In today’s period we talked about the Global Village, a theory made by Marshall McLuhan (1962), and a poem written by Dr. Yusuf Adamu, about the global village.
To compare their idea of a Global Village, we have to be aware, that Marshall McLuhan is a person who grew up in a western based society, different from Dr. Yusuf Adamu who was born and raised in Nigeria.
So what is the „Global Village“ according to Marshall McLuhan?
Marshall McLuhan imagined a borderless world, where global and not national principles reign. He sees the future in technology, which will allow us to travel way faster to another countries. As a result we can communicate with different cultures, and avoid problems caused by lacks of intercultural communication. Furthermore, there will be no difference between men and women, everyone will experience an equal treatment.
How does Dr. Yusuf Adamu view the „Global Village“ as comparison?
In his poem, Dr. Yusuf Adamu, stated that humans are made to be different, but they are forced to change to please their image of man. He is afraid that the „Global Village“, that is being created, will be too big to be safe. In addition, he fears that the non-western-like people will end up as a second class in that village, who would be forced to take over their standards, development of technologies, way of thinking, world view and theories and concepts. The non-western know, that they’re different. Therefore they don’t want to change in order to become more western like.
Connection between the Global Village and Geraldine Schmitz’s Seminar
In Geraldine’s Seminar, we learned about a girl, who was being a modern slave, and that it seems to be part of their culture. The Global Village is based on a western way of thinking, and can’t be imposed on non-western countries, who have a different world view than we do. We can’t force them to forget about their traditions and shape them the way we want them, because we pity their knowledge of human rights. We never consider the opinion of the other party and decide ahead of them.
„And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.“
-Friedrich Nietzsche
„Value the differences, but also discover the similarities and then learn from another, start to understand each other and start to change perspectives.“
-Steffi Biester
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