Globalization of the Local

• "globalization means Americanization"
• Yes, that's generally what I've been led to believe. I mean, we don't really see foreign brands over here, do we? Maybe the number is growing.
• "It is becoming clear that the flat-world platform, while it has the potential to homogenize cultures, also has, I would argue, an even greater potential to nourish diversity to a degree that the world has never seen before."
• Very interesting. But wouldn't diversifying the entire world be, in a sense, homogenizing it? 
• uploading = "globalization of the local"
• Hmm... tell me more.
• "The fact that more people can now not only survive but even thrive by staying home in their native region, in their own environment, has got to be a net plus for the forces of cultural diversity versus the forces of homogeneity."
• But if people stay in their own country/culture, how does the world get diversified??
• "Even those individuals who have had to uproot themselves from developing countries to go west... have been able to take advantage of the flattening of the world to hold on to many aspects of their local culture."
• So people do need to leave their own country for this globalization of the local to work...
•  "Globalization of the local 'is globalization in reverse. Instead of global media enveloping Asia, the region's 'local' media are going global. This... is being driven by the demand for local news and information from Asia's diasporas, notably the millions of Chinese and Indian emigres now living in all parts of the world.'"
• (Same note as above.)
• "Globalization has empowering and disempowering, homogenizing and particularizing, democratizing and authoritarian tendencies all built into it."
• Both good and bad... It's basically a contradiction in itself, or at least that's how the author is explaining it. (I develop this thought further in the last bullet point.)
• Toodou = Chinese version of YouTube
• "I am confident that this flattening phase of globalization is not going to mean more Americanization, but more globalization of local cultures."
• I'm not against globalization, honestly. I think it would be really cool to have access to other cultures' products without having to travel to each country. But the "globalization of the local" that the author describes only works for people who may have left their country of origin and want to stay connected. For instance, a Japanese newspaper only has a very narrow audience in the United States, really only people who have emigrated from Japan and possibly American students studying Japanese/Japanese culture. Native Americans (not to be confused with American Indians - I mean Americans who were born in the United States) without any Japanese background would have no use for a Japanese newspaper, and so those ideas are only spread to a very small number of people. Like Toodou - it's great that Chinese people can create their own content for all the world to see, but how much of the world besides China will actually understand what's going on? I can only fathom a functioning world with limited globalization, that is, only the globalization of products and possibly art styles. Otherwise, if every nationality in, for example, this melting pot of America is catered to in their own culture, then where does the American culture, the American language, the American opinion go? Complete globalization is homogenization. There wouldn't be a division anymore. I believe that when someone moves to another country, let's say the United States, they intend to adopt that country's culture. I wouldn't move to Nigeria unless I was willing to completely change my lifestyle, especially my language. Of course I can still have ties to my old American life, but I live in Nigeria, and if I wanted to live the American life, complete with American newspapers, films, and fast food, I should have stayed in America. I am an American, born and raised, but my mother is Brazilian, and I have such a strong connection with that culture that I've considered many times just moving there once I graduate because I feel the Brazilian in me so much more. Even if I don't, though, I will still read a Brazilian book or go to an American celebration of Brazilian Carnival every once in awhile, but I will remain an American consumer of American culture.

(This reading reminded me of a project I did my freshman year about samba and its globalization: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbZJNLt_6sc)