Devil behind the Mirror & Political Economy of Boca Chica

Introduction

While globalization has been referred to global flow and interconnectedness, it has also been described as an uneven and awkward process. First, there has been an increase in the creation of inequalities among political and economic contexts which form the basis of the notion `friction'. Anthropologist Anna Tsing employs the term friction to describe “the awkward, unequal, unstable and creative qualities of interconnection across difference”. The new inequalities that have been produced by globalization lead to the transformation and exchange of cultures which operate under the dynamics of friction. For example, contemporary globalization has been driven primarily by market capitalism. Financial organizations such as the World Bank put pressure on third world countries in complying with `western' ideals of neoliberal capitalist policies.

Throughout this paper I will demonstrate my argument by analyzing the ethnographical contributions of Steven Gregory's The Devil behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic and Linda Green's Notes on Mayan Youth and Rural Industrialization in Guatemala (2007, 2008).

Discussion

Globalization is an extremely broad phenomenon that can be described in a multitude of definitions. Most commonly, globalization is associated with the interconnectedness of the international and local world.

It seems that technology such as the television and the internet has bridged the gaps between cultures and has united communities around the world. Although the term `global village' can be recognized as a dimension of globalization, some anthropologists believe it is too simplistic a term. Anthropologist T.H Erikson identifies common assumptions about the nature of globalization, which includes associating globalization with homogeneity and economic imperialism

The disjuncture and friction in the political and economic spheres of globalization are best exemplified in Steven Gregory's The Devil behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic (2007). The ethnography analyzes ...