globalization | Between Shadow and Light

When Appiah says “cultural imperialism” he means when a culture begins to dominate another culture, replacing their customs and ways of life with new, different ones. An example of this would be Levi’s, who are a western company that have spread to every continent. Many cultures have abandoned their traditional clothes to wear these cheaper, modern, western clothes instead.

A Chinese man wearing jeans waits for his food.

What Appiah says is the “golden rule of cosmopolitanism” is, before translation, “Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.” When translated, this means “I am human: nothing human is alien to me.” What I believe Appiah is trying to say in this is that, as a human, you must learn to accept the ways of others, whether you agree with them or not.

What Appiah means by the statement “cultural purity is an oxymoron” is that there is no single culture, no matter how far back you go, that has not met with another for one reason or another. For example, even centuries ago people were getting the materials for their traditional clothes imported from other countries and even other continents.

Appiah doesn’t believe cultural imperialism is a problem because these specific cultures will always have a piece of their culture that they will always hold dear and rely on. For instance, the Mexicans have a soap opera type show that all of them know about and believe is a vital piece of their culture. He goes on to say that people in Ghana have even heard of the Mexicans’ soap operas, although it isn’t a piece of the Ghanian culture. Appiah also tells how people in other cultures will resist ideologies placed in their media from western cultures, meaning that someone in China may not exhibit the same sort of respect for their elderlies as Americans do(i.e. sending them to a nursing home when they are too old, which Appiah uses as an example in his text).

Appiah’s use of the phrase “golden rul of cosmopolitanism” refers to the idea that every human does everyday tasks, and therefore no task should be strange or unfamiliar to them. This is an idea for a cosmopolitan, however; a person who considers themselves a cosmopolitan should be understanding and accepting, but also aware that all actions performed in everyday life by any and all cultures should not be considered strange since they are not out of the ordinary in their(the actions) cultural context.

“Cultural purity is an oxymoron” refers to the fact that no one culture is completely unique. He talks about how in every culture there is at least one thing you can find in common with the other, whether that is an item or a type of sport. So, by definition, if a culture were to be pure it would have to be completely uninfluenced by another culture, but as the world is becoming globalized and the people in it are becoming more and more cosmopolitan, each culture is taking strides to be farther away from cultural purity.