Coronil Vs. Gikandi

The two articles focus on one common theme: which is to rid the world of Globalization. In Coronil's essay "Towards a Critique of Globalcentrism: Speculations on Capitalism's Nature," he talks about the western influence on the east and how much of the influence comes from the mass media and other circuits of communication. He continues to focus his essay on the economic state of the country that is being targeted. I like his ideas about the mass media and how their influence can change the perception of the people in that country. For example, the phenomenon of Bollywood has taken on a life of its own. Bollywood produces more films a year than Hollywood and their fan base spans from country to country. The stars of these films are treated as royalty, this showcases the biggest problem for Globalization: the division between the people. For Gikandiin his essay“Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality" states that however the problem of Globalization started much earlier and those who have survived globalization cannot articulate what happened, they are lost and silenced forever. Both articles do a very good job in placing the blame on the society itself for creating a division amongst their people.I thoroughly enjoyed reading both articles and getting a different perspective on the damaging effects of Globalization.

Globalization and its unequal effects in Slumdog Millionaire

Sharlene Moss
Professor Wexler
English 495ESM
12 May 2010


Globalization and its unequal effects in Slumdog Millionaire

Simon Gikandi states in his essay Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality, that “Globalization and postcoloniality are perhaps two of the most important terms in social and cultural theory today. Since the 1980s, they have functioned as two of the dominant paradigms for explaining the transformation of political and economic relationships in a world that seems to become increasingly interdependent with the passing of time, with boundaries that once defined national cultures becoming fuzzy”.

Similarly, in the film “Slumdog Millionaire” it is evident that globalization has a great impact on the lives of the Mumbai people. The depiction of the varying slums and the development and dislocation of the poor illustrates the unequal effects that globalization has on the people of India, versus the depiction of Western traditions imitated in the East.


For example, in the film the audience can see the impoverished nation town that is the backdrop for the film. The audience is also made aware that there are only two options in India: to turn to crime and corruption or to continue to live in poverty. For Jamal he only knows how to be poor, he refuses to turn corrupt like his brother Samil. The unequal effects of the impoverished nation of India can be seen throughout the film. In one scene you see the slums and how the thousands of people are struggling to survive and on the polar opposite side you see individual’s who are so rich they don’t know what to do with their money anymore. It is bittersweet to see Jamal succeed and win “Who wants to be a Millionaire”.

Fernando Coronil states in his essay Towards a Critique of Global Centrism - Speculations on Capitalism's Nature that the West and Europe have a direct division which causes problems amongst the city-states“These two interrelated processes are linked to a host of cultural and political transformations that redefine the relations between the West and its others. The image of a unified globe dispenses with the notion of an outside. It displaces the locus of cultural difference from highly Orientialized others located outside metropolitan centers to diffuse populations dispersed around the globe. Nations have become increasingly open to the flow of capital, even as they remain closed to the movement of the poor. While the cities of these nations are increasingly integrated in transnational circuits of work, study, leisure, and even residence, their impoverished majorities are increasingly excluded from the domestic economy and abandoned by their states.”(Coronil 368).

Another example of globalization is the mass media. India produces more films than America does. Their “Bollywood” has become a mass phenomenon and is responsible for much of their expanding economy. Bollywood brings people together and can reach the poor, rich and even westerners. Coronil adds that “Their image of globalization offers promise of a unified humanity no longer divided by East and West, North and South, Europe and its Others, the rich and the poor. As if they were underwritten by the desire to erase the scars of a conflictual past or to bring it to a harmonious end, these discourses set in motion the belief that the separate histories, geographies, and cultures that have divided humanity are now being brought together by the warm embrace of globalization, understood as a progressive process of planetary integration.”(351-352).

Though the depictions of India in the film “Slumdog Millionaire” are hard to watch, the truth of the matter is that Globalization affects everybody and it is our responsibility to make sure that progress does not turn into corruption. The westernization of a country doesn't have to have a negative effect. The east and the west can co-exist together; we can share our ideas and inventions with each other without exploiting the people of our country.




Works Cited
Coronil, Fernando. "Public Culture." Towards a Critique of Globalcentrism: Speculations on Capitalism's Nature 12.2 (2000): 351-74. Print.

Gikandi, Simon. "The South Atlantic Quarterly." Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality 100.3 (2001): 627-58. Print.

Thor's Battle with Hrungnir

Thor was the most popular of the Norse gods. He was the weather—storm god of sky and thunder who was responsible for law and order in the world of humans. His power emanated from his father, the high sky god Odin. And as the son of the earth goddess Fyorgyn (“Earth”), he was also a god of fertility. Thor was dependable and steadfast, whereas Odin was unpredictable. One day while Thor was off hunting trolls and their unsavory kin, Odin became bored in Valhalla and decided to look for adventure in Jotenheim. He leapt upon the back of Sleipnir and galloped off disguised to the home of Hrungnir, the greatest, stoniest, and most dangerous of all the giants. Thor’s rage became overwhelming when he saw the drunken giant ogling his wife, Sif. When Thor reached for his hammer, however, Hrungnir reminded Thor of the sanctuary status of a guest. At this, Thor relented and agreed to Hrungnir's invitation to single combat. A date was set and a place—the House of the Stone Fence, on the border between Jotenheim and Asgard—and the drunken giant made his exit. Hrungnir himself was more determined, however, and he cast his mighty whetstone at Thor ; the two weapons met in a terrible crash and Hrungnir's was turned into a thousand flying fragments that landed in Midgard and are the whetstone people still use today. But a large chunk of whetstone also knocked Thor off of his feet and left him stunned. In fact, he discovered that he had a large piece embedded in his head, leaving him with a mighty headache. In this battle we see the betrayal of a father’s greed and the perserverance Thor had to fight for what was rightfully his.

The Crucible

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The crucible by arthur miller can be used with the idea of new media technology. buckingham states that "establishing social institutions, the rules of conduct of civil society, and traditional conceptions of citizenship are increasingly being called into question". The witch crazed town causes this uproar and starts to question societies roles and who they truly are.

Long ago, when man was newly come into the world, there were days when he was the happiest creature of all. Those were the days when spring brushed across the willow tails, or when his children ripened with the blueberries in the sun of summer, or when the goldenrod bloomed in the autumn haze.
But always the mists of autumn evenings grew more chill, and the sun's strokes grew shorter. Then man saw winter moving near, and he became fearful and unhappy. He was afraid for his children, and for the grandfathers and grandmothers who carried in their heads the sacred tales of the tribe. Many of these, young and old, would die in the long, ice-bitter months of winter.
Coyote, like the rest of the People, had no need for fire. So he seldom concerned himself with it, until one spring day when he was passing a human village. There the women were singing a song of mourning for the babies and the old ones who had died in the winter. Their voices moaned like the west wind through a buffalo skull, prickling the hairs on Coyote's neck.
"Feel how the sun is now warm on our backs," one of the men was saying. "Feel how it warms the earth and makes these stones hot to the touch. If only we could have had a small piece of the sun in our teepees during the winter."
Coyote, overhearing this, with a big grin on his face thinks of how he could find enough of the sun to put in the People's teepee.
The coyote finds a way to leap into the sky and steal a piece of the sun. Though this act might be seen as thoughtful the consequence of this action was that the People's tents burned and nothing remains of the society.

A Soldier's Monologue

A Soldier’s Monologue By: Sharlene Moss

As I sit here in my trench
Night begins to fall
I am cold and scared
Trying to take in a clean breath of air
And recollect this afternoon’s mayhem



They say war is hell
And all hell broke loose in the valley today.




Shells were falling to the left,
And shells were falling to the right of me
Bullets flying overhead in the air
Like a thousand fireflies.
Hoping the one with my name on it will not find its target.



Throughout today’s fighting
You heard the screams of glory,
And the screams of pain and suffering
You try to survive.
I stayed alive.



As nightfall crept closer
The guns were silenced
The moon above shone bright
Gave us hope for a quiet night.



Yearning anxiously for the coming dawn.



I was looking around and fearful for my friend,
my right hand man.
We look out for each other here.
We are a family; we are a band of brothers.



War is hell there are no heroes,
it is fought in the name of love, religion and one’s country.
It is young men fighting for old man’s lust and greed.
Only the good die young.




As I look up at the night sky;
peaceful and serene,
thinking of my loved ones back home.



I believe the saying goes “Life
is not measured by the number of
breaths you take, but by the moments
that take your breath away”.




This is Corporal Robert Jones, 19 years of age
Proud to be a part of the human race and
I’m coming home.


In this poem the focus was free verse with some rhyming stanzas. The large amount of space is used for pauses/reflection.

I Will Survive

I Will Survive By: Sharlene Moss

We often look for love in different places
But often we are left with empty spaces
We shed tears and feel the pain
With a ray of hope we restrain.


Through this journey, we search and stumble
Listening to the voices, my heart starts to crumble
Knowing my strengths and desires,
the road may be long but my heart will never tire.


They say only the strong survive,
But I am not strong; I am weak
Barely holding on…
Just finding my way to thrive again


Is it love or lust? How do I love thee?
With a promise and a kiss on your patient lips

In this poem there is an abab pattern. There are 3 quatrains and finally a couplet at the end of the poem.