This Tuesday I described our objective in reading The World is Flat, and A Small Place side by side as a way to think about conflicting narratives of globalization. We've read a few passages identifying what I called "markers of globalization" in these narratives (for example, "hotel balcony" in Friedman and "hospital in New York" in Kinkaid). These markers work, in a way, to render the world that is being described familiar to the reader or viewer. As should be apparent, these markers work in different ways in the two texts, as well as in the parts of the film Life and Debt that we watched in class.
For this Sunday's post, your assignment is to find one passage or scene from at least two of the pieces we're dealing with this week (so, Friedman's book, Kinkaid's book, and the film) and comparatively discuss the way in which the pieces employ markers of globalization (which are, of course, signifiers) in order connect the world that is being described (the flat world, Jamaica, Antigua) to the reader/viewer.
Think of the assignment in the same vein as the ad analysis--except for this time the aim of the rhetoric in these cultural texts is no longer simply to sell you a product, but is quite a bit more complex. How do signifiers of globalization function in these texts?
Rules
1. Post the passage on the blog, or include a detailed description of the scene in the film.
2. You are encouraged to build on and or respond to each other's posts in yours. If you have a different reading of a passage or of a film scene, feel free to write about the same passages -- just be sure to add something new to the conversation
3. Feel free to reference readings that we've done in the past also. Many of them speak to this topic.
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