Introduction
In Pakistan a baked yam is hard to come by but a
samosa is available at nearly any street corner in the city of Karachi.
In the Republic of Congo a samosa fetish may be a difficult one to
accommodate but a baked yam is a staple in the feasting of people in
the capital of Kinshasa. Yet these two completely different cultures
that may never interconnect have both been exposed to influences from a
common outside source. Two 18-year-old boys that are separated by the
Arabian Sea may have the same Method Man album but they speak
completely different languages. Would this prevent them from having a
conversation or will they soon both learn a shared dialect and discuss
the aesthetics of the cover art over the Internet? In my class at
George Mason University at least 15 different nationalities are
represented. Yet each student is wearing jeans and don similar haircuts
all gotten out of the same fashion magazine that lies on a stack of
catalogs in each person’s respective home. This is an example of
what diversity across the globe has come to mean in a modern world. A
vast assortment of cultures and traditions are still found in each
crevice of this highly populated world. Yet the constant advancements
of technology have been “traded internationally to further
intensify development” (Abu-Lughod, 98). Despite the growth that
has come from this, it may be a cause for concern. If this continues
there may be an eventual universal culture that will develop, putting
an end to personal identities. The elevated fusion of human conventions
across the planet led me to ask, “How do people keep their
identities in a multicultural world?”
The world’s struggle to claim identity is a story littered
with vicious fighting and bloodshed. Historically hegemony plays a
leading role in the development of international relations. There has
always been, without fail, a group of people that are so pleased with
the fruits of their lifestyle that they want the rest of the world to
enjoy it as well. In the process, those who don’t fit in the
picture are simply erased from sight. Some of the most horrific tales
of these exploits are from the era of African colonialism.
Yet in the face of such barbarism African tribes clung tightly to their
culture and fortunately some of them were able to protect their
identity from being lost. Another example of the fear inflicted in
people in a time of oppressed identities is all the monstrosities
claimed by Adolf Hitler. As he sought to rid
the world of so many of their individuality, those being victimized
were forced to find ways to protect that from destruction. In Asia, the
struggle for the Chinese to claim their identity led to the Taiping Rebellion
in the mid 1800s, which marked a milestone that changed the national
perspective in the country forever. As communities as a whole endure
the process of identifying character, discrimination is a
sometimes-inevitable yet always-worthless side effect. The “othering”
of groups of people has been the most detrimental consequence of
maintaining an ideology. The history of the world is defined by this
psychological and physical struggle and, if this pattern continues, it
will continue to shape societies for what looks like eternity.