Chapters 13, 14 and 57

I think McDonald’s in Hong Kong is a really interesting example of how globalisation actually works in real life because it shows that it is not just one culture taking over another. I found it surprising that people didn’t consider burgers and fries to be proper meals and that they were just snacks, which makes sense when you think about how different Cantonese food traditions are but it seems that over time, especially with younger people, that has clearly changed and now fast food became a normal part of everyday life. What stood out to me was that McDonald’s didn’t completely change itself to fit Hong Kong. In fact, people sort of adapted to it and made it their own. It ended up becoming more than just a place to eat but more like somewhere to hang out or even celebrate birthdays, which I didn’t expect. I also think it’s interesting how it influenced things like cleanliness and queuing, which actually changed public behaviour. The part that I found the most surprising was that in Hong Kong, smiling too much can actually seem suspicious, almost like you’re trying to trick someone, so people don’t really value that kind of friendliness in the same way.

I think this idea of “transnational villagers” is actually really interesting because it makes the way we actually think about migration interesting. You’d assume that when people move somewhere like Boston, they slowly leave their old life behind, but this shows that’s not really the case at all. Instead, people are basically living in two places at once, still heavily connected to their home village while building a life abroad. I found it quite surprising how strong those links are. Something that stood out to me the most was that it’s not just money being sent back, it’s ideas as well. Things like fashion, behaviour, and even ways of organising communities are constantly moving between places, which ends up changing life in the village. At the same time though it’s not all positive. There is a lot of mistrust and tension within the community, which makes it harder to work together.

The idea of decontextualisation is quite eye-opening to me because I think it makes you realise how much things like yoga and meditation have changed over time. Before reading this, I never really questioned where these practices came from. For example, I just saw them as normal parts of fitness or wellbeing. It was really interesting to discover that they’ve been completely taken out of their original religious and cultural contexts and turned into something much more individual and modern. It’s cool how people now sort of “pick and choose” parts of religion that suit them, rather than following a full belief system. It feels like religion has shifted from being something collective to something really personal, focused on self-improvement and mental health. At the same time, I do think it’s a bit strange that these practices lose a lot of their original meaning in the process. I think the whole connection to psychology and therapy is probably why meditation has become so popular. I’d say this shows that globalisation doesn’t just spread culture but in fact reshapes it completely into something new that fits today’s  modern life.