CIAO DATE: 11/2010
Volume: 22, Issue: 1
Winter 2009
Liora Barba
Nearly a decade after national liberation in South Africa and Namibia, demonstrators outside of the 2002 United Nations Conference on Development filled the streets of Johannesburg with the resounding melodies of apartheid protest songs. Meanwhile, inside the conference gates, former President Thabo Mbeki called for an “end to global apartheid.” That same year, in the small city of Hilversum, Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was shot dead. Known for his nationalist, right-wing politics, Fortuyn emerged as a prominent political figure, acquiring a cult following by appealing to anti-immigrant sentiment. His death inspired a resurgence of nationalism and xenophobia in a country that once stood for integration and tolerance.
Identities in Migrant Cinema: The Aesthetics of European Integration (PDF)
Jalene Betts
Although much progress was made in Europe over the last half century with regard to the integration of markets and the near-vaporization of national borders, recent years show that, contrary to the illusion of an “enlightened” continent free from the racism of the past, ethnicity continues to play a role in European culture. As demonstrated by disputes in the Balkan region over Kosovo’s independence, debates on the acceptance of new member states into the European Union (in particular Turkey’s application for admittance), and growing concerns over immigration in the Netherlands and France, ethnicity seems to prove itself as a thing of the present, not the past. Media coverage of the “problems” of Islam—unemployed “Arab” youths roaming the streets, young girls forced to wear head-coverings by their “sexist” relatives—is a reality, whether or not the claims made by such representations are valid.
Lingering Borders in the European Union: Migrant Workers in Spain and the Netherlands (PDF)
Andra Bosneag
With the two European Union (EU) Enlargements of 2004 and 2007, an understanding of the antiquated and modern challenges, fears, and contradictions surrounding the inclusion of accession countries, as well as the respective rights of the “old” member states, has become essential to any contemporary analysis of current EU dynamics. This work incorporates my two semesters abroad in Barcelona, Spain, and Maastricht, the Netherlands, with the intended approach of further clarifying the Program’s mission: “intensive interrogation and observation of globalization in comparative perspective.” Before embarking on my study abroad, I was profoundly marked by an incident that solidified my resolution to study Eastern and Central Europe. In an effort to skip the bureaucratic visa process, I attempted to use my Romanian passport instead of my American passport to enter Europe. After inquiring at five different Spanish embassies as to whether my Romanian passport, after EU accession, would eliminate the need for a visa, I left the country still not knowing if my passport was yet functional in the realm of the European Union. Upon entering Spain, a border patrol officer enthusiastically informed me that the EU required no entry papers (besides a passport) for its citizens studying abroad; my Romanian passport had ceased to be just a sentimental souvenir. This incident was one of many that attested to the lack of general knowledge surrounding the new EU members and it contributed to my decision to study the interactions between the old and new member states. Fur- 53 Macalester International Vol. 22 54 thermore, both Spain and the Netherlands have generally been viewed as “different.” While Franco’s authoritarian regime emphasized the popular slogan, “España es diferente,” it is currently employed as a tactic to garner tourists. In contrast, the political and cultural dynamics of the Netherlands have traditionally been perceived as anomalous in their liberalism, compelling many to label the country as “different.”
Jack Eisenberg
On September 6, 2007, politician Geert Wilders addressed the Dutch Parliament, boldly proclaiming that “multiculturalism” was destroying European civilization: Madam Speaker, the Islamic incursion must be stopped. Islam is the Trojan Horse in Europe. If we do not stop Islamification now, Eurabia and Netherabia will just be a matter of time. One century ago, there were approximately 50 Muslims in the Netherlands. Today, there are about one million Muslims in this country. Where will it end?…No Islamic tradition must ever be established in the Netherlands: not now and also not in a few centuries’ time.1 Only a few years earlier and several thousand miles away on the island of Japan, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro warned the Japanese public about the imminent threat foreigners posed to their social fabric after relaying a recent report of criminal activity: In due course, the perpetrators were captured, and, just as had been suspected, the crime was one of revenge among Chinese criminals. There is fear—and not without cause—that it will not be long before the entire nature of Japanese society itself will be altered by the spread of this type of crime that is indicative of their ethnic DNA.2 77 Macalester International Vol. 22 78 In both cases, the total eclipse of multiculturalism was more than political. It was existential.
Somali Immigrants and Health Care: Neo-Liberal Globalization in the United States and Holland (PDF)
Hye Won Hong
Proper health care is important for everyone. According to Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family.1 It states that health care is an essential right for everyone regardless of their social, cultural, and economic status. However, recent studies have shown that providing proper health care has not been well addressed, especially with regard to immigrants.
The Rise of English: The Language of Globalization in China and the European Union (PDF)
Anne Johnson
As academic analyses of globalization increase in number, it is ever more important to examine the drivers behind this phenomenon, the factors that influence it, and the manifestations it produces in everyday life. A pertinent example of all three dynamics, the worldwide advance of the English language is important to study not only in its own right, but also for its potential to deepen our understanding 131 Macalester International Vol. 22 132 of globalization and of the possibilities of creating a more equitable, tolerant, and ethically responsible world. Surprisingly, precious little academic and policy attention has been directed to the rise of the English language, especially in regionally specific contexts.1 But as a proxy site for the very issues I have been studying as an International Studies and Anthropology double major, the subject seemed a perfect fit for my research as a participant in the Globalization in Comparative Perspective program through the Macalester College Institute for Global Citizenship.
Federico Segura Molina
This essay examines the impact of the foreign policy of the United States and the European Union (EU) on the human rights situation in Colombia. Not only was this project an essential component of the Macalester-Maastricht Globalization in Comparative Perspective Study Abroad Program, but a variety of factors also motivated my study: • Colombia is an anomaly in the study of foreign policy and human rights. As a region with uncommon political, economic, and social realities, Colombia is a country where two distinct approaches to foreign policy and human rights, those of the U.S. and EU, are simultaneously at work. Despite their significant ideological and philosophical differences, however, both the U.S. and the EU strongly support Colombia’s administration and its national policies. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the human rights situation in Colombia and to create effective policies in the future, it is important to understand the unusual impact international action has had on national policy and the fate of human rights.
The Allure of the Radical: Understanding Jihadist Violence in the West (PDF)
Kabir Sethi
Grand proclamations of world peace and prosperity, so famously made by scholars and politicians alike in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, today seem naïve and almost laughable. Francis Fukuyama, writing as the Berlin Wall came down, believed that we were witnessing “Not just the end of the Cold War…but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”1 For better or worse, that has not been the case. To use Benjamin Barber’s words, we seem to be witnessing “retribalization” rather than “McWorld.” The fall of Communism as a global political movement did not bring an end to anti-Western sentiment in the world, as testified to by annual riots in India on Valentine’s Day, anti-American rallies in South Korea and Japan, and Peru and Venezuela’s explicitly anti-Western regimes. One violent movement in particular, though, has especially caught the imagination of the West, the movement that is commonly referred to as “Islamic terrorism,” “global jihad,” or “contemporary jihadist violence.” Part of what makes this movement so noticeable is its seemingly global reach and appeal. From bombings in Bali, Indonesia, to attacks in India, the Middle East, Europe, and all the way to the United States, “Islamic terrorism” seems to have spread across the world. This essay addresses the appeal of radical and violent interpretations of Islam in continental Western Europe and the United States.
Urvashi Wattal
Harvey and Ulrich Beck, as a rapid dissemination of information, ideas, and even people across the world. The process of globalization is witnessed on various platforms, including the economic, the political, and the cultural. Under pressure from global forces and institutions, the role of traditional nation-states is continuously being challenged. A prime example of such a force is the increasing influence of the European Union (EU) in shaping domestic policies within its member states. Globalization has not only made the world smaller in a technological sense, it has also highlighted issues of conflict and resurgent nationalism, while at the same time furthering the cause of Cosmopolitanism. 1
Eleni Zimiles
Arriving on European soil in August 2007, my perception of globalization was largely comprised of the extensive and intangible tides of contemporary macro-institutional forces, such as that of the global economy or international governing bodies. Over the course of the year, another face of globalization was revealed, one that was a “much wider and deeper rendez-vous.”1 I began to more fully comprehend globalization as a historically deep conglomeration of overlapping global and local processes that affect individuals on an intimate level. However, while definitions are indispensably parsimonious, they are not sufficient. It is the anthropology student’s role to open these compressed understandings and expose the full details of globalization’s universalities and particularities, in effect creating a global “ethnography of the particular.”2
Appendix - Globalization in Comparative Perspective (PDF)
The Macalester Globalization in Comparative Perspective program consists of a first semester at Macalester or abroad in a student’s own area of academic focus, following the guidelines long established by Macalester College. (Macalester’s international students fulfill the first semester abroad requirement by their study at Macalester; Macalester U.S. students are required to study abroad or away elsewhere in the U.S. during the fall semester as part of this program.) This would mean, for example, that interested and qualified students, in any relevant field of study throughout the College, would individually spend the period of September–December studying international issues and liberal arts courses (earning 12–18 credits, depending on the program and the coursework) and gaining a strong local and regional perspective on globalization in any one country throughout the world.