In a world where scholars debate nationalism and the effects of globalization we are forced to figure out what is really important to individuals. Yes the community and the citizenship is important but it is the individual that makes up the citizenship. Many scholars believe that it is sovereignty, typified in the Westphalia System that people really care about. They care about self-governance. They want to make their own rules and laws. I don’t buy into this theory though. If this were the case, why would people give up their sovereignty to joun supranational organizations and submit themselves to a separate governance and set of norms like the EU. I believe that the reality lies in the retention of social and cultural norms decided by whatever system the individual chooses to place themselves in.
Many globalization theory scholars believed that there was an inherent danger in the application of globalization in that it would compromise cultural and idealist systems. The belief that an individual or culture could only submit itself to a single system of norms dominated globalization theory. This ideal that a group could not be both Islamic and modern at the same time was the foundation of globalization theory for so long. This idea that it identity must be “either or” for so long became challenged by the “both and” model. It is possible that we can adhere to two completely separate identities. There is an issue here. At some level you are forced to choose your identity. While one can identify themselves as something as simple as a student and a male, one finds it difficult to find a pride in being masculine and a feminist as well. This is not to say that it is impossible but there are times in which people are forced to choose between two conflicting identities. It would be difficult for the hunter to also claim an identity as an animal rights activist. In the same way that it would be difficult for one to consider themselves both a bachelorette and a married woman. At some level we are forced to embrace one identity fully while giving up a separate identity that we once loved. While being an American may be something we hold very dear, being a human being, a part of a global culture or humans, who share basic genetic structures, may call us to step out of our American culture an become something more… something connecting us with the world. I don’t believe that the forsaking or lessening of one identity is necessarily a decline in a culture, but rather that it can be an increase in self-definition. I also don’t pretend that this transition is easy. I am speaking to you who still remember the horrors of Pearl Harbor and find it difficult to support the current catastrophe in Japan. At some level we must all choose what identity is most important. I would honestly challenge you all to do this… please. I beg you, it’s so important in our lives. Dad, Mom, Bonnie, Caitlin, Alicia, Josh, Chad, my family and friends… write down 5 things that most identify you as a person… be it your gender, race, religion, location, anything.
Now cross out one of those things that you’d be most okay with giving up.
Cross out another….
Do it again… now you have 2 left over…
Cross out the one you would be okay with giving up.
What you are left with, hopefully your most base identity. The thing you would fight and die for. Be it family, faith, race, or anything else, this is what you are at your very core. I don’t pretend to be a modern Confucius. This is not even my exercise, this was taught to me by Dr. Gregory Miller, but I think it is so important to figure out who we really are and what it is we’re living for. I love you all and I hope that you could have learned as much as I have in the past month and more.
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