Meredith Williams
An American Abroad: Experiences of Applying Theory
to the Everyday
As I prepared for my time abroad I braced myself to enter a whole new culture. Unfortunately, when I arrived the same golden arches greeted me across the Atlantic. What does this domination of American goods in the global market mean for both Americans and other cultures? How can we interpret personal experiences and international relations through current events?
I will use the theories of Craig Calhoun, Herbert Schiller, Lee Artz and Sue Curry Jansen as a lens to better understand my personal experiences, as well as other symptoms of cultural imperialism, hegemony and cosmopolitan living. Throughout my work, I will use the Iraq War to help understand the process of military imperialism and cultural imperialism and further identify what the global priorities have become.
I have researched the links of globalization, cultural imperialism and military imperialism in the Iraq War. Throughout my work, the words of Sue Curry Jansen echo strong; "Cultural Imperialism, depicts our crudest, greediest and gluttonous way of life...the War in Iraq demonstrates this through guns and global media." In the globalized world of today, it is necessary to focus on the underlying affects of such actions whether it is troops in Baghdad or sweaters sold at GAP.
