Globalization and Cultural and Language Diversity - Essay Example

Topic: Globalization and Cultural and Language Diversity INTRODUCTION Frida Mujale-Manenji d that "Culture is such a broad term and when it comes to my mind, I think of values and norms people have which make them live in a particular way. A way of living in a particular community. In other words, the sum total of all things that refer to religion, roots of people, symbols, language, songs, stories, celebrations and all expressions of our way of life. It encompasses food production, technology, architecture, kinship, the way we relate to each other, political and economic systems and all the social relationships these entail" The following paragraphs will explain in details the effect of globalization on the culture and language of the people of Brazil, Africa and the United States. BODY AFRICA Website. Frida Mujale-Manenji stated that the effect globalization has greatly affected the African culture immensely and it's culture is presently diverse. It had affected the African people's cultural behaviors in different ways. People have had to adopt by changing their living ways in order to survive. The advertisements of the famous Coca-Cola drinks can be heard across boundaries in towns, cities and townships and even in remote rural areas where drinking water is a problem to get. Globalization in Africa involves the opening up of its economies to trading with the global market forces, freely and widely. Globalization has forced countries like Africa to deregulate foreign investment, liberalized its imports, remove currency controls, emasculate the direct economic role of the state, and so on. The effect on culture and language is to further undermine the internal, national productive capacity, social security and democratic integrity of these countries Journal. Kenyatta (2002) stated that "More than 100 students, activists and scholars gathered recently at Columbia University's Teachers College to explore the effects of globalization and decentralization on education, health care and land reform in Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda." The Globalization has a big effect on the culture and language of Africa and the supernational organizations such as The World Bank, The IMF (International Monetary Fund), the WTO (World Trade Organization) have come to dominate prescriptions underpinning state strategies for economic recovery and growth of this continent. Dr. Gregory Anderson, assistant professor of higher and postsecondary education at Teachers College stated that "these global forces are increasingly hegemonic and, in the case of Africa, with its longstanding history of problems and dilemmas, globalization as an ideology is distinctly shaping the arenas of policy and the directions and scope of state reforms." Therefore, Africa must learn to adjust itself to survive globalization. For a continent where several thousand languages are spoken within its borders, language has long been viewed as a challenge to education and political development. As a result, colonial language policies of the past often forbade the use of African languages in official functions of the state. Today, the official languages as well as the languages of instruction and scholarship in most educational institutions continue to be English, French and Portuguese, despite the fact that far greater numbers speak other languages. Globalization has lowered the status of the local dialects as compared to French, English and Portuguese. Newspaper/Magazine. ABC news dated Jan 17 stated that First Lady Laura Bush went to meet with the President of Ghana this morning. The First Lady is continuing her travels through Africa today as she heads to Nigeria where she will meet with President Obasanjo tomorrow morning. Vice President Cheney travels in Egypt and Saudi Arabia today. He is scheduled to meet with President Mubarak in Cairo and King Abdullah in Riyadh. These are some of the scheduled meetings from his trip to the region in December which needed to be cut short so he could cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. The first lady's visit is to forge a long lasting business relationship with Africa, particularly Ghana. Globalization is a must and no longer a choice for Africa and the United States. UNITED STATES Website. Our present economy shows that for the first time1 in history virtually every individual at every level of American society senses the impact of international changes known as globalization. Americans can see and hear it in their media, taste it in their food, and sense it in the products that they buy. Americans eat, use and drink imported goods from China, Japan, Europe and other parts of the world. The United States at the same time exports goods and services to many parts of the world. These are more visceral and threatening to those who fear these changes is the growth of a global labor pool that during the next decade will absorb nearly 2 billion workers from emerging markets. This threatens he American Labor pool that has currently close to 1 billion unemployed and under-employed workers within its territorial boundaries. Journal. Pells (2002) stated that today, the American culture does not only include the Native American culture or the Caucasian American culture. American culture presently includes the diverse cultures brought by people from countries around the world who have chose to immigrate to the United States such as the Mexicans, the Europeans, the African Americans, the Asians and many others. The Global Culture (Pells, 2005)is interchangeably the American Culture. Hollywood, Disneyland and McDonalds have literally broken the borders between the United States and the rest of the world. People from around the world feel that their country's culture includes American culture of Hollywood, Disneyland and McDonalds and vice versa. Newspaper. Marilyn Gardner (2006) stated that Cynthia McKay works for eleven hours a day, seven days a week. She is in her office from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. as CEO of LeGourmet Gift Basket in Castle Rock, Colorado, United States. She works a 77-hour workweek as she makes 24-hour call for clients around the world. McKay says her long hours are "absolutely my choice," she says, adding, "I love being at work. It becomes a lifestyle as opposed to a job." The globalization has changed her culture and language upbringing because she is now working on a borderless economy. BRAZIL Website. Under the globalization rule2, the foreign born immigrants that have chose to stay in Brazil feel that borders between Brazil and the other nations have been broken down. This literally means that Brazil culture now includes the cultures of other nations. The immigrants to Brazil do not call themselves Lebanese-Brazilian or Japanese-Brazilian or whatever but only plain Brazilians. Journal. Larry Luxner (2005) stated that the Amazon River port of Manaus is a city of 1.5 million people that has a history intertwined with that of the thousands of Arab immigrants who began moving to the Amazon jungle more than 120 years ago. They were lured by the rubber boom and promises of economic opportunity. Manaus states that the immigrants easily integrated into Brazilian society. The children of immigrants in Brazil don't feel this belonging to a separate community. They already feel Brazilian. The immigrants to Brazil don't think of themselves as Lebanese-Brazilian or Japanese-Brazilian or whatever. Of the nine million, some 1.5 million are Muslims; the majority are Orthodox Christians and Maronites. The Arabs have integrated well with the Original Brazilian culture and language. Newspaper/magazine. Stella Dawson and Gilbert Le Gras stated (2006) that a Brazilian official, Secretary for International Affairs Ministry of Finance -Luiz Melin, told reporters that both Federal Research Chairman Ben Bernanke and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet were positive about inflation that was affecting the G20 nations. The Brazilian stated that Mr Benanke was optimistic about inflation in America. This is clear proof that Globlization has positively affected the culture and language of Brazil. CONCLUSION The countries Brazil, Africa and the United States are now in the borderless economy known as globalization where the inflation in each of the countries is affected by the inflation rate of the other countries. This holds true also with the economy. The economy of one state is dependent on the economy of another state. In order to be successful then, each country must learn to adapt to the current globalization of the economy, inflation and commerce for they cannot live alone. REFERENCES AFRICA Website Muyale-Manenji, F., The effects of globalization on culture in Africa in the eyes of an African woman, Echoes < http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/effglob.html> Journal Kenyatta Alebeny, Globalization and Africa: scholars explore impact of language, colonization and supernational organizations- Noteworthy News, Black Issues in Higher Education, May 9, 2002 Newspaper Halperin et al., The Note: (F.B.)I. Spy Politics of Impeachment and Plantations, ABC news , Washington, Jan. 17, 2006 BRAZIL Journal Luxner, L., The Arabs of Brazil, SAUDI ARAMCO WORLD (Vol. 56, No. 5) Sept./Oct. 2005, pp. 18-23 Website Brazil Culture < http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-displayid=SXX1597-0-5018&artno=0000243635&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=GLOBALIZATION_CULTURE_BRAZIL&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=N> Newspaper Dawson, S., Le Gras, G., Top economies upbeat, call for FX flexibility, ABC News Nov 19, 2006 UNITED STATES Website Global Policy Journal Pells, R., Is American Culture "American", Global Issues, State Department, Feb 2006, P. 25-29 Is American Culture "American" Newspaper/Magazine Arner, M., Extreme Jobs on the Rise, ABC News, Dec 5, 2006 Read More