Our lecture this week focused on the globalisation of 'stuff'. Within our tutorial, we discussed stuff as inanimate, tangible objects. So the question is posed, how does Couchsurfing contribute to the globalisation of stuff? One answer lies in the spread of cultural items. Couchsurfing did not initiate the spread of stuff, nor is it the primary mode of diffusion; however it does contribute to the globalisation of stuff.
 |
| Maté, Yerba - Now Globalised form of Stuff (World Coffees and More) |
Couchsurfing encourages people to travel and experience new things. As a result the users experience new stuff. Here I will use a personal example of the globalisation of stuff through Couchsurfing. When travelling to Argentina I utilised Couchsurfing. The hosts who I stayed with introduced me to maté, an Argentinian tea, drunk from a special gourd. After being introduced to this tradition, I embraced it and brought it back to Australia. The maté yerba (tea leaves) is not produced in Australia and must be imported from Argentina. With this example it can be seen how maté, a cultural item has become a part of global stuff and Couchsurfing contributed to the globalisation of this product.
In conclusion, globalisation of stuff has been caused by a number of different contributing factors. It would be wrong to say that Social Networks do not play a role in globalisation, and this blog shows just one of many ways that Couchsurfing contributes to the globalisation of stuff.
Reference
Dicken,
P. 2007. Global Shift: Mapping the
Changing Contours of the World Economy, Thousand Oaks, California Sage
Publications
World Coffees and More (n.d.). Rosamonte Yerba Mate Tea [Image]. Retrieved from: http://worldcoffeesandmore.com/products/
World Coffees and More (n.d.). Rosamonte Yerba Mate Tea [Image]. Retrieved from: http://worldcoffeesandmore.com/products/
The thing that worries me about globalisation of stuff as you pointed out is that whilst we are still infantile in the use of the internet there will come a time when consumers will become blasé and not want to travel and experience things as they can quite easily “couch surf”. The Disney Pixar movie ‘Wall E’ depicts people as soft, lazy and obese due to the fact that everything is taken care of by robots and as Dicken (2007) quite rightly questions “What do globalizing processes mean for people? Are they beneficial or are they detrimental?” and now that you’ve experienced the maté yerba (tea leaves) will you confine yourself to just purchasing the product over the internet knowing that the grower will receive a fraction of the cost you’re willing to pay for the convenience of shopping from home, alternatively will the grower not care as he is receiving income that he would never have had otherwise.
ReplyDelete