Coda: Cultural Identity and Cultural Globalization

Abstract

The current phase of intensified globalization will bring changes to the ways in which we draw distinctions between the self and others as well as to produce the perception of the world, or the globe, as a finite space whose boundaries are now imaginable. Our global age is forcing us to dismantle our old identity and reassemble a new one, making us weary of our cultural identities. Global capitalism has magnified the impact of culture on our everyday practice as well as on national and international operations. The confluence of all of these phenomena has unexpectedly created a new paradox for us: understanding the finiteness of our world can actually open up countless possibilities to reassemble our cultural identities. How to better understand the nature of culture as it is today thus becomes yet another important task that we must undertake, and I hope this book has put forth a decided step toward this understanding.