Globalization Blog

The phenomenon of “Voluntourism” has become a popular and emerging trend of global citizenship over the past decade. According to World Vision, voluntourism is “a form of tourism in which travelers participate in voluntary work, typically for charity” (“Voluntourism: the good and the bad”). From the outside perspective, voluntourism seems like an act of kindness and compassion, but from the inside, voluntourism tends to provide more harm than generosity. The majority of those who make up the “voluntourist” demography are wealthy individuals, high school/university students and Christians. “All seek personal growth, connection to those less fortunate, and the satisfaction of making a difference” (Rosenburg, 2018). These voluntourists tend to target helping needy children in orphanages or build some type of shelter for a local village. Although this is a noble act, most poor countries cannot keep up with the uptake of these new buildings. Visiting orphanages tends to do the most harm...

Music is a sound that we hear everyday. Whether it’s by choice through the use of our headphones, or in the hallways of the campus we walk, music is an inevitable concept that surrounds us daily. We often take for granted the ability we have to listen to different musical genres ranging from Francophone to Afrobeat, available at the tips of our fingers. These above genres and the influences they have on the hits we hear on the radio today, can be credited to the process of globalization. Many countries around the world listen to American music and vice versa. America has one of the strongest music industries in the world, with some of the most famous artists. It is no surprise that other countries want to compete with this, as music has become a very profitable market. Countries will compete by “westernizing” themselves. A modern-day example of this is the Korean musical genre of K-Pop. K-Pop is Korean pop music that “consists of an assortment of other genres such as electronic, ...