Globalize me…I think. ISMLL 260-93

Literary history has shown that displacement, detachment, and disconnections have a way of creating a poetic in writing that holds its own place in literary studies. Susan Stanford Friedman focuses on the displacement and placement throughout literature in her essay, “Migrations, Diasporas, and Borders.” Her essay is a “preliminary mapping” of literary scholarship on migration, diasporas, and borders rooted in her own foundations in cultural theory. According to Friedman the recent (last few decades) interest in the mobility of peoples and the writing they create—the development of migrations, diasporas, and borders as a field—can be attributed and described by one word, globalization. Although the meaning and cultural significance of this new era of globalization is often debated, Friedman in fact claims, “globalization is not a new phenomenon, although the naming of it is new, indicating heightened awareness of what has been there all along” (261). So the act of globalization has been around all along, we just got around to naming it when its existence became more apparent on a larger scale. Throughout history peoples, cultures, and societies have crossed paths, making exchanges in language, custom, and tradition whether it was deliberate or not. Today, we can attribute nearly all of globalization to the rise in technology, and as Friedman assures, “The Internet has transformed the diasporic experience of many through the formation of virtual communities connecting the far-flung with those still back home” (261-62). Friedman continues that literary scholarship has moved toward a transnational perspective and that this new globalization is changing comparative literature through the development and effects of Geography, Anthropology, and the ever-evolving identities of writers and storytellers on the move. That although migration, diasporas, and borders hold their significance apart from each other, they are closely tied in their collective connections to culture, identity, language, and the memory and desire creating the history and future of literature on a world-scale.

The globalization Friedman speaks of is apparent in daily life. From the comfort of home I am able to reach into the depths of other culture—read about traditions, learn of language, and book a flight to just about anywhere I desire to go. Although sitting here in front of the computer lacks in the purity of being physically in a different place, it still represents a virtual reality that we, as a society, are exponentially getting accustomed to. As the mailbox at the driveway has stooped to an all-time low of being the holder of only coupon books and junk mail my inbox overflows with emails and the latest news in national affairs, world issues, and even sports updates. I have a good feeling (as I’m sure others do as well) that this is nowhere near the pinnacle of our technological endeavor. We are still at the threshold of a mountain of possibility and the advancement we face will likely bring us even closer together as a globalized world. Ironically, the virtual reality of cyberspace brings us together by keeping us apart, and I only hope that at the top of this mountain is a long plain of progressive existence and not a downward slope into an unknown abyss.