Hybridization Theory of Globalization

Pieterse states that “since culture is a battleground, hybridity is a matter of mapping no man’s land.” (Pieterse, 117) While this argument is sound in many ways, I do believe that “battleground” conveys far more violence than is involved in most cultural mixing. However, Pieterse tempers his argument somewhat as he continues, saying that “hybridity does not preclude struggle but yields a multifocus view on struggle and by showing multiple identity on both sides, transcends the ‘us versus them’ dualism that prevails in cultural and political arenas.” (Pieterse, 117) Through this explanation, Pieterse backs up his description of “no man’s land,” which I think is a very apt term for the new territories created by hybridization because the results of hybridization are completely unpredictable; no one can map out what may come of cultural mixing, recreating cultural boundaries and even erasing existing ones. Sometimes conflict can be avoided and sometimes it cannot, but I believe that with the eventual acceptance of hybridization and cultural mixing, Pieterse’s no-man’s land will eventually become a true global community.

Thomas Friedman, an analyst of globalization and its effects, believes that as long as a society is careful to adopt outside influences at a pace its economy and culture can withstand, democracy is a natural aftereffect of globalization. If this is true, the people gain power by crying out against or embracing more globalized aspects of life, and therefore directing the evolution of globalization within their culture. For example, some of the smaller nations in Europe plan on joining the globalization revolution but are careful to proceed in switching to the Euro at a pace their economies can handle. Of cou...

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...on implies cooperation and learning between cultures, not uniformity. Most people do agree that culture is an integral part of identity, both for individuals and for a community, but everybody also has a slightly differing opinion regarding the extent that culture shapes their lives. Until each and every individual of the world can come to grips with the fact that culture has been hybridizing for centuries, even millennia, there will be a no-man’s land created by globalization. Before being able to accept the cultures of others, individuals and entire cultures must learn to accept themselves as well. However, as people come to accept that their culture is, and always has been, a global mélange, the confusion and fear caused by the unknown will become less, and hybridization will reveal itself as a very positive force indeed– a force capable of mapping no-man’s land.