Globalization and Identity

Globalization and Identity

Introduction

Neoliberalism is a new form of Adam’s Smith’s liberalism idea that countries should practice tariff-free and barrier-free global trade and investment (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). Neoliberalism can be traced back to the 1930s in the US during New Deal under President Franklin Roosevelt.

Globalization entails linking countries and people across the world through political, economic, transport, and modern media (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). Notably, globalization facilitates the mass media socio-cultural impact process in which people reside in global villages; that is, they live in transnational and multilocal lifestyles.

According to John Maynard Keynes, the economy should operate in full employment to facilitate the growth of capitalism (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). Where necessary, the government and central bank should intervene to increase or sustain the level of full employment.

In line with Kottak and Kozaitis’s (2012) definition, Cyberspace is an intangible or psychological space that includes and limited to social media, videos, text messages, and email. As an extension of personal or collective minds, cyberspace determines how people react to different milieus.

Multinationals are companies that operate in different countries (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). For instance, Apple is a multinational company in that it operates in the US, China, South Korea, and so forth.

Gentrification is the act of purchasing and improving urban neighborhoods with deteriorating properties such as houses (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). This act augments the value of the property but displaces low-income families.

Privatization is the act of transferring property or a business owned by the government or public (through shares) to private owners (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012).

Analysis

Anti-globalization is the opposition voiced towards the imposition of neoliberalism in the world. Groups engaged in anti-globalization, such as union members, anarchists, environmentalists, and anticapitalists, oppose neoliberalism policies advanced by multinational organizations such as WTO, IMF, and the World Bank (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). They claim that globalization promotes the creation of wealth at the expense of the worker, farmers, and other low-income earners.

Civil society constitutes a voluntary collection action of people on issues, values, goals, and interests they share as a community. Civil society includes organizations such as women’s organizations, trade unions, business associations, advocacy groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community groups, coalitions, social movements, faith-based and professional groups, self-help groups, and registered charity organizations (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012).

Rights movements are groups that relate to identity politics and which take up the course to challenge a government by invoking principles of morality and justice regarding particular culture, religion, and nations (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012).

Postmodernity is the current period in which there is a blurring and breakdown of boundaries, rules and standards, distinctions, and categories (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). In the postmodernity, people are no longer constrained geometric order strictness of modernism, or societal rules.

In the concept of globalization, the role of the indigenous rights movement is to fight for their rights and cultures. In countries such as Brazil, Canada, Australia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Peru, indigenous people fight for their lands and territories over developments (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). In the concept of agency, the role of the indigenous rights movement is to manufacture or revise their cultural meaning in the face of postmodernity. In particular, they let their cultural backgrounds and experiences influence the purpose of new aspects (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). In short, indigenous people indigenize new developments to fit their local culture.

Conclusions: Even the Rain

In the film titled Even the Rain, the Indigenous communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia have been affected by neoliberalism politics through the privatization of water by the government (Bollaín et al. 2010). Notably, the government agreed to the privatization of water to a multinational water company, which leads to protests, violence in Cochabamba. Eventually, the indigenous people of the Cochabamba stage a revolution that forces the multinational water company to abandon its mission in Bolivia. In the end, the entry of the company into the country and riot leave Cochabamba in ruins (Bollaín et al. 2010). In the Even the Rain, the notable anthropological opinion about the concept of Agency is that the government of Bolivia acted as the agency of the indigenous people of Cochabamba by trying to remake their culture on how they interact with water (Bollaín et al. 2010). The act of privatizing water, in particular, meant that these indigenous people could not access water as they used to before the transfer of ownership. In this regard, I propose indigenous communities in Bolivia to take active roles in the government or participate in its decision-making process through politics to come up with economic and political solutions.

Discuss your Opinion in class

In my opinion, neoliberalism has a strong social-cultural impact on undeveloped countries. As noted in the film Even the Rain, neoliberalism has compelled many developing countries to relinquish their vital resources such as land and minerals to firms from developed countries. Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Zambia, and Angola have a vast amount of minerals and oil (and gas). However, the exploitation of these natural resources has not financially benefited from local people. Besides, these natural resources have culminated in the destruction of the environment as the case of Nigeria’s oil-producing regions. To improve the living conditions in these underdeveloped countries, the government needs to incorporate local people in a decision relating to the privatization of natural resources. In particular, the government should determine the portions of income for local communities and for maintaining a clean environment.

References

Bollaín, I., Gordon, J., Benito, P., Altmayer, E., Serrano, M. L., & Lustres, E.  (2010). Even the Rain. Mexico: Morena Films.

Kottak, C. & Kozaitis, K. (2012). On being different. Diversity & multiculturalism in North American mainstream. New York: McGraw Hill.