It's a hard struggle and it takes a lot of know-how to embrace the future.

As with most, if not all, presentations I've given, yesterday's quick oral presentation was a bit panic inducing. Not sure why I can't get past that, but I sure am glad that I didn't have to speak in front of the Kennewick Arts Commission as a part of a final for another class. I did not envy those folks. I think my heart would have exploded. Enough with my aversion to public speaking -

Joke-tastic title: Imperialism, Colonization, and Globalization - What's the big idea?

The means of colonization and imperialism can be violent, destructive, and destabilizing. However, these forces, while associated with negativity, are ultimately forces that cause people, culture, and society to adapt and morph into a somewhat homogenized entity that has more in common than not with the colonizing force. This is not to suggest that the acts carried out in the name of colonialism or imperialism are good, nor is the subjugation and/or eradication of cultures and societies good. However, this process of adaptation is ultimately beneficial to creating a global community that presents everyone with the potential to engage in regular exchange with people from other areas or cultures. This situation comes about because this system of adaptation is not a one sided event. Both sides of the conquered/conqueror equation affect each other and this forces adaptation by both parties.

The idea above is supported by examples in several of the novels read and discussed in class. Exploring situations in the texts will help illustrate how these processes take place and how they are received. By looking at and dissecting certain scenes, we can also see the results of these cyclic adaptations and what happens when adaptation is actively resisted. These examples are then connected to the real world through related, but different, situations discussed in journal articles, news articles, and other similar documents.

End of the Pier

In my final I’m going to explore the interactions and concepts (businesses, philosophies, products, popular media, etc) that are components of imperialism, and ultimately globalization. However, this influence this isn’t a one-way street; there isn’t an uncompromising imposition of one's ideas on the other. It's a process of (mutual) adaptation that melds everything (imperial/colonial force, colonized, opposing forces, etc) into an entity that is more akin to the colonizing force than not.

Throughout the semester we've read stories about exchanges and conflict. Ultimately this leads to strengthened resistance or capitulation on one side. Regardless of the path, this results in adaptation. Either the "invading" force learns from this situation and adapts or the "invaded" party begins a process of adaptation. This system is less obvious than violent conflict, but it can be argued that cultural influence and adaptation is more effective in establishing imperialism/colonization and globalization. Through successive waves of adaptation, not "Wave of Mutilation [youtube.com]," interconnected global communities and identities take shape.

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Ed. Frances Abiola Irele. New York: Norton, 2009.Print.

Jin, Ha. "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town." The Bridegroom. New York: Pantheon Books, 2000. Print.

Naipaul, V. The Mimic Men. New York: Vintage International, 2001. Print.

Kraidy, Marwan. "Hybridity in Cultural Globalization." Communication Theory. 12.3 (2002): 316-39. Web. 4 Dec. 2009.
This article touches on several topics outside the scope of my argument, but it does touch on how Western culture influence other cultures and those non-Western cultures influence Western Culture

Power, Carla, et al. "Not the Queen's ENGLISH. (cover story)." Newsweek (Atlantic Edition) 145.10 (2005): 62. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Dec. 2009.
This article explores how English is seen as a necessity for success; however, there are more non-native English speakers than native and the non-native speakers are having an influence on the evolution (adaptation) of the English Language. Adoption of English and eventual influence on original force.

Diamond Age side-note

I figured that I'd mention something that I neglected to bring up in class when we were comparing current tech to tech in the book. Another thing we can add to that list is augmented reality (HUDs) in some car windshields and smartphones (Android phones and iPhones). However, that’s not really what I wanted to address.

Kindle was mentioned and I had an interesting set of trivia related to the development of Kindle. I may or may not have worked on the pre-launch/internal tech support team for Kindle. I’m not positive, but I don’t think I can get in into trouble for this… Anyway, it’s not material information, the products have been released, and you can find most of this information via Google or by looking at URLs for Amazon.com hosted Kindle images and whatnot.  So, many of the internal code names for Kindle hardware and software are/were based on characters from Diamond Age. I didn’t know this at the time, but after reading Diamond Age the influence is obvious. Fiona was the internal name for Kindle v1 hardware platform (the angular one that lots of people liked but complained about) and Nell is the Kindle 2 hw platform (people like it, unless they just bought the first gen Kindle, and still complain about). I don’t recall exactly, but I’m pretty sure that Hackworth was the codename for a firmware build on Kindle 1.