MINI ETHNOGRAPHY

Student’s Name

Class

Date
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Mini Ethnography

Globalization is a complex, multidimensional process that has transformed nearly all life

spheres, including social, cultural, economic, technological, social, and personal. It has diversely

been conceived as temporal-spatial compression (as evidenced by how instantaneous electronic

media has eroded the limitations of time and distance on social interaction and organization),

faster interconnectedness (perceived as intensified global consciousness of world society

facilitated by worldwide social relations), and acting from a distance (as evidenced by social

actors influencing ‘distant others’). Therefore, globalization points to the increasing scale, as

well as the accelerating and compounding impact of international social interaction patterns. The

development of communication systems has largely influenced globalization; there can be no

globalization without communications media. In the modern world, individuals interact with

diverse communication and information and are often influenced by lifestyles, concepts, and

images from locales distant from theirs. The very existence of globalization alters the quality of

people’s lives, making it essential to understand the impacts of globalization. Although

globalization has had an overall positive effect on my life, including making it possible to access

new cultures, learn foreign languages, and expand my social network, it has also had a glaring

downside in the form of the loss of cultural identity and experiences of local job losses.

Globalization makes it possible and easy to access and interact with foreign cultures,

including art, movies, music, and food. This free flow of information, people, art, and goods is

why one can have Chinese food delivered to their apartments as they stream a Bollywood movie

or listen to a Nigerian song. Courtesy of globalization, I often experience numerous opportunities

to interact with foreign cultures in my routine life, especially food. Food is more than what I eat;

it also involves how the food is eaten and its meaning or cultural significance. Some food
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cultures have gained global dominance. For example, I frequently eat spring rolls, especially the

savory kind made with shredded pork, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, and shredded bamboo

shoots. The history of spring rolls in China is long; they are believed to have first surfaced during

the Eastern Jin Dynasty (from 266 to 420 AD); during this time, the Chinese made thin cakes

that they ate with vegetables during Lichun, or the start of spring.1 Thanks to globalization, food

cultures are constantly moving; they are continually displaced from their origin and create novel,

hybrid cultures by interacting with other food practices and traditions. Other foods that I have

interacted with are also thought to originate from other places. For example, fish and chips, a

meal that is so loved, was thought to have been brought by Jewish immigrants, apple pie

originated from Egypt, and marmalade from Portugal. Cultural diffusion is primarily attributable

to ethnoscapes; tourists, refugees, exiles, and migrants often bring displaced cultures that are

absorbed into the local cultures.

Paper was discovered in China, and it took a millennium for this invention to spread from

China to Europe.2 The modern world has become more integrated, making the spread of

knowledge faster and through many channels. Technological advancements – especially social

media – have made it possible to interact with other people in faraway places in real-time,

helping to understand their cultures, languages, religions, and political leanings. I use social

networking sites such as Twitter, Skype, Facebook, and Google+ frequently; I log in multiple

times every day. Using Facebook Messenger and Skype, I usually talk to online friends in distant
1
The Taste, “A Little History about our Spring Rolls,” last modified November 17, 2016,

https://www.thetaste.co.nz/blog/little-story-about-our-spring-rolls#:~:text=%E2%80%8BThe%20origin%20of

%20spring,during%20the%20cold%20winter%20months.
2
Candice Lee Goucher and Linda Walton, World History: Journeys from Past to Present - Volume 1:

From Human Origins to 1500 CE (Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2013), 238.
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countries and learn more about their history, languages, political systems, leaders, and national

holidays. Pen friends offer an excellent way to learn more about other cultures and languages;

one’s foreign language level matters very little when engaging friends and acquaintances online.

Online platforms often enable me to find friends quickly. For example, when I am interested in

learning Russian, I can find Russian pen friends in a city or country of my choice through social

networking sites. These sites often furnish an idea of how people in specific countries talk and

think, making it easy to adjust to the culture. Today’s globalizing society has resulted in the

widespread popularity of new social media, which provide the means and context within which

people from different regions of the world can communicate, share knowledge, exchange

messages, and interact without worrying about the geographical divide separating them,

ultimately creating a sense of belonging to a broader social network apart from one’s local

community.

Globalization also improves social network creation tremendously. Aside from the

cultural amativeness that globalization has enabled through social media, an additional benefit is

the creation of social networks for its own sake.3 People used snail mail before the advent of

Facebook; there were no avenues for people from two or more continents to connect in real-time.

Letters took a long time to be delivered, and they sometimes ended up in incorrect addresses.

Although telephones existed, international calls proved costly. The advent of social networking

sites such as Facebook and WhatsApp eased communication between individuals thousands of

miles apart. As a perfect example of my lived experience of globalization, Facebook has allowed

me to communicate with friends and acquaintances throughout the world and make new ones. It

3
Mariana Medina and Andrew Carl Sobel, “Economics versus Identity: Mass and Elite Attitudes toward

Trade, Migration, and Outsourcing,” in Challenges of Globalization Immigration, Social Welfare, Global

Governance, ed. Andrew Carl Sobel (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009), 110.

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is now easy to find online study groups through platforms such as Zoom, where people share

ideas and academic knowledge and sometimes become lifetime friends. The size of global social

media continues to burgeon. Although Facebook remains the largest social networking site in

terms of social media activity, others such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are also growing.

Although my experience of globalization has largely been positive, such as enabling easy

access to foreign countries and new cultures, learning foreign languages, and expanding my

social network, it has also had a downside in the form of a feeling of identity loss. Globalization

blends cultures to produce unique societies. My access to more successful cultures, especially

food cultures, sometimes makes me experience a feeling of identity loss due to my preference for

certain foreign foods. People will inevitably lose their global diversity as cultures begin to lose

their distinguishing characteristics because of globalization. Overall, the discussion presented in

this paper summarizes my experiences with globalization. Cultural differences are a reality of

life; it is evident that dominant cultures might subsume lesser ones, ultimately resulting in their

loss of identity. Globalization has become an ingrained aspect of the modern world. People

sometimes fail to realize its benefits to daily living, such as access to various exotic cuisine and

academic collaboration between students and scholars thousands of miles apart. However,

reaping the full benefits of globalization requires the awareness and mitigation of its downsides.

It is essential to ensure cultural even in the face of intensifying globalization.

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Bibliography

Goucher, Candice Lee, and Linda Walton. World History: Journeys from Past to Present -

Volume 1: From Human Origins to 1500 CE. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2013.

Medina, Mariana, and Andrew Carl Sobel. “Economics versus Identity: Mass and Elite Attitudes

toward Trade, Migration, and Outsourcing.” In Challenges of Globalization Immigration,

Social Welfare, Global Governance, edited by Andrew Carl Sobel, 100-126. Abingdon:

Routledge, 2009.

The Taste. “A Little History about our Spring Rolls.” Last modified November 17, 2016.

https://www.thetaste.co.nz/blog/little-story-about-our-spring-rolls#:~:text=

%E2%80%8BThe%20origin%20of%20spring,during%20the%20cold%20winter

%20months.