Impact of Globalization on the American Southwest
Author: | Ynfante, Charles |
Year: | 2006 |
Pages: | 212 |
ISBN: | 0-7734-5701-1 978-0-7734-5701-0 |
Price: | $179.95 |
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The impact of globalization on the American Southwest is the subject of this study. Globalization means more than goods or services moving globally. Renaissance Europeans believed that the Garden of Eden existed in actuality. Columbus claimed that he had recovered it and attributed primitive Christianity to the natives he found. Also, Europeans imposed pre-conceived social constructs of race and ethnicity upon these natives. Global migrations of people also impacted the area, starting with the First Americans and continuing with the migrations that followed Columbus. The globalization of technology, science, language, and disease played parts as well. These, however, did not eradicate Indians or their culture. Global wars influenced the Southwest through military bases and social groups. Capitalism, a European invention, impacted the relationships of people in the region. Imperialism by various European nations, and later the United States, reduced the region to a pawn to be manipulated. Finally, global warming impacts the area through drought and potential diseases. This study contends that given all of the influence and impact globalization has had much of life and culture has remained the same until only recently. This study is written for a general readership.
Reviews
“The American Southwest has iconic images, but none suggest globalization. The principal images of the landscape are of majestic wastelands – from the towering spires of Monument Valley to the scenic scours of Canyon lands and the Grand Canyon. The principal pictures of the past are of spectacular abandonment such as at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. There are more diverse caricatures of the present but the rural simplicity of the Milagro Beanfield War probably epitomizes the region for many ... Dr. Charles Ynfante provides a thought-provoking commentary on the influences of global trends on the American Southwest in the past, the present and the future. This study is more than a history. It provides a general readership with a review of an electric spectrum of topics related to globalization. This work covers an amazing breadth from an overview of Native American cultures to a discussion of global warming and the impact of the current drought in the region ... Dr. Ynfante’s work is innovative. His study covers not only theoretical and conceptual history but also natural history and science. As you read this book, you will be exposed to a fascinating new look at a part of the United States that most would considered the least affected by the maelstrom of the outside world.” – (from the Preface) Dr. Adrian Hunt, Independent Scholar
“This book is a significant historical achievement in its interpretation of the globalization of the Southwest. Dr. Ynfante brings together seemingly dualistic concepts such as old and new by introducing abstract themes. Using this methodology, Dr. Ynfante is able to explore gaps unaddressed by other scholars who are restricted to highly finite methods dictated by the academy ... what makes this book methodologically and conceptually exceptional is the treatment of divergent themes in a way that readers can easily draw fluid inferences rather than relying on the text as a means for merely elucidating facts ...” – Professor Philip Kaatz, Mesalands Community College
Table of Contents
Preface by Adrian Hunt
Introduction
1. The West
2. Spirituality and Religion
3. Images, Conceptions and Perceptions
4. Technology, Science and the Atomic Bomb, Language, and Disease and Germs
5. Migrations
6. Native Americans
7. The Second World War: Social Impact
8. The Second World War: Military Installations
9. Terrorism and Threats
10. Capitalism
11. Imperialism
12. Climate Change
13. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index