Bog 5 - Intercultual Communication and body politics chaptrs 2-4 - New

As I write this blog, I look around the room in the hope that something catches my eye to bring me back to life and ignite my blog written ability. It doesn't take me long to start looking at the variety o people sat in the room with me. As I sit and watch them, I start to say things in my head about individuals. I soon realize that I am interpreting different people, from the clothes they are wearing to the countries they have come from.

The world is constantly changing and it doesn't take much looking in a magazine or web search to notice that the majority of the world is being influenced by Americanization. Many cultures today have adopted many American traditions and clothes, sports and technology. This is although bring the world closer together for what many see as a positive, it can also be a negative and be seen as cultural imperialism by other countries, which as a result can cause tension and conflict as seen with 9/11.

Globalization is seen the complex web of forces and factors that have bought people, cultures, cultural products, markets, as well as beliefs and practices into the increasingly dynamic and mobile world. This has led to the greater interaction of people, cultures, and cultural forms across national boundaries. With the positives that have come from this, there are also the negative effects of conflict between counties over resources along with the rapidly growing global interdependence. 

This did not just happen over nigh though, his goes back o he historical legacy of colonization, western domination, and U.S hegemony that shapes intercultural relations today.

As wok places, communities, schools, and people’s lives become more interwoven in global webs, intercultural communication in increasing preset in all areas of our lives. This can be seen with the mixing o different cultures from different places around the world also know as Hybrid cultural forms.

As people move around the globe, whether it is for wok, political asylum, military, survival or even tourism, they will carry their culture with them and will make efforts however big to create a sense of home. Our beliefs, religious views and practices we enact are significant in representing our culture.

Due to the everyday forces of globalization, people from different cultures and backgrounds such as ethnic, class, national cultures etc. start to become entwined causing a change. Cultures become Deteitorialized, which means the cultural subjects and objects are uprooted from their place of origin and geographically relocated  (Reterritorialized).

In the past when people left their homes for another area or country, they wouldn’t usually ever go back to that place.  With today’s technology and transportation, people are now able to move around the world more freely. For example; when I went back to England after spending time a college in America, I had grown fond of certain foods such as Mexican food and especially Ranch dressing which isn’t very big in England. After letting my friends try ranch they too began to like it more and use it more. This is very small but just an example of how certain foods can spread across the world so easily. There are still however people who have been forced to leave their country and move to another, and are just wanting to go back as soon as possible. This is known as Diasporic Communities.

Today many of the big U.S corporations are going abroad due to cheap labor cost. This is causing many local businesses to lose their businesses while also taking jobs away from many Americans. This is a problem for many countries around the world, as there are positives and negatives that come from such a move. It just usually seems that the big corporations are the only winners.

America is ever changing and is called the melting pot because of the amount of different people from all over the world coming to America to live and bring their cultures with them. It is not only the same for America, every country from around the world is evolving and every changing with the influx of people bringing their cultures and beliefs along with their own cultural values.

When I go to different places in America and I see an English pub, I usually try and stop by for a pint as it will usually bring back memories of how an English pub looks like, as the American pubs are usually a lot different. I think the only thing I have ever influenced an American into doing is add a few words to their vocab, as there are many slag words in England that are unknown to the average American.

Body politics refers to the practices and policies through which power is marked, regulated, and negotiated on and through the body. This is what mut be looked at in order to understand how race and our body politics has been interpreted over the years and how it is constantly changing in certain ways.

The difference in our genders can be very important in how we are brought up in a culture compared to another culture. The way we walk, talk, speak eye contact, touch, gesture, dress and even down to what sports or activities we participate in can determine masculinity or femininity. Males in many cultures are seen as the people who bring food to the table and work for the family, where women are seen as staying at home and looking after the children resulting in the term social construction of gender. This has changed over the years but is still a norm in many places. In china, because of their one child per family policy, many families will either kill or abandon a daughter as the males are the ones who will stay and provide for the family unlike the females who will go join the husbands family.

  

            Race is a very important subject when we talk about globalization. It has been this way for hundreds and hundreds of years. With today’s global interactions spreading across the world, there are more interracial couples forming. This is becoming more normal in society, and not looked down upon compared to fifty years ago. As different cultures get together, we are now seeing a lot more mixed raced people.

Race where ever you go in the world will be an issue. Many cultures have looked down upon certain races and stereotyped them and hated them. This can go back hundreds of years to the hierarchy of difference. Racism will always be in our society, no matter how hard we try to gt rid of it, its inevitable to always be with us, which is a crying shame.

Since coming to America I have noticed that there are a lot more African American in American compared to the black people in England. I think the way different races are treated is a global thing, and I don’t think it will completely stop which is a sad thing. When I went to Houston, Tx , he majority of the area I was in was mostly African American, and whenever I would try and speak to someone to ask them a question etc., I felt they didn’t want to help or know me. I think every culture, group, race, religion stereotypes everyone.