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Identity and the Forces of Globalization

• I have the right to heat my home and drive my car.

• Oil is absolutely essential to my way of life so nothing should be allowed to stop extraction.

• Air conditioning is not a luxury; rather it is essential to Canadian business – and nothing should be allowed to interfere with this.

Learn the TermsRefer to Chapters 1 and 2• Globalization• Collective• Transnational Corporation• Accomodation• Assimilation• Cultural revitalization• Stereotyping• Biodiversity• Media convergence

• The world is becoming more connected and dependent upon one another

• Control of a large amount of the world’s media by a few companies

• People defined as a group through common characteristics or values

• Variety in plant and animals species• Placing people in categories based on

assumptions of how that group of people may think or behave

• Based in one country while manufacturing in another

• Promoting collective cultural identities• Accepting new cultures• A minority culture being absorbed by a

dominant culture

The Lubicon Cree

• The Lubicon Crees are a small Aboriginal society of about 500 people. Their 10,000 square kilometre traditional territory is located in northern Alberta east of the Peace River and north of Lesser Slave Lake. The Lubicons have not ceded their traditional lands in any legally or historically recognized manner.

• Between 1979 and 1983, annual trapping income dropped 90%. The number of moose killed for food dropped 90% and the number of people on welfare jumped from 10% to over 90%.

The Impact of Coltan Mining• Nearly 3 million people have died in

Congo in a four-year war over coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in cellphones, laptops and playstations. Eighty percent of the world's coltan reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• The mountainous jungle area where the coltan is mined is the battleground of what has been grimly dubbed "Africa's first World War," pitting Congolese forces against those of six neighbouring countries and numerous armed factions.

• The victims are mostly civilians. Starvation and disease have killed hundreds of thousands and the fighting has displaced 2 million people from their homes.

• The war over coltan has transformed Congo.

• Farmers displaced from their land have little option but to join coltan-mining brigades. Mined much like gold, coltan is found by digging large pits in riverbeds, with armies of miners scraping away dirt to get to the coltan underground.

• Reports say a third of the region's children are giving up school to dig for coltan.

• The rebel camps have also created a huge market for prostitution, and with it, AIDS. An estimated 2 million people are HIV-infected in Congo.

• Consider the various stakeholders in the coltan mining issue.Show how your identity is connected to the identity of the coltan miners.

• Ironically, it may be the endangered Congolese gorilla population that finally gets the West to show concern about Congo and its devastating conflict.

• Actor Leonaro Di Caprio and other celebrities have spoken out against the destructive impact of coltan mining on the environment and the mountain gorilla.

• http://hazardous.com/savegorillas/gorillamovie.html

• Do global connections have more positive or negative results?

Positive Impact Negative Impact

• Watch the following video clip and write down all the facts that surprise you.

• http://www.bigpicturesmallworld.com

• Select bigpicturesmallworld

BigPictureSmallWorld

• Some statements from the video: If the world consisted of 100 people… 7 would be over 65

• 20 live on less than 1 dollar per day 14 are illiterate and malnurished

• 16 live in inadequate housing• 51 do not have a phone or electricity• 8 own a computer• What major conclusions can you draw from this video?

List the main objectives of this videoand explain how it pertains to the course