As University of Oregon professor Mark Gillem’s newly released first book, America Town: Building the Outposts of Empire and his upcoming address at a NATO conference suggests, the use of space/land is very different in the US than in most other nations. It seems these cultural norms are not really considered when the US establishes a base in another country.
Two interesting facts: 1) the units of measure most often used to describe land in the US as compared to South Korea and Japan and what that says about each cultures perceptions about land use 2) his survey indicating that the biggest complaint about US bases in other countries was not that the base was there but that they were huge and didn’t use the land efficiently - and that the military didn’t know about that concern. Read the rest of this entry »
12-11-2007 |
2 Comments »“Globalization isn’t just an aggressive stage in the history of capitalism. It is a religious movement of previously unheard-of proportions. Progress is its underlying myth, unlimited economic growth its foundational faith, the shopping mall its place of worship, consumerism its overriding image, ‘I’ll have a Big Mac and fries’ its ritual of initiation, and global domination its ultimate goal.”
- Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat in Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire
04-01-2007 |
4 Comments »