERNCE
• Tomlinson, J. (1999) Globalization and Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.