Chapter 2

Globalization and Cultural

and Multicultural Literacy
 Globalization

The process of interaction and integration

between people, business entities,
governments, and cultures from other
nations, driven by international trade and
investment and supported by information
technology (Levin Institute, 2017)
To illustrate this, consider two people from
different countries, for example, the Philippines
and South Korea. Let us say they meet in college
and become good friends, so that the Korean
comes to be treated like a member of the
Filipino’s family.

After some time, the Korean returns to her own

country, but something has changed – she notices
an aspect of her culture that she finds herself
wishing to be more Filipino.
Now let us say that when we look at the person
from the Philippines, something similar has taken
place: the Filipino, while still being Filipino
through and through, has made a few changes in
her life as a result of her experience of Korean
culture through her friend during their years in
college.
Because of our exposure to the concept of
globalization has largely been through an
economic lens, it is tempting to limit globalization
as something that concerns economists and
businessmen, but globalization and its effects go
beyond import or export and Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI).
We are no longer integrating just languages or
mannerisms or food recipes, but everything from
styles of clothing, forms of entertainment,
education, technology, manufacturing, ways of
doing business, ideas, and whole worldviews.
Globalization as a phenomenon is not new.
Nations and cultures have been interacting and
integrating with one another for millennia.
Consider how ancient Greek culture was so
widespread across the Mediterranean that even
the Egyptians could speak their language, and how
Rome was so inspired by Greek culture that they
adopted it wholesale.
What is different now, however is the speed at
which globalization is happening, its overall
scope, and its effects on the lives of ordinary
people. Not only are we interacting with, learning
from, and integrating knowledge gleaned from
other cultures and nations at an unprecedented
rate, globalization and its effects are inescapable.
The Effects of Globalization
Meyer (2000) summarizes the effects of
globalization as follows:

1. economic, political and military dependence

and interdependence between nations;
2. expanded flow of individual people among
societies;
3. interdependence of expressive culture among
nations; and
4. expanded flow of instrumental culture around
the world
Economic Dependence/Interdependence

When the term globalization entered the

Philippine public mindset in the early 90’s, it was
popularly understood to be mainly economic
phenomenon, and a negative one at that.

The idea that foreign-owned business could come

into the country and freely “set-up shop,” thereby
choking-out local industries was not a welcome
thought, even though it was enormous.
Globalization has brought economic
development to our society as a whole. By
attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), new
technologies, employment opportunities, and
money have come into the country.
Negative effects:

Kentor (2001) notes that foreign capital

dependence increases income inequality in four
ways:

1. It creates a small, highly paid class of elites

to manage these investments, who create many
but usually low-pay jobs.
Negative effects:

Kentor (2001) notes that foreign capital

dependence increases income inequality in four
ways:

2. Profits from these investments are

repatriated, rather than invested in the host
country, therefore inhibiting domestic capital
formation.
Negative effects:

Kentor (2001) notes that foreign capital

dependence increases income inequality in four
ways:

3. Foreign capital penetration tends to

concentrate land ownership among the very
rich.
Negative effects:

Kentor (2001) notes that foreign capital

dependence increases income inequality in four
ways:

4. Host countries tend to create political and

economic climates favorable to Foreign capital
that in turn limit domestic labor’s ability to
obtain better wages.

In simple words. “The rich becomes richer, the

poor becomes poorer”
Hout (1980) observes that international
dependence (another word for globalization) tends
to suppress adult wages, which in turn perpetuates
the role of children as economic necessities leading
to explosive population growth.
Political and Military Dependence/Interdependence

A survey conducted in late 2018 found that three in

five Filipinos believe that the United States would
intervene on behalf of the country in case of war
(Viray, 2018). Despite the current very conservative
stance of the US on its foreign policies, this can be
taken as evidence of the Philippines’ dependence on
both political and military power of the US
Expanded flow of Expressive and Instrumental
Culture

Expressive culture, as the term suggests,

deals with how a particular culture expresses
itself in its language, music, arts, and the
like. Globalization encourages the
monetization of these cultural artifacts and
their import/export among participating
cultures.
Instrumental culture, on the other hand,
refers to “common models of social order”
(Meyer, 2000) – that is, models or ways of
thinking about and enacting national identity,
nation-state policies both domestic and
foreign, socio-economic development, human
rights, education, and social progress.
A simple example of this is the Philippines
educational system: Closely patterned after the
American Educational system, education leaders
in the country closely follow the educational
trends in America and selected European
countries, perceiving them to be global leaders in
the field.
Expanded flow of People among societies

The fact that globalization encourages the

movement of people between nation-states
should come as no surprise to us.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)

estimates that there were 2.3 million Overseas
Filipino Workers (OFWs) during the period of
April to September 2017, who were responsible
for up to 205.2 billion pesos in remittances
(Philippine Statistics Authority, 2018).
Meyer (2000) observes three reasons for
this:

1. socio-economic migration
2. Political Expulsion
3. Travel/Tourism
1. Socio-economic migration

explains the Philippines’ OFW phenomenon.

Filipinos travel abroad to find better
economic opportunities for themselves and
their families for lack of said opportunities
here.
2. Political expulsion

has more to do with trying to escape the

political climate of a particular country,
thereby facing an individual to seek asylum
(and ultimately, resettlement) in another
more favorable country.
3. Travel for the sake of leisure

is a strong indicator of economic development

as more and more Filipinos are able to
finance short-term travels abroad, fueled by
curiosity that is fed by social media and
enabled by globalization.
Cultural Literacy

is a term coined by Hirsch (1983). Referring to

the ability to understand the signs and symbols
of a given culture and being able to participate
in its activities and customs as opposed to simply
being a passive (and outside) observer.
The signs and symbols of a culture include both
its formal and informal languages, its idioms,
and forms of expression, entertainment, values,
customs, roles, traditions, and the like – most of
which are assumed and unstated.
Cultural literacies in the Philippines

National Commission for Culture and the Arts

(NCCA) is the government body tasked with
the documentation, preservation, and
dissemination of Philippines culture, both
locally and abroad.
Part of how the NCCA is addressing this and
related matters is through the establishment
of the Philippine Cultural Education Program
(PCEP), which “envisions a nation of
culturally literate and empowered Filipinos”
(NCCA, 2015).
Cultural education – and thus cultural literacy –
in the Philippines is quite a challenge, given that
Philippine culture is a complex blend of many
indigenous and colonial cultures and varies
widely across regions, and the average citizen is
almost as ignorant of other Philippine cultures
as foreigners are.
Dona Victorina Syndrome

Coined by De Leon (2011),

a kind of inferiority complex wherein anything
and everything natively Filipino is considered
by the Filipinos themselves as being inferior,
backward and worthless in comparison to
their Western counterparts, and therefore a
source of embarrassment and unease.
Multicultural Literacy

In America, multicultural literacy has a very

strong leanings toward knowing or identifying
the poly-ethnic origins of knowledge with the
express goal of fostering equality, diversity,
and social justice. This is in direct response to
the “Euro-centric” and “white-dominant”
traditions of education that in the eyes of
American cultural minorities is a form of racial
injustice
Multicultural Literacy

In Europe, multicultural literacy comes more in

the form of intercultural communication
competence (ICC), which is defined by Dusi,
Messetti, and Steinbach (2014) as a composite
of skills, abilities, attitudes, personality
patterns necessary for clear and productive
communication with cultures other than our
own.
Multicultural Literacy

Fantini (2006) defines it as “a complex of

abilities needed to perform effectively and
appropriately when interacting with others who
are linguistically and culturally different from
oneself.
Multicultural Literacy

the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure

that any communication with a culture
different from our own is clear, productive and
respectful such that their differences are
celebrated and neither culture is demeaned or
treated as inferior.
To be multicultural:

1. Be selfless – An attitude of selflessness – one

that is less concerned with how I feel and more
concerned with how I am making others feel – is
crucial to multicultural literacy, as so much of
the offense and conflict associated with the
meeting of different cultures is the result of a
“me first” attitude.
To be multicultural:

2. Know that good and useful things can (and

do) come from those different from us
Hand-in-hand with a dismissive attitude toward
another culture is the idea that nothing good
can come from them.
To be multicultural:

3. Be willing to compromise

Any significant interaction with someone from a

different culture is governed by the principle of
“He/She wants something, and I want
something.”
To be multicultural:

4. Accept that there are limits

At some point however, one or both cultures

will be unwilling/unable to adjust their wants
for the sake of the other any further.
Issues in Teaching and Learning
Multicultural Literacy in the
Philippines
1. Conflicting Requirements for Peace

When all is said and done, the heart of

multicultural literacy is peace among different
cultures – that is productive and non-violent
interaction.
2. Nationalistic and Regionalistic Pushback

The increasing demand for multicultural

sensitivity, inclusion, and diversity in the
recent years has also given rise to resistance
from groups who believe that their identity is
being “watered-down” by the needed
compromises.
3. The Persistence of the problem.

On the surface, multicultural literacy might

seem to just be a matter of “good common
sense,” and understandably so, no one actively
desires to experience discrimination regarding
what they know and what they can and cannot
do simply on the basis of race, ethnicity, or in
the case of the Philippines, region of origin.