Chapter 2

Globalization and Cultural

and Multicultural Literacy
 Objectives
 At the end of this chapter, you should be able to
develop a clear and practical understanding of the
following:
 Globalization and its implications on both the national
and individual level;
 Cultural and multicultural literacy in the Philippines;
and one’s personal level of cultural and multicultural
literacy.
 Globalization is 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)
 Because 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 Investments (FDI)
 Globalization asa phenomenon is not new. Nations and cultures
have been interacting and integrating with one another for
millennia.
 What is different now, however , is the speed at which
globalization is happening, its overall scope, and its
effects of the lives of ordinary people. Not only are
we interacting with, learning from, and integrating
knowledge learned from other cultures and nation at
an unprecedented rate, there is now also a sense that
no matter where one lives or how limited is one’s face
to face interaction with members of another nation or
culture and how limited is one’s time online,
globalization and its effects are inescapable.
The Effects of Globalization
 the effects of globalization are multi- dimensional. As shown earlier,
they range from economic to cultural, on both national and
individuals level.
Meyer (2000) summarizes the effects of globalization as follows:
 economic, political and military dependence and interdependence
between nations;
 expanded flow of individual people among societies;
 interdependence of expressive culture among nations; and
 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 a mainly economic
phenomenon, and a negative one at that. The idea that foreign-owned
businesses could come into the country and freely ‘set-up shop’ thereby
choking-out local industries was not a welcome thought even though it
was erroneous.
While Philippine society has come to realize that this early perspective
represented a shallow understanding of globalization, the fact of the
matter is that 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.
 This does not mean, however, that there have been no negative
effects of globalization. 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;
2. Profits from these investments domestic capital formation
3. Foreign capital penetration tends to concentrate land ownership
among the very rich; and
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 become
richer and the poor become poorer.”
 Houts (1980) observes that international dependence (another name
for globalization) tends to suppress adult wages, in turn perpetuates
the role of children as economic necessities (familiar saying “
Kapag maraming anak, maraming katulong sa hanapbuhay”)
leading to explosive population growth.
 In a chain reaction of negative effects, this explosive population
growth creates a large sub-sector of society that is insulated from
economic development yet competes for resources with the rest of
the population. Coupled with the economic inequalities in which
society is couched, this encourages political instability, resulting in
policies that favor the redistribution of income, which in turn
discourages investments, which then slows economic growth.
 Political and Military dependence and Interdependence
 A survey conducted in late 2018 found that 3 in 5 Pilipinos 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 in both political and military power
of the US in order to maintain its sovereignty as a nation-state in the
Southeast Asia region. Similar things can be said of Russia and the
many communist nations throughout the world.
 The point is that where there are some forms of economic
dependence/interdependence, political dependence/interdependence
is not far behind, as the participating nations strive to protect their
investments and interests in one another.
 Expanded Flow of Expressive and Instrumental Culture
 Expressive culture deals with how a particular culture expresses
itself in its language, music, arts etc. Globalization encourages the
monetization of these cultural artifacts and their import/export
among participating cultures; the increased consumption of which
changes the consuming culture.
 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.
 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 millions OFWs during the
period of April to September 2017, who were responsible for up to 205.2
billion pesos in remittances.
 Meyer (2000) observes three reasons for this: socio-economic migration,
political expulsion and travel/tourism.
 Socio-economic migration explains the Philippines’ OFW phenomenon
 Political expulsion has more to do with trying to escape the political climate
of a particular country, thereby forcing an individual to seek asylum in
another favorable country.
 Cultural Literacy
 Cultural Literacy is a term coined by Hirch (1983)
referring to the ability to understand the signs and symbols
of a given culture and being able to participate its activities
and customs as opposed to simply being a passive (an
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 etc., most of which are assumed and
unstated. Thus, they are learned by being part of the
culture, rather than by any formal means.
Cultural Literacy is culture-specific but it is
not limited to national cultures, contrary to
what many people assume. The culture of
one workplace can be very different from
another, just as the culture of a particular
school can differ widely from another
school nearby.
 Cultural Literacy in the Philippines
 The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is the
government tasked with the documentation, preservation and
dissemination of Philippine 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 Pilipinos” (NCCA, 2015). Designed to make cultural
education accessible to all sectors of Philippine society, the PCEP
held national consultative meetings, conference, workshops, art
camps, and festivals on culture-based teaching and good
governance from 2003 to 2007.
 As a result of Republic Act 10066, PCEP has been
designated as the body , together with the Department of
Education (DepEd), task to “formulate the cultural heritage
education programs both local and overseas Pilipinos” that
are to be an integral part of Philippine education in all
aspects.
 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 the region, and the average citizen
is almost as ignorant of other Philippine cultures as
foreigners are.
 De Leon (2011) coins this propensity for Pilipinos to look at their culture and
themselves through Western lenses as the Dona Victorina Syndrome, a kind of
inferiority complex wherein anything and everything natively Pilipino is
considered as Pilipinos themselves as being inferior, backward and worthless
in comparison to their Western counterparts, and therefore a source of
embarrassment and unease. Our low self-esteem borders on self-contempt,
the result is doubt in capacity for achievement, perverse delight in belittling
ourselves, lack of respect and even outright contempt for one another and
blind dependence on foreign goods, concepts, techniques, approaches, and
expertise. According to De Leon, the biggest challenge then is the
deconstruction of the negative self-images and notions of ourselves that we
have imbibed over generations through “ a workable, effective program of
education that can make Pilipinos more responsive and sensitive to Pilipino
dignity, needs, values, and cultural potentials and assets.”
 Challenges for Cultural Literacy in the Philippines
As Applebee (1987) observes, interesting discussions on cultural literacy give rise to some
very difficult questions which are particularly important to a multicultural and multilingual
nation like Philippines.
 What kinds of knowledge constitute cultural literacy? Is it knowing facts, names, and dates
or is it something more experiential like being familiar with a story or a particular song?
 If culture is more “caught than taught,” should cultural literacy be one of the goals of
education? If yes, how does one teach it?
 Whose cultures must we be literate in to be considered “culturally literate”? Who decides
which cultures are included and which ones are excluded and on what bases?
 Is cultural literacy education simply a means for the dominant culture to express its
dominance over minority cultures?
 How is cultural literacy to be assessed and evaluated? How can we know someone is
“culturally literate?”
 Multicultural Literacy
 As a set of skills and knowledge is difficult to define because of how it changes depending
on the contexts in which it is discussed.
 In America, multicultural literacy has very strong leanings toward knowing or identifying
the poly-ethnic origins of knowledge with the express goal of fostering equality, diversity,
and social justice.
 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 etc, necessary for clear and
productive communication with cultures other than our own.
 We define multicultural literacy here as the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that
any communication with a culture different from our own is clear and productive and
respectful such as their differences are celebrated and neither culture is demeaned or
treated as inferior.
Examples of manner of being multicultural
literate:
1. Be selfless
2. Know that good and useful things can (and do)
come from those different from us.
3. Be willing to compromise.
4. Accept that there are limits
 Issues in Teaching and Learning Multicultural
Literacy in the Philippines
 Conflicting requirements for peace- the heart of
multicultural literacy is peace among different cultures- that
is productive and non- violent interaction.
 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.
The Persistence of the Problem
 On the surface, multicultural literacy might seem to just
“good common sense” and understandably so, no one
actively experience discrimination regarding what they
know and what they cannot do simply on the basis of race,
ethnicity, or in the case of region of origin.
 Boutte (2008) suggests that issues of discrimination in all
its form (racial, religious, tribal, cultural, etc) are really
issues of hatred, which defined an educational setting as
“the lack of compassion and respect for the rights of
others” and that hatred must be fought and its roots
because as long as hatred exist in the human mind, real
peace will be impossible (Vreeland, 2001)