The preservation of culture

The train of thought that started months ago when I became completely disillusioned by the exoticism of "third world" adventures as I was getting banged around on the back of a truck through the dusty dirt roads of Cambodia, has resurfaced recently.

As I move away from those initial thoughts of discomfort and frustration, I am now wondering, is the preservation of culture simply a symptom of the condition of poverty that culture is in? If the globalized market had its way, our entire world would be one giant mall, where everyone would have access to a Wal-Mart, IKEA, McDonald's and Starbucks within arm's reach. This, I am certain of. After all, I believe the point of our existence, as told to us by contemporary society, is to spend money we don't have and work the rest of our lives to pay for the crap we didn't even need to buy in the first place. All the while, getting sucked into the black hole of interest rates.

Do you ever think that maybe a reason why the transmission of a culture's heritage continues on and remains "exotic", "indigenous" or "primitive" to us is because they have yet to be entrapped by the intrusion of Western development? Cambodia is known for its rice fields and natural resources. But then again, America was once land as well, and now look at it. Just think of the deforestation happening around the world. (I will plug a few videos about that in my next post, Danica!) Think of how oil corporations have exploited the natural resources of third world countries so that we can keep driving our cars and kill ourselves with the CO2 emissions.

In my Intercultural Analysis class this week, I posed the question, "If the goal is to eradicate poverty, does the end justify the means?" In other words, do we use whatever methods necessary to bring people out of poverty so that they can one day be rich and successful just like us Americans?

I like to ask questions and as a Global Studies major, we are always trying to understand the world. One of the things I've come to see is that colonialism decided the fate of the world when it used brute force and the enslavement of humans to shape our understanding of what power, wealth and success looks like. Any developed nation only got that way through the acculturation of Western standards. Is that the point? If the progress of the world continues as it does, albeit incrementally, will we end up with one monoculture?

For what we gain, think of what we lose in the process.

Also, if you haven't seen this yet, I recommend you take 20 minutes out of your life to watch this: Story of Stuff.