blog prompt 1
Having lived in Mozambique my entire life, I moved to UAE two years ago for university. Although I came from an international school, I spent my whole life experiencing interactions with people of several nationalities. However, I'm not entirely excluded from having this cultural shock experience. With the increase of globalization, I find that differences ranging across the newer generation is a lot smaller. With the growth of social media and global interconnectedness, I find more similarities if anything when talking to my exchange partners. From music, to pop culture and travel experiences globalization has contributed to this influence worldwide.
Furthermore, as we discussed our answers to the alien invasion question, I found that our answers varied due to our individualism and what we find valuable in our lives. Answers ranging from Twitter to Quesadillas reflected how distinct our environments and cultures reflected in our individual answers. It was very interesting seeing how different our responses could be not only from my side (being abroad) but between my two partners who lived in the same state. With vastly different backgrounds and cultures, we all somehow ended up in the same place relating to a lot of the same things. What I found distinct were our preferences when it came to weather and our favorite hobbies and how different our approach to politics is and the areas in which we planned to follow graduation. Some of us spoke different languages apart from English and had ‘controversial’ favorite political figures. In the end, it was such a unique experience inquiring about each other’s home countries only to come to find out one of my partners had visited for holidays. Despite how different we may all seem coming from different sides of the world we could all relate to similar topics and ended up spending time on that which we could relate to the most.
The way you articulated the subject of globalization and how it blended in with the rest of the blog is really interesting. The points you mentioned about the increasing influence of social media and the tight global interlink really supported the viewpoint you were aiming to convey. Furthermore, how you mentioned that despite the similarities evident due to globalization, there still remained some differences between each individual (even those living within the same state). Each holds his/her own ideologies, perspectives, and beliefs. I appreciate the eye-opening perspective you published and allowed me to read through
ReplyDeleteThank you Hannan for your detailed exploration of globalization and how you could see elements of this trend in our daily lives. I completely agree with your point and understand how our generation is more intertwined with other cultures due to the trend of globalization. It has transformed our interactions and therefore when conversing with others we already have preconceived notions of their beliefs and actions and therefore are less susceptible to "culture shock". I am fascinated by how during your interactions you could see the results of different upbringings and traditions in people's answers. In my own virtual call, that was not the case. In fact, despite our vastly different upbringings we seemed to have similar answers and mostly agreed with one another. But then again, that could be due to our topics being centered around world affairs. In your opinion, do you see our traditions and cultures ever being the catalyst for animosity and a reluctance to converse with one another, or can any group of people find similarities despite their vast differences?
DeleteThat is such an interesting question, only because i feel as though you could argue either sides. I believe that traditions and culture could be a catalyst for animosity only if we let it. Globalization is nothing knew to mankind we've been doing it for centuries with our ancestors trading overseas etc despite the several differences between civilizations such as not speaking the same language. When it comes to animosity whether it be ethnic tension or between nationalities i believe it goes beyond culture in a way that is more driven by political factors such as land or resources. Especially today i would argue that emphasizing differences is taught more than anything else. One isn't born with hate rather they grow up within this environment that emphasizes the whole idea of 'us vs them' or in 'the other'.
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