Thoughts on this week's readings

I really liked how this textbook began with the General Introduction section, which allowed me to understand the true definition and meaning of what Globalization used to be and is today in society. Some of the things I learned just from the introduction page were that Globalization means different things to different people, it is never a smooth path, the movement of people around the globe poses new health risks, Globalization has been happening for a long time now, and since post-COVID, it might have entered a new phase. In Chapter 1, we got to slowly dive deeper into what Globalization is in the real world. As well as how the government is involved with globalization. In chapter 2, the title says it all 'how to Judge Globalism. This chapter was mostly about how people see globalism and how it's evolved over the decades in the period of western-civilization. I feel that it was cool to see different people's opinions on what globalization has become today compared to older periods of time. (especially with the development and rising evolution of technology. Then, in chapter 8, we jumped right into the history of Neoliberalism, where we got to learn about politics and the economy, as well as how Neoliberalism dominated the world politically. It was fascinating to read all the challenges and struggles they had to face before becoming very powerful.

My thoughts on the first reading

     The first reading, in my opinion, offered a solid introduction to the meaning and inner workings to globalization and allowed me to begin to understand how it works. I liked how in the beginning it did solely focus on the economics of globalization and showed that it can relate to many other things like ideas and cultures. That being said, the sharp turn into neoliberalism shows just how dominated globalism is dominated by the economic benefits it creates. I don’t think this was always the case, I believe this only arose during the recent century, as corporations arose, went global, and merged to create mega corporations. This led directly to these corporations' attempts to bid for power around the world and gain more influence on people, which led to them taking over events like the world cup to advertise their products and to funding different projects to increase their public image. This whole system led to the fall of the movement of ideas in that sense of globalization, as corporations began to stop spreading ideas because they wanted to spread their views and culture but they instead started doing everything because of money. Now I see that this is only one part of globalization, as things like phones and the internet can still allow the spread of ideas and cultures without money being an incentive. But thinking about it, globalization seems to be dominated by the effect it has on economies.

Globalization - Philadelphia

 With Philadelphia being such a large area to write about Im going to focus more on the neighborhood I am from, Manayunk. Formerly in the early 1900s Manayunk was full of factories supporting global trade of wood, paper, and coal products that would go down the river to Philadelphia's major ports. Now most of those factories have disappeared and the neighborhood has changed a bit. 

There is a large working class immigrant population, between people working corporate jobs and commuting downtown for work, and those who come offering cultural experiences through opening restaurants and bars. This has globalized our food and cultural scene, from authentic Italian food to authentic Indian cuisine there is a large amount of different backgrounds that shape our neighborhood into what it is. 

On the corporate side of things, there's not many large corporations in our neighborhood other than the grocery stores, and fast food spots that may be seen globally. I think that the small mom and pop shops offer a more authentic experience to the globalization happening in my area compared to large corporations. 

Globalization in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

     

Rio de Janeiro, the city where I was born and lived for more than 15 years, is a mark of Globalization from its beginning. It was the place where the colonizers from Portugal arrived in 1500, in a journey to discover new worlds. Then, they brought slave workforce from Africa, and they got mixed with the existent Portuguese and indigenous population. They all had babies and then Rio became one of the most mixed-race populations in the world. The politicians had other ideas, they wanted a sophisticated city just like Paris, so they kicked the poor from their houses at the Center of the city and did architectonic reforms and opened Rio for tourism. This are of the city is till today majority rich, white, and with the crescent Globalization, foreigners.

When I think of my city today, I can see the TikTok trendies, people making videos experiencing our food, or warmth, our sun and beaches. In the summer there are people from all the world, and the informal workers on the beach get their game up and learn how to sell in Spanish, English and even French. I was there in December, and I heard more English than Portuguese in the “elite” parts of the city. I even saw an ATM, not a Brazilian version, an American ATM just like the ones we have it here in U.S. I was shocked by the amount of AutoZone stores, and even a Sam’s club!

With the arrival of Carnaval in February, people come to see the samba, the music, the festivities, and with a tourist campaign and crescent social media participation, the hotels get all full and people experience the parties of their lives. But Rio is more than just tourist Globalization. We have great famous colleges that lead research internationally, we make movies that get Golden Globes and Oscars, singers that get Grammys, we are the city for politics assemblies like COP30, and much more. It is almost impossible to think about Rio without the global presence and the Globe without the presence of Rio.