(painter unknown)

Imagine if globalization did not exist. Would we all then be healthy and happy citizens?

Perhaps one of the first and most characterized examples of the interconnection of Globalization and Health would be the Black Death of mid-14^th Century in Europe. Then, almost 30% of the European population was killed in 2 years by Bubonic Plague. What fueled the spread of this horror was trade, the interconnectedness of this world.

It is most commonly believed that the bubonic plague was originally endemic in populations of infected ground rodents in central Asia, as it was a known cause of death among migrant and established populations in that region. However, it is not entirely clear where the fourteenth-century pandemic started. The most popular theory places the first cases in the steppes of central Asia, though some speculate that it originated around northern India. From there, supposedly, it was carried east and west by traders and Mongol armies along the Silk Road, and was first exposed to Europe at trading ports in Sicily. - Wikipedia

Whichever the case, it is evident that the disease, carried by fleas on rodents, was allowed to spread across the globe by trading ships, which stopped at different ports in different regions, allowing the dissemination of the disease. There was no way to put a stop to such – to contain the plague would mean that countries would have to ‘isolate’ themselves, a tactic which would certainly cause them to incur severe losses. Many economies survive on trade and industry. It was simply impossible for trade to halt in any region, therefore the disease continued to spread and spread.

The Black Death even hundreds of years ago resembles what we are facing now. The world is just too interconnected. Just like the spread of bubonic plague cannot be contained to any country, the spread of our modern day SARS, Bird Flu, HIV etc., cannot be contained as well. Globalisation resulted in the breakdown of borders and barriers, and thus the spread of illness comes along with it. As globalisation has allowed us to travel abroad easily, it has allowed us to carried germs and our diseases to other countries around the world, and thus spread it to people even across the globe. After all, being connected to each other, the amount of suffering as depicted in the painting would probably be widespread.

But as I like to argue that Globalisation has fuelled the spread of diseases, I would once more point out that only Globalisation can save us now. With globalisation, the spread of ideas is made faster, and therefore discoveries and scientific inventions made in one country would be available to all. And this means cures. The world would work hand in hand to combat the epidemic. Any epidemic.

In conclusion, I guess we have to accept that Globalisation is here to stay. Perhaps, and imagining is all that we can do, had there been no globalisation, sickness and diseases would have spared some of our countries and its people. But since there is Globalisation, what’s left to do is simply just working together to combat the ills of Globalisation. A double-edged sword many would have imagined and a double-edged sword it would remain.

If globalisation did not exist, we probably would have then allowed disease to wipe us out individually anyway.

the writer plays the role of the environmental and heath expert

[painting from http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/csepa/mhall/IGS/Plagues/PIA/plagues_in_art.htm , others from Wikipedia ]

-Teresa

Front view of the Guggenheim in Bilbao


The hotel museum in Las Vegas (which is rumoured to be considering a
reproduction of the Sistine chapel on the roof) is only one of a series of joint
ventures that Krens is pursuing in an alliance with the Hermitage that is aimed
at forging a whole new paradigm, what Krens calls an "international museum".

In return for the Guggenheim helping the Hermitage renovate the General
Staff building in St Petersburg adjacent to its present state appartments in the
Winter Palace, for instance, the Hermitage will make its unique collection of
old masters and French impressionists available to the new Guggenheims in Las
Vegas and New York, and vice versa. This treasure-sharing arrangement will also
encompass Bilbao, the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin and a second Venice Guggenheim.
The tie-up with the Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna - renowned for its
collection of Brueghels and other European masters - converts this "marriage of
opposites" into into a menage a trois.

Article by Mark Honigsbaum for The Guardian.


To be honest the negative association of the Guggenheim museums with the supposed McDonaldization of architecture needed some convincing for it to be estalished in my head, simply because I have fallen just a little in love with each of the five--Frank Lloyd Wright's geometric Guggenheim in New York, Frank Gehry's titanium-clad Guggenheim Bilbao, the waterside Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the romantic sandstone building of Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin, the Guggenheim Hermitage gallery space in Las Vegas--all at the same time.

Created and run in various countries worldwide by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, they are every bit as aesthetically appealing and thought-provoking as the art they house. The buildings themselves are bold statements of architectural triumph; some of them can even claim more recognition than the art itself. And, if it is possible to bring these triumphs to places around the world, packaged in illuminiscent, alluring, curvaeous titanium beauties, I say why not?

Yet, the critical response to the management-trained director of the New York Guggenheim Thomas Krens' franchise and commercial approach to art is understandable if not justifiable. Never mind that most of his detractors are of rival museums or that their concerns are centred around the apparent 'for-profit mentality' they claim Krens suscribes to. Their argument--'McGuggenheim!'--appears to coincide with the latent and increasing distrust of globalization's impact on architecture.

It is a war of words. Newsweek conceeds that his 'aggressive, global approach may be what high culture needs to survive in our world'. The author of the article takes a harmless dig at Krens' being unavailable for comment due to his 'scouring the globe in search of new 'alliances' and 'migratable cultural resources''. Whichever way one puts it, however, the world has become increasingly conscious of the impact of global architecture in the local city scene and skyline, accounting for the onslaught of simplistic, standardized and repetitive boxes in all reverrence of modernist, brutalist architecture.

An unideniable truth

Art and architecture are direct assertions and manifestations of culture. Architecture mirrors society's aspirations and beliefs and represents its attempts to master the land--to tame the elements and mold geography to suit itself. It is an instinctive curiosity about other, different places that compels us to travel; to discover the personality and character of a certain place. It is this reason we fly over half the world to foreign lands--Rome, Greece, Tunisia, Panama, Mexico, Bangkok, Venice--to experience the locally distinct culture through its the lifeblood of its society: not just its people, religious beliefs, but also the architecture, sometimes especially the architecture. The same reason why the Guggenheim in Bilbao attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world.

The most public of all art forms, buildings, were once shaped by site, climate, history, native culture and locally available materials and construction technology. Globalization has rendered such stylistic limitations and concerns almost unecessary and obsolete. It is no longer unusual for a building in London or Shanghai to be constructed with a sophisticated glass and metal curtain wall made in China or Germany and granite and marble imported from Spain or Zimbawe. Once this would have been considered prohibitively expensive, but today shipping materials globally has become routine. Glass, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, titanium and natural stone are readily available. If they cannot be acquired locally, they can be imported.
With the increasing sharing of materials all over the world, there is the imminient risk of architecture becoming increasingly standardized and globalized. The central business district of Singapore could be anywhere. This, as it appears, is the inevitable consequence of the rise of so-called 'global cities'.









Panoramic view of Shanghai
















Skyline of Seattle, Washington



There is a general acknowledgement (although not explicitly stated) of the importance of safeguarding and promulgating established indigenous architectural traditions, forms, decorative motifs and technologies to preserve historical continuity, cultural diversity and preservation of geographic identity.

The interconnected world, however, calls for the quick and efficient dissemination of new forms using new technologies and materials in response to changing functional needs and sensibilities. Commerce, transportation, communication and information become priorities; something that translates into a need for internationalized, innovative architecture transcending local conventions and constraints. In fact, architecture today can also be used to symbolize a state, with governments and companies employing architecture for corporate and state identification. The Esplanade was a step in the Singapore government's proceedure to propel the island into the regional cultural and entertainment scene. The next benchmark to look out for would be the Integrated Casinos. Frank Gehry's design propelled the city if Bilbao into international forums and global notice. Such is the power of architecture in a time where the global stage means more than ever before.

A watershed architectural trend which began in the 1920s would later become a basis for modernist architecture. The International Style was based on systematization and standardization, mass production, economies of scale, functional logic and aesthetic composition devoid of both ornament and sentiment, a result of the attempts before that to integrate traditional precedents with new social demands and technological possibilities (International Style, Wikipedia). The quintessential function over form ideal.

The globalization of architecture is evident in most cities today. The infusion of several architectural styles represent the mosiac of culture that has resulted from world interconnectedness. Extensions made in recent years to the Supreme Courts of Singapore have resulted in a stark clash of architectural styles, both modern, classical and even futuristic, evidenced in the large dome-shaped structure (that I believe defies any kind of logic) behind the original Supreme Courts building.
















Swiss Re, London



Anti-globalization proponents argue that the influx of international ideas and goods displace or diffuse diverse native cultures. The people on the other end of the spectrum advocate systematixation, flexibility and interchangeability with the increased emphasis on speed and efficency. The tension resulting from this polarization of views has had the world split in half (nearly) about the all-encompassing force that overwhelms and underlies our way of life as we know it. But arguing about it does not stop it from occuring, nor does it mean that adherence of one policy should completely compromise the other. It is naive to put progress in chains in order to promote the preservation of cultures around the world, rather, they should co-exist simultaneously, and what should be done is to find a balance between the two. As the world moves towards sustainable architectural concepts and futuristic designs, we should not neglect the remnants of the past, and this is an undeniable truth regardless of whether architecture specifically is concerned.


Image Sources:
Guggenheim Bilbao
Shanghai panoramic view
Seattle skyline
Swiss Re tower in London

This writer assumes the role of a commentator on globalization and this phenomenon's resonating effect through the 21st century world with regards to culture.

Photographs duly credited.

Years later, colour is still what takes me south-by-southeast to Asia -
colour and life and light. The Buddha-, Shiva-, Allah-laden light of
1,000-year-old temples, the rain-like light of Burma and Cambodia, and the
rocket-pulverized dust of Afghanistan where tribal wars continue to rage.
Wherever you go in that part of the world, there is the riot of life carried out
in the streets and bazaars. And, like the overpowering weather, there is
religion that controls life with a force the West hasn't known since the
Renaissance.

It is this unbroken continuity with the past and ancient beliefs that
still takes me back to Asia, and it's a quality unique in the world. In India in
particular, where millions have no home but the streets, virtually every life
event is carried out in public: prayer, eating, sleeping, nursing, crude
dentistry, even bodily functions. In the secular West, where nothing is sacred,
everything seems hidden; yet in Asia, where nothing is hidden, everything is
sacred.

Source: http://www.culturesontheedge.com/gallery/exhibits/steve_mccurry/index.html

Steve McCurry begins his book with powerful words, because it is only words that carry such ardent passion and strength, is justice done to the culturally diverse and spiritually-rich environment he attempts to present to the rest of the world. A series of intricately-documented photographs and patiently worded personal insights into the lives of people there can only tell so much of its story. The rest is left to the human mind-- inexperienced and foreign-- to wonder and to weave fascinating tales of a land little explored.

In today's world it should almost be a priviledge to be carefully shielded from the rest of society by a unfamiliar mist. Globalization has rendered any part of the world incapable of progressing without embracing global thought in terms of politics, economics, and technology. With the diffusion of politicial ideas and systems, the dissemination of infomation through a extended cyberspace network, and the sharing of capital and goods through trade have made it inevitable that along the way, some native cultures should have already been misplaced, or forgotten as newer, perhaps more practical concerns take centre stage.

The penetrating effects of globalization in terms of culture have taken root without notice, however, and it is only with the sudden realization of the erosion of traditional values and practices that the extent to which external influences have taken hold in an area become obvious.

If there is a biological web of life, there is also a cultural and spiritual web of life--something people have taken to calling the 'ethnosphere'--the sum total of all the thoughts, beliefs, myths, and institutions brought into being by the human imagination. It is what can be thought of as humanity's greatest legacy, embodying everything we have produced as a curious and amazingly adaptive species. It is not the number of nuclear weapons we possess, or the extent of development our country has reached, but what society should be measured by should be the flourishing of unique culture. The ethnosphere is as vital to our collective well-being as the biosphere. And just as the biosphere is being eroded, so is the ethnosphere--if anything, at a far greater rate.

With the assault of global businesses and franchises preaching a new subculture to be accepted by all part of the world as local culture, it is easy for traditional cultures to fade away. Products of world-known brands such as Nike and Adidas promote what can be considered a global culture. Teenagers from all over the world wearing the same type of shoes, drinking the same type of soda, smoking the same type of cigarettes; it helps people identify with one another.

Then again, how much closer can we feel to someone half the world away?

When asked the meaning of being human, all the diverse cultures of the world respond with 10,000 different voices. Distinct cultures represent unique visions of life itself, morally inspired and inherently right. Those different voices then become part of the overall repertoire of humanity for coping with challenges confronting us in the future. As we drift toward a blandly amorphous, generic world that globalization welcomes; as cultures disappear and life becomes more uniform, we as a people and a species, and Earth itself, will be deeply impoverished.

The steady loss of languages, reportedly declining at the rate of one every two weeks, is indicative of the demise of cultures. Language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules, but also is the vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world. Out of the 6,000 languages still spoken on Earth years ago, less than half are currently taught to schoolchildren.

We hear of reports in the rise of Americans and Europeans studying Chinese due to the key influence which China, arguably a rising superpower, now affects global economies and politics. What proportion of the statistics choose to learn the language or embrace the culture because of its inherent beauty and age-old cultural traditions? I view with much contempt the motivations of people who attempt the language; the belief that such manoveures will put them in favourable positions in the future. Language has become but a single-dimensional tool in which people communicate in the world; priority goes to that which is the most widely used and accepted.

What this means is that we are living through a period of time in which, within a single generation or two, by definition half of humanity's cultural legacy is being lost in a single generation. Whereas cultures can lose their language and maintain some semblance of their former selves, in general, it is the beginning of a slippery slope towards assimilation and acculturation and, in some sense, annihilation.

The whole notion of modernization and globalization then appears to be based on something of a false assumption: the idea that if the rest of the world follows the dictates of a 'successful' development paradigm, they will achieve the level of material well-being that the 'success' brings.

It is neither change nor technology that threatens the integrity of the ethnosphere. It is power-- the crude face of domination. In every instance, these societies should not be labelled as failed attempts of modernity. They are not archaic, destined to fade away, but rather they are dynamic, living, and vital cultures that are being driven out of existence by identifiable external forces. Whether it is diseases that have come into the homeland of the Yanomami in Brazil, or the fact that the Ogoni in the Niger Delta find their once-fertile soils poisoned by the local petroleum industry, or whether in Sarawak the forest homelands of the Penan have been destroyed, there is always an identifiable element. This is both discouraging and encouraging, for if human beings are agents of cultural destruction, we can also be facilitators of cultural survival.

It is a myth that the inevitable twin effect of globalization is cultural diffusion. It only appears to be that way because we allow it to be so. But till there is concerted effort from societies all over the world we can only watch as the myraid of cultures elude us in our race for continual progress.


This response was inspired by a certain website that the writer chanced upon, Cultures on the Edge, an online site to raise global awareness about threatened cultures around the world. Its gallery allows visitors a brief glimpse into South Southeast, a book by Steve McCurry, examining the state of world culture today in various parts of Asia through photography and personal experiences. McCurry is a renowned photographer whose coverage of many areas of international and civil war including the Iran-Iraq war, Beirut, Cambodia, the Philippines, and the Gulf War have won him several awards. The rest of the website contains numerous articles and photographs pertaining to the erosion of traditional culture in face of larger political, cultural, and economic forces.

This writer assumes the role of a commentator on globalization and this phenomenon's resonating effect through the 21st century world with regards to culture.

Photograph credited to Steve McCurry.

After the debate finals, everyone was clamouring for food. So, we went to Heartland Mall desperately hoping that we could get something to eat. We arrived there just as all the makan places were closing. Oh, and Heartland Mall was closed.

The Debates Chaiman: Heartland Mall's closed at 10. I will never get used to this country.

Ahh, the poor Malaysian. He has much to learn about this concrete jungle. We walked around hoping for some food. Hawker center's closed so we walked and walked and walked. It took me quite a while to notices the all too famous golden archs. It was akin to heaven or so my mind thought.

Thank God for globalisation, I said. And I could have sworn that Melody said something along the lines of glorious golden archs. Absolutely delusional by then, I would eat anything edible even though it's from McDonalds.

I think I hear Olivia muttering. She's anti-McDonalds, right?

Oh, Temasek Academy won the Debate Finals. Take that, VIPers.