Healed

What does healed look like to you? No answers here, just a very important question.

The Quilt

    This is a discussion post for my class, Diversity in the City.  Wow, writing about my San Francisco days really brought me to tears.  It was such an intense time of fear about AIDS and the struggle for equality.  And I was a mess in the middle.  Still very Mormon with a gay husband in constant fear of his life.  I knew a man that had been stabbed just for being gay - so the fear was real.  But my short time of volunteering for the Quilt Project was never a hesitation in my mind.  I am honored to have done so.  

Many people at that time who died of AIDS did not have a funeral because of the stigma and many funeral homes wouldn't prepare the bodies because of the fear.  Cleve Jones (actually the man I knew that had gotten stabbed) came up with the idea for the quilt during the Milk/Moscone candle light march (they were both assassinated by a homophobe).  The quilts were created to make up for the lack of memorial services and grave sites.  Each quilt was 3 x 6 feet - the size of a coffin and made out of material that was designed and made by loved ones of the deceased.  It was truly a sight to behold to realize that each of those panels represented someone who died.  

Homework Post -

One good example of how a city can play a character is in the movie, “Milk”.  This setting also contributes greatly to a portrayal of LGBTQ+ communities. San Francisco and especially the Castro District have long been thought of as friendly places for this population.  And it was a key presence in this movie. I lived in the Bay Area in the 80’s and this story was still remembered and talked about. I volunteered on the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in San Francisco when it was last shown in the Moscone Center in its entirety for the last time (because it had gotten so large - it was shown in smaller pieces after that).  This project memorialized the large amounts of gay man dying from AIDS related causes at that time and especially in that city. San Francisco is definitely a main character in the LGBTQ+ story.

On page 14 Fainstein talks about a Just City in her article, “Cities and Diversity: Do we want it? Can we Plan for it?”  She quotes Nussbaum in, “Women and Human Development” when she lists a set of capabilities needed for full human development.  Fainstein likens this list to one that is needed in a Just City which are democracy, equity, diversity, growth, and sustainability.  One of the reasons it can be difficult to plan for diversity is because in some cases these important values need to be traded off against each other.  For example, growth and equity and also growth and sustainability may compete against each other. But with this and other difficulties, I absolutely think it is imperative that we plan for diversity and inclusion.  And I absolutely feel that I do not want to live/work/go to school in a place that does not do the same. As I have stated in other writings in the class, diversity and inclusion are paramount to me and this class has shown me even more why this is important.   

Deteriorated Sense of Citizenship

I am taking a new class this summer called, Diversity in the City.  It focuses on the depiction of American and global urbanism through one of the most popular forms of media - film and television which portray a variety of urban conditions including diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice.

It's pretty ironic that I am taking this class because I rarely go to the movies and I haven't watched TV in years.  But so far I really love it. I wrote this post after watching the movies, Citizen Jane (about Jane Jacobs), Pleasantville, and Radiant City.

     I grew up in the suburbs.  And yet, these movies explained so much of the suburb life that I did not know, or at least had never really thought of before.  There were certain things that rang true that I had always noticed, but never consciously acknowledged about that life.  For example, in the movie, Radian City, the children talked about how they didn't know their neighbors even after living there for a year.  The daughter had to take public transportation across a large city with several transfers just to visit her friend.  Even the visual is uninviting - a large garage door and a small front door.  I have never liked this look but I have not equated it for what it is, unfriendly without a space to gather with friends and family.  No one is looking at the street. 

     There is no chance for interaction and human connection.  Marc Boutin called it, Deteriorated Sense of Citizenship.  He states that because we don't spend time together and because we are so isolated, we have gotten to the point that we can't tolerate being around each other any more.  I'm still troubled by this statement because I see that it is true.  I watch the scenes in the movie Citizen Jane of the various boroughs in Manhattan.  Children are playing and the adults are visiting.  I can't deny it - they look happy.  Where has that gone?

     But I don't want the other end of that spectrum either as depicted by the movie, Pleasantville.  I grew up in a family where we had to pretend that everything and everyone was happy - which was far from the truth.  Watching the TV show Ozzie and Harriet makes my skin crawl.  I guess the truth is that humans are messy.  Yet, I had never thought about that being reflected in our cities and living spaces.  

     I am an energy healer and the basic premise is that moving, flowing, balanced energy is healthy energy and leads to a healthy physical state.  As I watched these movies, especially Citizen Jane, I had an epiphany that a city is like an energy body!  It needs to move and flow in a natural, organic way to be healthy.  It can't be forced or arranged on a piece of paper.  It just doesn't work that way. 

Sustained Peace

This is from a recent weekend class. Wow, one of my all time favorites.

I think everyone on the planet should take a class like this.

Then where would we be?

DISPUT 594 - Self-Awareness in Conflict

Susan Fullmer

5 May, 2019

My Contribution to World Peace

       When I first learned the Three-Part Assertion Skill, I was a mental health nurse working for the Portland VA in their Mental Health Intensive Case Management Program (MHICM).  At the time, I was a nurse case manager with a full caseload of Veterans with chronic, persistent, and severe mental illness. I had never had great boundaries when it came to standing up for myself and asking (let alone insisting) that others respect me.  I chalk this up to sexual abuse in my childhood from my father, grandfather, and others. I had come a long way in healing and starting to develop better boundaries with good therapy and time. But then, in this job, I found that I was very triggered when dealing with this mostly male population who were frequently socially inappropriate and constantly pushing boundaries.  I felt overwhelmed and off balance. Looking back, I believe that the heart of this dilemma was my poor communication skills, which also stemmed from my childhood.
In the book, People Skills, Robert Bolton states that poor communication has heavy consequences which can include loneliness, emotional distance and overall personal ineffectiveness.  This was certainly the case for me in my life and in this job. During the ten years I worked for MHICM, I not only learned to communicate better, I developed much clearer boundaries for myself.  And in turn, I was able to teach my clients how to create and maintain their own healthy boundaries.
    Robert Bolton talks about Assertive Communication which contains three parts.  First, start with a nonjudgmental description of the behavior to be changed. Next, disclosure of the asserter’s feelings.  I was taught that, “I feel” statements cannot be truly refudiated because I am the expert on how I feel. It also helps to keep judgement out of the statement as it isn’t accusatory, but rather simply stating how I feel.  Lastly, give a clarification of the concrete and tangible effect of the other person’s behavior on the asserter. The format would look like this. “When you (state the behavior non judgmentally), I feel (disclose your feelings) because (clarify the effect on your life).”  Bolton reminds us to make the message factual and not to infer anything about the other person’s motives, feelings, intentions or personality.
When I first learned this, I didn’t think I could do it.  Saying the words felt very strange and awkward to me. I thought it would sound silly and manipulating.  But I gave it a try because the therapists I worked with strongly recommended it. It was hard at first but over time it felt more and more comfortable.  And the best part, it works! I even use it in my personal life. In fact, I use it now with hardly even thinking about what I’m saying. It feels not only natural, but honest and clear.  I have learned to speak clearly, asking for what I want.
Robert Bolton also talks about expecting a Push-Back response when using this skill.  And I have found that to be true as well. Not everyone wants to respect a healthy boundary, and frankly, that’s to be expected.  Otherwise there probably wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. People can feel defensive and I find that some people just don’t like to be pinned down to good behavior.  Bolton recommends that we prepare for a Push-Back by thinking ahead of time what we might want to say, give the three-part assertive message (as stated above) and then - silence. I think this is a very important step because I have found it’s helpful to let the other person think about what has been said and then respond.  We shouldn’t be too quick to speak and interrupt that process. Then we can use reflective listening skills to help clarify what the other person has said and help them feel heard.  And then Bolton advises repeating those steps as often as necessary and to focus on the solution. He believes that persistence is a crucial aspect of assertion.
Learning about this technique in class was a good reminder of a skill I hadn’t thought of in a while.  I also had a good “ah-ha” moment. When we used this skill with our mental health clients, we added on a fourth step and that was to state the desired outcome.  When I mentioned this in class the professor stated that most people don’t need that step as they already understand what is needed. I realized that we probably needed to include the desired outcome in MHICM because our clients weren’t usually functional enough to come to that conclusion.  Sometimes they needed it spelled out for them. But I’m not dealing with mental health clients now and I do trust most people will know what they need to do. However, I will keep that fourth step in my back pocket for emergencies if needed.
I also enjoyed learning about the Assertive Skill, Immediacy.  It focuses on being direct and open with someone with whom you are communicating regarding a situation in the here and now.  It will include how the communicator is feeling about the immediate situation. This technique is helpful in moving through difficult experiences and resolving conflict.  It can be difficult to confront a situation honestly. Especially when there is a lack of trust or a sense of distance, but this is the best time to use this skill. This would have been impossible for me when I was younger.  I had no voice or confidence.  Any kind of tension or conflict sent me fleeing.  But over the years I have built more confidence and I have learned the power of honesty in the moment.  If done in a kind, yet clear way this can be very effective. To me, it’s about drawing attention to what is actually going on instead of pretending the proverbial elephant isn’t sitting in the middle of the living room.  I have also found that if things are not addressed early on, the situation festers and just gets worse. There also seems to be a feeling of relief in the group when someone is willing to state the obvious. I intend to continue to practice this skill of Immediacy and use it often.
I am grateful to have learned about communication and conflict management skills.  And I especially appreciate being able to look at my own triggers when it comes to dispute resolution.  I like what William Ury said in his book, Getting to Yes with Yourself.” He speaks about the biggest obstacle to having satisfying relationships and successful agreements is ourselves and our natural tendency to react in ways that do not serve our true interests.  Ury states, “Now I have come to realize that I was the one who was perhaps unrealistic in believing that we could arrive at a sustained peace in this world without also doing the necessary work within ourselves.”  
I appreciate classes such as, “Self-Awareness in Conflict” and how it helps me understand myself and learn how to better interact with others. I have long felt that the world cannot experience any deeper peace than I myself feel.  Therefore, my greatest contribution to world peace is to explore and know my own inner peace.

Works Cited

Bolton, Robert. People Skills. Prentice-Hall, 1986.

Ury, William. Getting to Yes with Yourself: (and Other Worthy Opponents).
HarperOne, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015.

Winternight Trilogy

Given my recent visit to the Akashic Records where I learned about a past life in Russia, I now understand why I was so enthralled by the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden.

Akashic Records

For years I’ve known about the Akashic Records.  But I’ve not been drawn to them until now. I was just listening to the book, “I’m Over all That: And Other Confessions” by Shirley MacLaine where she reminded me that they are there.  And now they are calling to me. I’ve spend time over the last few days exploring them. Such different energy! Truth is universal no matter the source, but it has been my experience that those different sources can feel quite different from each other: Guides, Helpers, ancestors that have done their work, animals, plants, earth, planetary bodies, etc.  And let’s not forget, Mother/Father God. And now the Akashic Records. The interesting thing about the Records is that they don’t feel like a personality. It feels like a library with a voice. I hear the answers when I ask the questions. But it doesn’t feel like a sentient being. I feel there are sentient beings around, perhaps to maintain and/or protect.

So where do I go for answers?  All the above. But it is more nuanced than that.  And I will often turn to my intuition for starters.  When I have a question that I want to explore, I’ll ask myself (and the general universal knowing), “Where do I go for this answer?”  And I will start there.

I also find that sometimes not just one source comes to the party.  It can be a mixed team of truth tellers who help me figure it all out. Like this morning. I was asking about abundance.  I have come so far on this subject, but I’m still not having the money flow I have been creating.  If that happens I know I simply need to pause and go deeper. I peel back the layers as knowledge and healing unfolds.  And I trust in timing. If I am asking for help and ALSO paying attention, it will come to me in the correct time. Waiting for Creator’s time and not my time has been a stickler for me and has taught me patience - DAMN IT ALL!  (ok, maybe I’m still working on the patience part...)

But back to Abundance.  This morning I was asking the Akashic Records about my money flow situation and why I am stuck.  The Records showed me a past life I had in Russia. I’m going to stop right here and say I have always had complicated feelings about Russia.  Sure, I grew up in the Cold War era, but that’s not it. And besides, all that stuff never made sense to me. It seemed like a bunch of insecure, power (outer, not inner) hungry men in a pissing contest.  No, my feelings were personal which I could never understand as I had never been to Russia or even met anyone from Russia. Later in my adult years I realized I had had a couple of past lives there as a female with a very abusive male which explained some of the emotions I felt, but not all.

This morning I learned that I had had a past life there as some kind of Tsar.  I was filthy rich, as rich as it comes. Among other dalliances of the rich, I had women galore.  As many as I wanted and as often as I wanted.  Until one day, I saw a young women who was my Twin Flame.  Of course there was instant attraction on my part that went far beyond my typical lust.  I had to have her. But she did not want me because, well let’s face it, I was not the kind of person anyone with a pure heart would want to be anywhere near.  Not like that would stop me and I ordered her to my side. She killed herself rather than being with me. It devastated me to my core. I had everything anyone could want but it wasn’t enough to give me the thing I desired the most.  In that moment I wanted nothing to do with wealth. No wonder I don’t want money in my life.

This was coupled with my ancestors telling me that part of my stuckness has to do with what I inherited (in my energy and in my DNA) of some fucked up notions about money.  They said I didn’t need the details of the stories but could initiate healing on this matter, which I did. We can do the healing for our ancestors which they cannot do for themselves. We can do it because we are in physical form - a necessity.  The beauty of this kind of healing is that it helps us, them, and any posterity to come. All good.

Song

This is a song sung to a redundant yet catchy tune.  
When I meet you, I will sing it for you.

If you’re dancin’ with your Honey

And your nose gets runny

And she thinks it’s funny

It’s-not

The High Cost of Humanitarian Logistics

Susan Fullmer

Sp19 - MDS 420 - Globalization    

14 April 2019

The High Cost of Humanitarian Logistics

Most people, especially those who live in affluent areas, tend to take energy for granted.  They often don’t realize that energy is a valuable commodity. It can be scarce and some predict that it will become even more scarce in the future.  Predictions assume that global energy demands will stay in constant flux while consumption of energy will exponentially increase at least as steadily as the population growth, if not more.  This growth will also increase as countries of emerging economies continue to modernize and industrialize. Two current examples of this would be China and India. These types of countries will logically have growing demands for energy independence and attempt to ensure their own energy assets.

In the Energy Issue Brief in Globalization 101, Matthew Ocheltree states that, “Energy...will play an increasingly important role in the lives of all global citizens in the coming years.”  He also states that globalization is complicating the global energy landscape in such a way that we are only beginning to understand. Ocheltree reports, “Strong global economic growth and the need to ship more goods and services around the world have raised demand for energy in many sectors.”  Nowhere is this more evident than in the transportation of food. This paper will argue that it is important to consider every option in decreasing energy, time, and cost when it comes to the transportation of a focused area of shipping food - Aid and post disaster relief.

In regards to food, we rely on the shipping industry.  There are currently over a hundred thousand working vessels on the sea.  Shipping goods has quadrupled in size since 1970 and it’s estimated that 90% of everything we have has been delivered by boat.  We depend on this method of delivery more than ever. This is also true of humanitarian aid.

On the surface, shipping seems like an efficient and “green” way to spend our energy while transporting such things as food.  Shipping only pollutes one thousandth of aviation and one tenth of trucking. But that doesn’t take the whole picture into account.  When you combine the mass volume of shipping and calculate it that way, you get a very different story.

In the TED Talk, “Inside the Secret Shipping Industry,” Rose George states that we need to compare shipping miles with air miles.  When doing this we find, for example, that shipping has 3 - 4% more emissions than aviation. When looking at particles, ashes, and soot, fifteen large ships pollutes the same as all the cars in the world!  (Keep in mind that there are over 100,000 ships currently at sea) This astounding comparison is even better understood when we look at the type of fuel these ships are using. It’s called “Bunker Fuel” or as people in the industry call it, “The dregs of the refinery, (one step up from asphalt).”  Why in the world would the shipping industry use such polluting fuel? It’s simple, they have tight margins.  They want to go fast. And they want to go cheap.

Also, shipping has had a horrible effect on the acoustic habitats of ocean creatures that communicate by sound.  This is a definite downside of shipping and sadly, there are no laws governing acoustic pollution.

Fortunately, there are studies regarding the efficacy and costs of shipping humanitarian aid.   There are models to program best decisions related to the distribution of international aid and post catastrophic disaster relief.  Often in these situations, non-profit international organizations and foreign countries will offer assistance by shipping necessary products to the country in need.

The sending country will of course want to minimize their shipping costs.  On the other hand, the receiving country wants to receive the aid and distribute it to the affected areas as efficiently and quickly as possible.  One example of this would be the earthquake in Chile in 2010. Studies were done on this and other similar events. They came up with some recommendations for aid distribution for future disasters.  The efficient delivery of this aid can prevent deaths caused by starvation and disease. The study of the importance of speed and efficiency in the supply chain in these situations is called Humanitarian Logistics.

"A Bi-Level Optimization Model for Aid Distribution after the Occurrence of a Disaster" in the Journal of Cleaner Production was one such example of research into Humanitarian Logistics.  José-Fernando Camacho-Vallejo laid out a variety of models used when considering post-disaster response and recovery, some including complex mathematical equations. Camacho-Vallejo states that, “All models focus on response to the disaster to preserve life, infrastructure, environment, and the social, economic and political structure of the affected community.  His paper focused on the response stage to consider problems of distribution and transportation. Aside from the country to country transportation, they also had to consider the in-country transportation which could be disrupted in the case of natural disasters such as earthquakes. They considered many solutions for many scenarios. But one consideration remained the same in all situations - keeping transportation costs down.  

As it happens, the United States delivers its food assistance primarily by overseas shipping.  According to the research study, Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya, the approach is costlier and less time efficient. Their cheaper and faster solution is cash-based assistance.  This would include cash transfers, food vouchers, and local and regional procurement. To make matters worse, the United States also requires that half of its transoceanic food shipments need to be sent on U.S. flag vessels. This can delay shipping even more.  The study on Kenya shows that these food assistance distribution policies are so delaying of delivery that it causes a higher level of child mortality in the affected country. Not only does the current policies slow the delivery of food, but it is more costly due to shipping expenses.  And this is money that could have been spent on more humanitarian aid.

It is critical that we consider new options for the delivery of food and other aid for post disaster relief in hopes of finding faster, cheaper and more efficient ways of delivering this aid.

Works Cited

Camacho-Vallejo, José-Fernando, et al. “A Bi-Level Optimization Model for Aid Distribution after the Occurrence of a Disaster.” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 105, 2015, pp. 134–145., doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.069.

George, Rose--Inside the Secret Shipping Industry.” TED, 13 Dec. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7RsRnYlz7I&t=371s.

Nikulkov, Alex, et al. “Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya.” Plos One, vol. 11, no. 12, 2016, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0168432.

Ocheltree, Matthew, et at. “Energy Issue Brief.” Globalization 101, http://www.globalization101.org/about-us/

The Great Divergence: The Need for Further Study

Susan Fullmer

MDS 420 - Globalization

Final Essay

5/5/2019

The Great Divergence: The Need for Further Study

Globalization has shaped the world.  As Westerners we have certain advantages over others around the globe such as better jobs, better education, our civic rights, and opportunities we have because of our higher income, just to name a few.  This seemingly unfair distribution of power and opportunities can be understood better when looking at the Great Divergence. The origins of this imbalance happened primarily during the 19th century when the West had great advancement in a number of areas and therefore advantage over others in things such as economy, trade, technology, and global power.  Because of these advancements they dominated the world in modernization and the ability to reach out and colonize much of the globe. Therefore my thesis is, the cause and effect of the Great Divergence is varied and complicated and warrants further study to understand its ramifications then and now.

Culturally, no matter where someone lives on the planet, the Great Divergence has changed and shaped the world we lived in then and the world we live in now.  From the opportunities in educational choices (or lack thereof) to the modern contentions between the West and the East, the Great Divergence gives us an understanding of where it all began.  Some eastern nations are catching up and in some ways surpassing the West in things such as modernizing its energy infrastructures which gives them great advantage in the world today.

Before the Great Divergence, the East was ahead in most categories, yet it was the West who got there first and stayed in dominance until modern times.  There is a myriad of reasons for this. Some seem rather insignificant, yet played a crucial role. For example, financed by the Spanish Crown, Columbus set sail in 1492, not to discover America but rather to discover the Spice Islands.  Because of the Crusades, Christians were exposed to the wonderful spices of the East. They brought back this kind of cooking and culture to the West where it soon caught on and became very popular (most notably, including textiles). Eventually Europe got tired of making the Ottoman Empire rich by the sale of these spices and became determined to cut out the middleman in the process.  Of course, Columbus never did find these famed islands, but eventually Portugal did. There had been free trade on these islands before this discovery but this ended as Europeans conquered and colonized this culture. With the introduction of guns and germs the people and their way of life were decimated.

One of the more obvious reasons for the West surging ahead in the advancement of technologies was the invention of the steam engine which changed the world forever.  Europe also had lawyers who assisted the people to change from a way of life of working for the state or a guild, to a life of working for themselves. This gave the population the freedom to explore and be more creative in the way they lived and did business.  Other inventions and colonization also helped to strengthen the West.  And another reason the West dominated was because of science.

The West’s influence is everywhere.  Yuval Jarari states in his book, Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind, “Today all humans are, to a much greater extent than they usually want to admit, European in dress, thought and taste.  They may be fiercely anti-European in their rhetoric but almost everyone on the planet views politics, medicine, war and economics through European eyes and listens to music written in European modes with words in European languages.  Even today burgeoning Chinese economy, which may soon regain it’s global primacy, is built on a European model of production and finance.”

Since Kenneth Pomeranz published the book The Great Divergence in 2000, there has been much debate regarding this concept.  Historically, the discussion has been centered on economic arguments which include wage-price series, living standards, and energy costs.  Another consideration much debated are components of cultural and even intellectual - the argument that Europe had a larger market for ideas and thus hastened what has been called the “Industrial Enlightenment.”  Those that study this concept look to aspects of literacy, book-production, and skill-building. And of course, the debate also often focuses on politics and economics.

But some are suggesting that we take a broader perspective when considering the divergence question to include historical change rather than just of the history of economic outcomes.  For example, in Pre-Colonial India it was said that the people had no potential for capitalism. But this declaration was seen through western eyes. In reality, there was an extensive level of market dependence and agricultural industry.  Instead of describing the situation with a narrative of potentiality, they are now studying the actual Indian economy and how it functioned at that time. Some are now saying that left to itself, without colonization, India would have achieved modern economic growth and a transition to capitalism.  In the article, The “Great Divergence, Politics, and Capitalism” Shami Ghosh reports, “In a great many ways, South Asia was involved in ‘the social history of capitalism’ from a very early period and underwent many of the same types of social development as those taking place in Western Europe,” and had by no means reached a stage where, before c.1825, “expanding social needs [could] no longer be met out of existing technological means.”

Ghosh goes on to explain that there was a convergence in the world (just before the divergence) of activity of economic complexity including an increase in exchange, market dependence and regional specialization and a general improvement of living standards.  It also was a time of more trade, more market exchange at all levels, growth in production, more productivity and an increase in the population. Shami Ghosh states, “Admittedly, such convergences did not all happen everywhere at exactly the same time, but the point is not so much a chronological as an evolutionary one: given certain conditions, certain kinds of social, political, economic, and even cultural developments appear to have taken place in different parts of the world, and apparently quite independent of similar developments at other ends of the earth.”  He points out that though these regions were converging and would probably lead to independent “modern economic growth”, still this convergence would not be sufficient enough for all parts of the world to do so. With this said, Ghosh does believe that the ensuing divergence and the rise of capitalism did lead to this independence but cautions that these issues are complex and must be examined carefully.  One cannot assume that all forms of capitalism are the same. For example, he feels it is necessary to understand not only the causes for the rise of market-dependent societies, but also to examine the differences in the levels and qualities of market-dependence.  

One example of this is that the Netherlands had full market dependence and dominance far before Britain.  Yet, because the former propelled productivity growth only so far, it might seem on the surface that they were not inclined for continuous growth.  We must be careful of comparisons. Even if the rise of market dependence might imply a need to increase profits and productivity up to a certain point, it’s not logical that market dependence must lead to continual profit-maximization.  Comparing the Netherlands and Britain in this instance is like comparing apples and oranges, and yet this can happen in the study of the Great Divergence. Ghosh recommends a careful differentiation between commercialization, market dependence and capitalism.  He believes that culture is an important element in the rise of consumerism and should be examined carefully as well. He stresses that both market dependence and a need to increase productivity can come from socio-political structures which can determine how people access resources and how commodities are produced.  Religion and concepts of “rationality” can also have an effect and must be examined for a total picture.

Eren Duzgun from the University of Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus states that the question of how Western Europe established its dominance over the rest of the world has created a debate that continues to this day.  To lend light to the reason and need for this ongoing debate, he states that even though there has been a plethora of explanations for the Great Divergence, research as recently as the last decade has shown that some of those ideas have now lost all credibility.  He reports, “Approaches emphasizing environmental factors, historical contingencies, and inter-regional connections and similarities have remarkably deepened our understanding of the wealth and poverty of “nations,” producing wide-reaching implications for the way in which we understand the origins of the present international economic and political hierarchies.”

And so debate, research and discussion continues.  This topic is complicated and encompass many aspects.  Because of its effect on modern day and how we move forward as a globalized community, it is imperative that we continue to study and understand the Great Divergence.   

Works Cited

Duzgun, Eren. “Property, Geopolitics, and Eurocentrism: The ‘Great Divergence’ and the Ottoman Empire.” Review of Radical Political Economics, vol. 50, no. 1, 2017, pp. 24–43., doi:10.1177/0486613416673163.

Ghosh, Shami. “The ‘Great Divergence,’ Politics, and Capitalism.” Journal of Early Modern History, vol. 19, no. 1, 2015, pp. 1–43., doi:10.1163/15700658-12342421.

Harari, Yuval N., et al. Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind. Vintage, 2019.

Woods, Shelton, director. Globalization and the Great Divergence: Material Reasons. YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyRj3SY9Xx0&feature=youtu.be.

Woods, Shelton, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 18 Apr. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1tdFMah4VI&feature=youtu.be.

Final Reflection: Understanding Your Place in a Globalized World

My final reflection paper on my Globalization 420 class this semester.  Talk about an eye opener of a class!  Wowser folks, we live in a different world today and it effects us all.  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.   

Susan Fullmer

MDS 420 - Globalization

Final Reflection

4/26/2019

Final Reflection: Understanding Your Place in a Globalized World

In the beginning of this semester we were told to write a paper about an experience we have had in which cultural differences played a crucial role.  I wrote about living in Venezuela in my early twenties.  It was my first real experience with cultural differences.  I loved the people and gradually I learned to love the culture.  But in the beginning, it was such a shock to see how different everything was from the food, to the customs, to the language.  In a way, what I felt was a microcosm of the fear and incompatibilities some people feel towards others who are not like them.  In an ever changing world that includes more and more globalization on all levels, we as earth’s inhabitants must find a way to get along.  We must see each other as more similar than different.  In the article, “Culture and Globalization” by the Suny Levin Institute it states, “The fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic.  The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural.”

My worldview changed dramatically from my experience of living in Venezuela.  I have evolved into a diverse person who is comfortable with change and with those who are different from me.  In fact, I seek it out.  I believe that I am this way in great part because of this life changing experience that forever sent me on a different trajectory.  I am always surprised when I hear fearful people speak about other cultures or “types” of people who are different than them. I feel in this world of globalization, they don’t have the luxury of walling themselves off to keep others out.  There is no such thing any more. We have discussed many aspects of globalization this semester: Trade, transportation, world religions, higher education, human trafficking, food, migration and etc.  We simply can no longer pretend that we are not a world citizen. What happens to the world, happens to us.

What I learned long ago from living in Venezuela has been deeply enhanced by taking this class.  There is so much going on in the world. But instead of feeling distant from it all, I more clearly realize that I am interconnected on many levels of globalization. This understanding applies to just about everything in my life, including my first trip to Europe this summer.  I will now be seeing that part of the world with wiser eyes.  I also intend to more closely watch these world trends and activities.  

As far as what comes next, I anticipate that some will embrace the positive aspects of globalization and some will continue to fight against those that are different.  I think our very existence as a human species will be determined by the outcome of this conflict.  And this is why it is so important to come together and work together in this challenging time of change and uncertainty on a global scale.