Globalizationized

The young man above is definitely not me.  I live in Austin.  That guy lives in

A. New York City

B. Paris

C. Beirut

D. Scranton

If you’re like me, you find the term globalization feels exhausted – not the actual process of global interconnectedness, but the word and the way it’s thrown around to mean everything.

It’s associated with disparity. Globalization of business and production allows labor in poor countries to be exploited and labor in rich ones to be, well, exploited too, to lower their expectations or die.  Globalization is why the unemployment rate in Detroit is over 12% as manufacturing jobs emptied out of the city, and why Bangladeshi workers were locked into their garment factory in Tazreen to continue producing for American companies as the factory burned.

No wait, it’s associated with prosperity, with the greatest economic development across the world in human history, and it’s going to lift millions (billions?) of people out of poverty over the next half century as international markets help develop domestic economies.  Globalization is why the export garment industry offers “unprecedented economic opportunities” according to the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety’s “18 Month Update” post (and why I can read the Alliance’s post, and its tweets expressing support for Nepal’s recent earthquake victims, instantly).

It’s supposed to recognize increasing international cultural awareness, like reading tweets in Texas from Bangladesh about Nepal, or seeing protests signs in Tunisia referencing either video games or the movie “Aliens”, or I suppose referencing “Aliens” referencing video games.

But these phenomena – international trade (or exploitation), political movements in solidarity with other people in other countries, the mass export of popular culture across the globe – these don’t feel novel.  And they often don’t feel multidirectional, the way “globalization” would suggest.  The concept feels obvious, or empty.

This website is dedicated to taking another look at globalization, from a very U.S – centric perspective.  The reason it’s U.S.-centric is

1. I was born, raised and am writing this right now from the United States (first generation on my dad’s side, baby!).
2. I spent the semester reading books on mostly U.S. and European foreign policy and international history in preparation for constructing a website.
3. Most importantly, I’m not sure Americans are thinking about globalization very deeply – for many of us I think it’s just like another way to describe the internet. Although I believe the term suggests a more egalitarian flow of goods and ideas across the globe than actually occurs, at the same time I do think globalization names a particular historical point we are in collectively. Growing uniformity (he lives in Beirut – more on uniformity vs. diversity in globalization in the modernism post) across cultures, economics, and technology are altering the balance of power between the Western world and other regions –  or at least, if you’re cynical, spreading the imbalance between rich and poor out a little more evenly across the globe.

With that in mind, if you’re still reading, thanks!  I have more questions than comments, and this website can be viewed as a dialogue to get new perspectives from others, and to reflect on my thinking by writing it down. Please be respectful – I am looking forward to having my mind changed on issues, and being enlightened.  Don’t be a jerk about it.