Is the process of interaction and integration between people, business entities, governments, and cultures from other nations, driven by international trade and investment and support by information technology (Levin Institute, 2017).

1. Globalization and
Cultural and
Multicultural Literacies

2. At the end of this chapter, you should be able to develop a
clear and practical understanding of the following:
• globalization and its implications on both the national and
individual level;
• Cultural and multicultural literacy in the Philippines; and
• One’s personal level of cultural and multicultural literacy.
Objectives

3. What is Globalization ?
Is the process of interaction and integration
between people, business entities, governments,
and cultures from other nations, driven by
international trade and investment and support by
information technology (Levin Institute, 2017).
Globalization as a phenomenon is not new.

4. • Nations and cultures have been
interacting and integrating with one
another for millennia
• Globalization is happening, its overall
scope, and its effects on the lives of
ordinary people.

5. The Effects of Globalization
The effects of globalization are multi-dimensional. As shown earlier they range from
economic to cultural, on both national and individual levels.
Meyer (2000) summarizes the effects of globalization as follows:
• Economic, political, and military dependence and interdependence between
nations;
• Expanded flow of individual people among societies;
• Interdependence of expressive culture among nations; and
• Expanded flow of instrumental culture around the world.

6. Economic Dependence/ Interdependence
Early 90s when the term globalization entered in the
Philippine public mindset. It was popularly understood to be
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 thought, even though it was
erroneous. The fact of the matter is that globalization has
brought economic development to our society as a whole.

7. Kentor (2001) notes that foreign capital dependence increases income and
equality in four ways:
1. It creates a small, highly paid class of elites to manage these investments,
to create many but usually low-pay jobs;
2. Profits from these investment are repatriated, rather than invested in the
host country, therefore inhibiting domestic capital formation;
3. Foreign capital penetration tends to concentrate land ownership among the
very rich; and
4. Host countries tend to create political and economic climates favorable to
foreign capital that in turn limit domestic labor’s ability to obtain better
wages in simple words, “the rich become richer, and poor become poorer”.

8. Hout (1980) observes that international dependence
(another world for globalization) tends to suppress adult
wages, which in turn perpetuates the role of children as
economic necessities (the familiar saying “Kapag
maraming anak, maraming katulong sa hanapbuhay”),
leading to exclusive population growth.

9. Political and Military Dependence/
Interdependence
Viray(2018) conducted a survey in late 2018 and found out that
three in five Filipinos believe that United Stated would intervene on behalf
of the country in case of war. Despite the current conservative stance of the
US on its foreign policies, this can be taken as evidence of the Philippine’
dependence on both the political and military power of the US in order to
maintain sovereignty as a nation-state in the Southeast Asia region.
There are some forms of economic dependence/interdependence,
political dependence/ interdependence is not far behind, as the
participating nations strive to protect their investments and interest in one
another.

10. Expanded Flow of Expressive and
Instrumental Culture
Expressive culture, as the term suggests, deals with
how a particular culture expresses itself in its language,
music, arts, and the like. Globalization encourages the
monetization of these cultural artifacts and their import/
export among participating cultures; the increased
consumption of which changes the consuming culture.

11. Instrumental culture refers to “common
models of social order” (2Meyer,2000)- that is,
models or ways of thinking about and enacting
national identity nation-state policies both
domestic and foreign, socioeconomic
development, human right, education, and social
progress.

12. Expanded Flow of People among Societies
The Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) estimates
that there 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 Statistics Authority 2018).
Meyer (2000) observes three reasons for this,
socio-economic migration, political expulsion, and
travel/tourism.

13. Cultural Literacy
Cultural Literacy is a term coined by Hirsch (1983),
referring to the ability to understand the signs and symbols
of a given culture and being able to participate in its
activities and customs as opposes to simply being a passive
(and outside) observer.
the signs and symbols of culture include both its
formal and informal languages, its idioms and form of
expression, entertainment, values, customs, roles,
traditions and the like- most of which are assumed and
unstated. Thus, they are learned by being part of the
culture, rather than by any formal means.

14. Cultural literacy is culture-specific, but it is not
limited to national cultures, contrary to what many people
assume. The culture of one workplace can be very
different from another, just as the culture of a particular
school can differ widely from another school nearby.
there are far too many cultures for any one person
to be literate in all of them. As more and more Filipinos
travel- both domestically and abroad- as the result of
globalization and the increased opportunities it brings,
the need to develop new cultural literacies comes to the
fore.

15. Cultural Literacy in the Philippines
Philippine Cultural Education Program, envisions a
nation of culturally literate and empowered Filipinos together with
the Department of Education (DepEd) to formulate the cultural
heritage education programs both local and overseas Filipinos.
This would be an integral part of Philippine education in its all
aspects.
De Leon (2011) coins this propensity for Filipinos to look
at their culture and themselves through Western lenses as the
Dona Victorina Syndrome.

16. 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? It is knowing facts, names, and dates, or is it something
more experiential like being familiar with the story or a particular song?
• It culture is more than “ caught than taught,” should cultural literacy be one of the goals of education? If yes, how
does one teach it?
• Whose culture must we 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 evaluated? How can we know someone is “culturally literate”?

17. Multicultural Literacy
Multicultural Literacy as a set of skills and knowledge is
difficult to define because of how it change. As a cultures begin to
mix and change as a result of globalization, conflicts inevitably
arise over identity, values, and worldviews. This situation
consequently needs for a literacy that enables us to quickly and
easily identify and resolve such conflicts, preferably before they
even begin.
Multicultural literacy is a knowledge and skills necessary to
ensure that any communication with a culture different from our
own is clear, productive, and respectful such that their
differences are celebrated and neither culture is demeaned or
treated as inferior.

18. Examples of manner of being multicultural literate:
• Be selfless
• Know that good and useful things can (and do) come
from those different from us.
• Be willing to compromise
• Accept that there are limits

19. Issues in Teaching and Learning Multicultural
Literacy in the Philippines
• Conflicting Requirements for Peace
the heart of multicultural literacy is peace among different
cultures- that is productive and non- violent interaction.
• Nationalistic and Regionalistic Pushback
the increasing demand for multicultural sensitivity, inclusion
and diversity in the recent years has also given rise to resistance
from groups who believe that their identity is being “watered-down”
by the needed compromises.

20. • The Persistence of the Problem
Boutte (2008) suggests that issues of discrimination in
all its forms (racial, religious, tribal, cultural, etc.) are the issues
of hatred, which defines in an educational settings as “the lack of
compassion and lack of respect for the right of others,” and that
such hatred must be fought and its roots must be attacked,
because for as long as hatred exists in the human mind , real
peace will be impossible (Vreeland, 2001).
• The Question of Love
Another, issue in teaching and learning multicultural
literacy is better posited as a question: “ why should I treated
people of another culture with respect?”

21. END