GLOBAL
CULTURES

Spring 2025

Learning Objectives: This course examined globalization's impact on diverse cultures through the study of migration patterns, economic systems, mass media influence, and health disparities. The goal was to develop analytical frameworks for understanding how cultures adapt, resist, and transform under globalization pressures.

Through 3,600+ words of essays and discussion posts, I analyzed how different cultural perspectives shape responses to globalization. As someone from India studying in the United States, I brought a cross-cultural perspective to each analysis. The 45-minute immigrant interview assignment was particularly valuable: I analyzed the subject's transnational identity, cultural adaptation strategies, and navigation of multiple cultural spaces, deepening my understanding of how globalization is experienced at the individual level.

The course's exploration of cultural homogenization versus heterogenization equipped me with frameworks for understanding how cultures respond to technological change. Cases like McDonald's localization in Beijing showed me how cultures selectively adopt, adapt, and resist external influences, essential for understanding cultural acceptance of engineering solutions.

Through 3,600+ words of essays examining migration patterns, economic systems, and media influence, I became better prepared to assess how engineering solutions must align with diverse cultural frameworks and values.

CULTURAL
ADAPTATION

RELATION
TO MY
THEME

This course enhanced my understanding of how Security is perceived across different societies. Studying global migration patterns revealed connections between cultural narratives and security policies, how societies approach border security, immigration, and national security differently.

The exploration of global health security showed me how cultural factors affect everything from food security to dietary preferences. Security technologies and policies must be culturally adapted to work across diverse global contexts.

This course directly informed my approach to technology development. Understanding how globalization affects different communities' relationships with technology raised critical questions for my AI safety research: which populations trust AI systems, which do not, and what cultural factors drive those differences. These considerations are essential for building systems that are adopted and trusted across diverse contexts.

Together with HON 272 (The Human Event), these two multicultural courses provided complementary analytical lenses: historical-philosophical (how Western intellectual traditions shaped concepts of security and authority) and contemporary-global (how globalization is currently reshaping those concepts). Both perspectives inform my approach to AI systems development, where technical robustness must be accompanied by an understanding of the diverse populations these systems serve.

VALUE

COURSE
ARTIFACT

Below is one of my essays from ASB 378.

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