notes on lecture

Lisa Lowe’s lecture, Metaphors of Globalization, was about how the social sciences have tried to represent globalization through metaphors. She argued that it was impossible to view the totality of globalization from a single point, comparing it to a statue that she saw in a London museum. All the sides and different complexities of the statue couldn’t be seen from one point and instead the viewer would need to walk to different parts of the room in order to see everything. She described how historians and cultural anthropologists explain the “human experience” like a blanket and it isn’t until recently that they have studied it from different angles, like the asymmetrical power relations that are seen in the world. During the post-World War II time period, Western countries felt that non-Western countries needed to modernize. They considered the Oriental as a late-comer to the game and could succeed cause of its Protestant work ethic, while Muslim and African countries were not considered to have the ability to catch up and were considered demonizing. She also spoke of different metaphors for describing globalization, like AIDS for example. She drew the parallel between the two by stating that it showed the influences of the media and was a metaphor for an insecure world. It is a world with unforeseen negative effects like SARS, swine flu, and the avian flu. She also described how Coca-Cola and McDonald’s used to the objects that were the most commonly associated with globalization. It was interesting to note that “fast food” was an indication of how time was becoming compressed by people.