ONE WORLD OR MANY? THE CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE FUTURE

1. ONE WORLD OR MANY? THE CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE FUTURE

2. I. Introduction • The Paradox: • Globalization: growth of something to a global or world-wide scale • Mass media, internet, etc. • Expanding supranational organizations: European Union, NAFTA, etc. • Devolution: the breakdown of larger cultural/political/economic units into smaller ones • Peaceful resurgent nationalism: Czech Rep., Slovakia, former Soviet Union republics, etc. • Violent resurgent nationalism: Bosnia, Kosovo, Basques, etc.

3. 18th & 19th Century Globalism Colonialism – Imperialism!

4. I. Introduction • Multinational corporations • Many have greater economic power than most countries • Operate beyond the power of any one country: • To regulate • To moderate • To influence • To balance interests

5. Detroit - G.M. Headquarters

6. Toyota Headquarters in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan

7. Economic power of Global Corporations

8. Actually Six Defining Features of Globalization • Involves global scale interactions among cultural, economic, political and environmental phenomena. • Relentless movement – money, people, info. Etc. • The effects are felt unevenly • Transnational corps. are the main driving force • Local and national efforts to restrain it • While rooted in internationalism, it is qualitatively different from it.

9. II. Globalization: the end of geography? • The case for one world • Quotes from those that believe we will become one world • 1951: George Kimble, In the future there would be, “no independent, discrete units . . . No worlds within world.” • 50 years later: Joel Swerdlow, used these terms – “Global culture,” “vanishing cultures,” “a world together,” and “ we are all in each other’s backyard.” • Pico Iyer notes that, “everywhere is so made up of everywhere else.”

10. II. Globalization: the end of geography? • The case for one world • Acculturation and assimilation • Acculturation: a culture adapts to a new cultural trait – technology, food, sport, architecture, religion • Assimilation: a smaller group adapts to/becomes part of a larger group: people move to U.S. and eat McDonalds and speak English • Urbanization – more and more people are moving to cities.

11. Blending of Cultures • Australian Aboriginal children play with a laptop computer. Will this reduce the world’s cultural heterogeneity?

12. Local resistance to globalization • Zapotista commandos negotiating with the Mexican government over cultural & economic rights.

13. International Ladies Garment Workers Union

14. II. Globalization: the end of geography? • Many worlds • Most geographers believe many worlds will continue to exist • Interaction with outside influences produces new cultural expressions • Globalization produces different results in different lands

15. Interaction with outside influences

16. Interaction with outside influences

18. Diffusion • A process by which something spreads from one place to another over time.

19. Diffusion of Religion