CHAPTER 2

Globalization and Cultural and Multicultural Literacies

Globalization is the process interaction and integration between people, business, entities, government
and cultures from other nation, driven by international trade and investment and supported by
information technology. Globalization as phenomenon is not new. Nations and cultures have been
interacting and integrating with one another for mellinia.

Meyer summarize the effects of globalization as follows:

• Economic, political, and military dependence and interdependence between nations;

• Expanded flow of individual people among societies;

• Interdependence of expensive culture among nations; and

• Expanded flow of instrumental culture around the world.

Economic Dependence/Interdependence

When the term globalization entered the Philippines public mindset in the early 90s, it was
popularly understood to be a mainly economic phenomenon, and a negative one at that. The idea that
foreign- owned business could come into the country and freely " set-up shop," thereby choking-out
local industries was not a welcome through, even though it was erroneous.

Political and Military Dependence/Interdependence

A survey conducted in late 2018 found that three in five Filipinos believe that the United States
would intervene on behalf of the country in case of war. Despite the current very conservative stance of
the US on its foreign policies, this can be taken of the Philippines dependence on both the political and
military power of the US in order to maintain its sovereignty as a nation-state in the Southeast Asia
region.

Expanded Flow of Expressive and Instrumental Culture

Express culture, as the term suggests, deals with how a particular culture express itself in it's
language, music, arts and the like. Globalization incourages the monetization of this cultural artifacts
and their import/export among participating cultures; the increase consumption of which changes the
consuming culture.

Expanded Flow if People among Societies

 The fact that globalization incourages the movement of people between nation-state should come
as no surprise to us. The Philippines Statistic Authority (PSA) estimates that their were 2.3 million
Overseas Filipino Worker (OFWs) during the period of April to September 2017, who were responsible
for up to 205.2 billion pesos in remittances ( Philippine Statistic Authority, 2018).

Meyer (200) observe three reasons for this:

•Socio-economic migration

• Political explosion

• Travel/tourism

Cultural Literacy

Is a term coined by Hirsh (1983), referring to the ability to understand the signs and symbols of a
given culture and being able to participate in its activities and costumes as opposed to simply being a
passive observer. The signs and symbols of a culture include both its formal and informal language, its
idioms and form of expression, entertainment, values, customs, roles, traditions, and the like-most if
which are assumed and unstated.

Cultural Literacy in the Philippines

The National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) is the government body tasked with the
documentation, preservation, and dissemination of Philippine culture, both locally and abroad. Part of
how NCCA is addressing this and related matters is through the establishment of the Philippines Cultural
Education Program (PCEP), which " envisions a nation culturally literate and empowered Filipinos"
(NCCA 2015).

Act 10066 (2010), PCEP has been designated as the body together with the Department of Education
(DepEd), tasked to " formulate the cultural heritage education programs both for local and overseas
Filipinos" that are to be on integral part of the Philippines education in all its aspects.

Challenges for Cultural Literacy in the Philippines

 As Applebee (1987) observes, interesting discussion on cultural literacy give rise to some very
difficult questions which are particularly important to a multicultural and multilingual nation like the
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 culture must 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 evaluate? How can we know someone is "culturally
literate"?

Multicultural Literacy
As culture begin to mix and change as a result of globalization, conflicts inevitably arise over identity,
values, and worldviews. This solution consequently needs for a litetacy that enables us to quickly and
easily identify and resolve such conflicts, preferably before they even begin.

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. For example, multicultural literacy as defined in
American literature is defferent from how it is deployed in a more European context.

Rather, true multicultural literacy consist of perspective, attitudes, and beliefs about other cultures that
affect the manner in which we communicate and the motives behind our communication. Here are
some examples:

1. Be selfless - An attitude of selfless - one that is less concerned with how l feel and more concerned
with how l am making others feel is crucial to multicultural literacy, as so much of the offense and
conflict associated with the meeting of defferent culture is the results of a " me first " attitudes.

2. Know the good and useful things can ( and do) come from those different from us - Hand- in- hand
with a dismissive attitude toward another culture is the idea that nothing good can come from them.

3. Be welling to compromise - Any significant interaction with someone from a different culture is
governed by the principle of " He/She wants something, and l want something." In other words, cultures
do not interact out of pure magnanimity.

4. Accept that there are limits - At some point however, one or both cultures will be unwilling/unable to
adjust their wants for the sake of the other any further.

Issues in Teaching and Learning Multicultural Literacy in the Philippines

A number of important issues stand in the way of

Philippine educators attempting to learn
multicultural literacy for themselves and teach it in turn to others, which are different from what can be
found in Western literature. Particularly those of the United States.

Conflicting Requirements for Peace

When all is said and done, the heart of multicultural literacy is peace among defferent culture- that
is, productive and non-violent interaction. It is easy to assume that all culture value peace to the same
degree and are therefore welling to make the same compromises in order to attain it, but this is not
necessarily true.

Nationalistic and Regionalistic Pushback

The increasing for multicultural sensitivity, inclusion, and diversity in the recent years as also given
rise to resistance from groups who believe that their identity is being " watered-down" by the needed
compromises. Case in point is the very recent proposal of "Ortograpiya ti Pagsasao nga llocano" by
officials of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) in October of 2018.

The Persistence of the Problem

On the surface, multicultural literacy might seem to just be matter of " good common sense," and
understandably so, no one actively desire to experience discrimanation regarding what they know and
what they can and cannot do simply on the basis of race, ethnicity, or in the case of Philippines, region
of origin.

Boutte (2008) suggest that issues if discrimination in all its forms ( racial, religious, tribal, cultural,
etc.) are really issues of hatred, which she defines in an educational setting as " the lack of compassion
and lack of respect for the rights of others," and that such hatred must be fought and its roots must be
attacked, because for as long as hatred exist in the human mind, real peace will be impossible.

The Question of Value

 Another issue in teaching and learning multicultural literacy is better posited as a question: " Why
should l treat people of another culture with respect.

It might seem that the answer to the question is a simple one: for peace. But as we had seen earlier,
not everyone values peace to the same degree. What if, for a certain culture, it is easier, to just destroy
anyone who opposes them rather than expend the effort needed to come to a mutual understanding.

A majority of research on multicultural literacy stems from the West, specifically the United States,
and focuses on teaching teachers to be more multicultural in their pedagogies.

• Learn about other cultures. Banks ( 1991) posits that the first step to teaching multiculturalism is
knowing about cultures that are not your own. It follows that if you, the teacher, know only your own
culture, when you will be unable to teach your student to appreciate a culture that is different from your
own.

• Familiarize yourself with how discrimination and prejudice appear in your own culture. Boutte
(2008) and banks (1991) agree that teachers must be able to identify and confront patterns of
discrimination and prejudice in their own lives before they can teach their students to do the same.

• As you are, so will you behave. Key to genuine multicultural literacy is core values - that is, what you,
the teacher, really believe about people who are different from you; not the kind of belief that you can
just say you posses when talking to your class, but the kind that determines your behavior when you
think no one is watching.