Cole Brandt

SPW 276
1/20/17
ARTIFACT

Since the beginning of time people have been fighting. More territory, more

resources, more power. Actually there hasnt been a single day that has gone by

when people werent fighting. Colonization is when a strong developed country

moves into a lesser developed and weak country and implements their

infrastructure and way of doing things onto the newly found people for the benefit

of themselves. Globalization is the sharing of knowledge, goods, and services

worldwide. A lot of culture is lost through these assimilating processes because the

less developed countries peoples are forced to change to be one with their new

colonizers. Things like ethnicity, gender, religion, and age are all descriptors but are

also labels that we assign to people either consciously or subconsciously. They

affect our concept of culture because as humans we are unsure of things that are

not like us. We may come up with stereotypes or fuel our dissonance with apathy.

Not like me, dont look like me, dont talk like me, not my age group, I dont care; is

all too often the stance we take. This relates to Positionality and Standpoint Theory,

the way and the lenses in which and through we view our surroundings. Whether

that position is from a rich banker to a poor begger, we all have a view and an

opinion.
 As history tells us the Spaniards had settled the west and southern coast long

before the English. But as we know the battle and bloodshed for territory is never-

ending, and therefore we can call Latinos foreigners in their own land, land they had

settled, but our country, USA, has taken from them. Our country has a way to letting

fear destroy our integrity. Such as the camps set up when we feared Japanese spies,

now there is a trend of Islamophobia, and it is the common stereotype that all

Muslims are terrorists. In a historical perspective of the border region, the Spanish

settled and began to push their ways on the Indigenous peoples living in the

Americas, then the English and British came and pushed their ways on the Spanish

and Indigenous peoples. The theme of the nature of culture seems to be and has

always been that mine is better than yours (particularly when my culture is

generally viewed as the dominant culture or norm) and that it is beneficial to

conform to the dominant culture.

I learnt a lot in this course, especially because of my apathy towards the

border issues. First of all I learnt of all the different border towns and the ways in

which immigration is handled. Some places on the border are friendly, others

dangerous, some places are more neutral, or offer walking, bike, car, trucking, and

expedited pass lanes. I have found the concept of PTD, prevention through

deterrence, interesting and slightly barbaric; the process of channeling those willing

to cross the border through the unforgiving desert. I also found it very interesting
that this immigration process is illegal, but yet there are humanitarians out putting

up water stations for the people willing to risk it all, in hopes of a better life. Wow.

Such an eye opener. Also the ways in which our government is handling the

situation; what is the best answer? Raise security and technology, build a wall, or

increase the value of the border region and the quality of life there so that those

living there wont have a reason to leave. Doesnt it make more sense to just unload

the gun, than to keep shooting at a bullet proof vest? The concept of Intercultural

Praxis, is now in my bag of tricks for utilization. It is the concept of approaching

intercultural communication as a way of being, rather than an object of study and

consists of six main points; inquiry, framing, position, dialogue, reflection, and

action. Finally the other very interesting topic that I personally had the pleasure of

exploring was the recently founded Borderplex Alliance, which relies more on a

private sector drive than from the government. The concept of 70,000 acres

becoming one huge binational city sitting directly on the border, primarily

combining the areas of Santa Teresa, San Jeronimo, Juarez, and El Paso. This could

be the next big thing, if it is successful.