Week 13 Questions (Pleming)

 1. My points of interest this week revolve around putting two pieces in conversation with one another. I found Paul Du Gay's piece on globalization to be interesting in relation to my own op-ed on neoliberalism. Du Gay connects globalization to deregulation and privatization and argues that this is a heightening of familiar capitalist trends rather than something unique to globalization. My question here is: As capital is less and less constrained by national borders, how can we as people and educators (who are still very much bound by borders) confront and teach this reality?

2. In relation to my previous point, I want to highlight an aspect of Canclini's essay on hybridization. Canclini's conclusion begins with his formulation of hybridization not as a panacea but as a point of departure away from fundamentalism. In my opinion, the current historical/political moment in the United States is one in which the administration and part of the populace have departed from hybridization towards fundamentalism and nationalism. I want to highlight this point because it makes the stakes of my previous question clear. As our economic reality moves away from rigid borders and nationhood, the populations of distinct nations remain susceptible to appeals to nationalism and even xenophobia. While Du Gay's assessment is correct in my opinion, I feel that the majority of the people impacted by this reality are unaware of it.