As the saying goes, “America is a
nation of immigrants.” Immigration is one of the United States’ most divisive
issues, and President Obama recently pushed the topic into the spotlight with
his executive order on immigration policy. Some feel as though globalization
and its resulting diversity threaten national identity, but this year, Americans
rallied around a “globalized” U.S. national team at the World Cup, watching the
tournament more than ever before. The team was filled with players from diverse
racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. While many argue that globalization decreases
a sense of nationalism, this team demonstrated that it can unify a nation and
strengthen its national identity.
Of
the 23 players on the team’s roster, seven were born or raised outside of the
U.S. A handful of other players had at least one parent born in another country.
The remaining players were a diverse group, too, made up of various backgrounds,
including two Native Americans. The coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, is not an American
citizen. Nonetheless, each player stepped on the pitch wearing the same jersey,
representing the same country; the team’s diversity encapsulated America’s
diversity. In any team sport, including soccer, players put everything aside to
work towards a common goal. This is one of America’s foremost ideals: embracing
cultural differences and fighting for democracy, freedom, the American Dream,
and so on. Whether these ideals actually function the way people romanticize
them (i.e. Does the American dream really exist today?) is another discussion
altogether; for sake of argument, let’s simply agree that these are things
Americans value and believe in. In this respect, the U.S. national team stood
for and represented American values, and that increased their ability to act as
an agent of unification.
Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World offers a conflicting point of view. He claims that from diversity rises
conflict. For instance, in the chapter “How Soccer Explains the Pornography of
Sects”, Foer explains the rivalry between the Catholic-supported Celtic and
Protestant-backed Rangers in Glasgow, Scotland. This is a fierce rivalry, and not
in the way that the Yankees and Red Sox are rivals. Foer describes threats,
fights, and even murders that have resulted from the rivalry. Instead of
unifying as Scots, they divide as Catholics or Protestants. Another example is
the current state of affairs on race in European soccer. There have been
countless incidents of racist chants from fans and racist comments from coaches
or other players, especially when a black footballer plays for a European
country or club team. For example, some Italian fans hurled insults at their
team’s black, Italian-born player, Mario Balotelli, choosing racism over
supporting the national team. In these cases, racial or religious diversity
does not lead to unity, but rather to conflict, and national identity is
weakened.
In his book, Foer depicts instances in which diversity, spurred by globalization,
causes conflict and decreases national identity and unity. His argument is
certainly valid, but it doesn’t have to be this way. As the U.S. national team
demonstrated, globalization can lead to greater unity if differences are
embraced and everyone works towards a common goal. In this last World Cup, the U.S.
national team was diverse in a number of ways: players were different races, different
ethnicities, and came from different cultural backgrounds. This team was
representative of its country: a nation of immigrants. A “globalized” team and
nation came together and unified under something they all shared: national
identity. They were all Americans.
Sources:
How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer
U.S. national team’s diversity: http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2014/6/6/5766076/us-soccer-german-americans-jurgen-klinsmann
Racism in soccer: http://soccerracism.blogspot.com/
Racism towards Mario Balotelli: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2635044/Mario-Balotelli-suffers-racist-abuse-Italy-fans-World-Cup-training-camp.html
Lowell, I really like the comparison that you offer here. If globalization and nationalism can exist out on the soccer pitch, can they also exist in other aspects of society? Because it seems that for the most part, globalization has led to the deculturalization of many countries/cultures around the world.
ReplyDeleteI found your remarks regarding the ways in which America is positively contributing to the soccer community very interesting. I had not previously given much to consideration to the thought that globalization could lead to racism as opposed to decreasing it through the sharing of knowledge, experiences and culture.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your second point and your overall message throughout this post. Diversity due to globalization can certainly lead to violence and feelings of loss of cultural identity as Foer demonstrated in several chapters that we read. While the U.S. soccer team is a great example of globalization being used for good relations between cultures, to me it seems these good cases are few and far between the bad ones that Foer relates. While I do share your sentiment that globalization should not lead to racism and conflict of cultures along with identity loss, it is simply the reality in many cases as prejudices are still extremely widespread throughout the world. These prejudices are the root of the problem that globalization amplifies, and until they are somehow addressed and systemic change is made, I will see globalization as more of a negative overall for the world.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I completely agree with your approach on globalization, immigration and the U.S. national soccer team. This past summer the team really showed how people of different backgrounds and identities can come together and work as a true team and be unified under one countries pride. Supporting the same principals and goals and living the American dream. Soccer has really become platform in this country for diverse people to work together regardless of conflicting backgrounds. It's sad that out own government doesn't work as well together like the sports team.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you brought up how diverse the US national team was for the World Cup. It wasn’t something I thought about before but it shows how globalization and nationalism work well with each other. As you said, Foer depicted how globalization can start conflicts. If two teams or ideas are unified it can lead to a positive outcomes and then globalization isn’t necessarily a bad concept.
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