While you were trying to decide which type of horseradish to order from the Gefilteria in order to complement your homemade sushi, that term globalization has undergone some kind of meme upgrade. There’s glocalization, maybe you have heard about that. It’s a term from Roland Robertson and it describes the interpenetration of the global and the local that results in unique outcomes in various geographic areas. The capitalists point to unique items on the McDonald’s menu in various places to explain this phenomenon, the classic example being Bubur Ayam McD, a Malaysian porridge topped with chicken strips scallions, ginger, fried shallots and chiles. Yum! (I think). But then there’s problems with this, things get muddy when one thinks of “unique” glocal Mickey D menu items like what the Philippines has to offer: the Chicken McDo. This features such local delicacies as Spaghetti marinara and one fried chicken piece? Time to put the dreams of authenticity aside and forget the notion of the local.
Then there’s grobalization. This one sounds good to the German ear, or at the very least, meaningful. This idea, coined by George Ritzer, describes the imperialistic ambitions of nations (and corporations or organizations) and their tendency to impose themselves on various geographic areas. It’s not exactly a nation’s will (or its people) calling the shots about this sort of thing, either. I am pretty sure there’s hardly a single German dreaming of new places to start a new Oktoberfest knock-off. Likewise, the Peruvians don’t give a crap about those panpipe concerts in every mid-sized to large German city square.
And let’s just dispense with that silly dybbuk of Americanization that haunted us at the end of the last century. Who the hell thinks that Americanization and globalization are the same thing today? Unless there are nations suddenly adopting the death penalty, turning to rampant mega-church religiosity, stockpiling bullets from Walmart, or sitting outside for hours grilling burgers each time there’s a big day in College Football Season, I remain unconvinced. And what really is the relationship between Americans and their supposed Americanization drive? Next to nothing. I get a little thrill when I see a Guggenheim museum in an unusual location when I am on the road. And why am I such an art snob? Because my country, too, has been McDonaldized. Not globalized, mind you. No one in the States is debating the wisdom of the “global consensus” out of Europe that we are all headed toward more secularization or multilateralism, for example. Hollywood films make more dough in the international markets than in the US, so that’s the target audience. And the world has responded: only a complete naïf would ever look to current Hollywood films as accurate ethnographic documents of American life. And that idea of American exceptionalism that once buoyed the immigrant dreams of previous generations of Amis? Sitting happily in the dumpster of the best Chinese restaurant in Tijuana, where all day long, you can hear Korean >pop<!!!