Smaller Cultures Get Diluted? (#3)

Looking at this picture, the first thing I saw were two young boys.... Oh, wait no.. That's actually just one boy; dressed in two different ways.

He appears as a typical native American child in the first picture and then as a typical western child in the second...

Back in middle school, when our Grade 7 Humanities class was first introduced to the idea of "globalization" I used to think it was a completely good thing. I used to think it meant the world was getting better. Countries were starting to share their resources through trade. People started learning foreign languages. Ideas from different places were spreading. Cultures. Cultures were mixing. It sounded like a positive development in the world. Everything sounded great.

But I don't think that's necessarily true anymore.

I've realised a lot after learning a little bit more and researching a little bit deeper about globalisation. Now I think that through globalisation and the overall mix of cultures, the smaller cultures often get diluted. Their languages, ideas, food, garments, and religions are all lost and forgotten. And only the dominating cultures keep in place. And that's why I think the image above actually represents a negative change.

It seems like everyone wanted to, and still wants to look and act as though they're from the West. It could be a good thing; the western civilizations did develop quicker- but it could be a bad thing too. We can lose our culture, we could lose our traditions, and we could lose our personal identities. We could lose our beliefs and values and what makes everyone from around the world so different- and interesting.

And I think that that's exactly what the picture means. It shows a boy who changed his attire and attitude to what a typical white boy during his time would wear and act.And he therefore lost his identity as a Native American boy.

Here's my peeling the fruit map I made to come to this conclusion:

Firstly, I analyzed the visual aspects of the picture and then questioned the reasons why he changed his attire and the way he generally stood. Next, I tried answering my questions and began drafting my conclusions as to what was really going on in the image and I began to infer what it represented or meant. I thought that it represented a loss of heritage because of a new and more popular culture's emergence. And finally, it became possible for me to come to my conclusion that the picture above represents a smaller culture which has been diluted/ replaced/lost with another, more popular or perhaps preferable culture.