Global Citizenship (Final)

Being a citizen is a state of mind that pits classes against each other and causes the separation of powers by creating a hierarchical society.  The term “citizen” makes the distinction between two groups of people. But global citizenship is a term of acceptance and unity where everyone can come together as one solitary group whose values may be different, but what makes them the same is what really matters.

               Music practices shape all of society and culture in profound ways. Music is one of the central necessities to human evolution and survival. In history music has changed the course of human thought and interaction in both positive and negative ways. The fact the music can cause liberation or holocaust is both a beautiful and terrifying thing. Dr. McDonald’s anecdotes about his experience with the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe are perfect examples of how music can be the circulating factor in their lives. The Shona people relied on it as a form of contacting their spiritual world. When they would run into a problem, they wouldn’t rely on themselves for the answer; they would use their lamellophones and desis to call into the spirit world. These ceremonies are called Biras and they are one of the most important things in the Shona’s culture. Their society is influenced in a way that requires them to participate in music to have any contact with their deity.

               Music in society tells a lot about the cultural values that society withholds. In the documentary I Love Hip Hop In Morocco, cultural taboo was being committed in the form of expression by hip hop. Morocco is a predominantly Islam country, and with having Islam values as the societal standard, it makes it hard for hip hop artists to use what they love as a form of expression. The rapper within the documentary being silenced by society the most was young woman Fatima. Fatima grew up in an Islamic family that was very supportive of the way in which she chose to communicate. Where her family is exorbitantly supportive, society couldn’t take a person like Fatima seriously. Society had already been shaped by the music of the Islamic culture, so when just about every already established normal in their culture gets broken, society can only be shocked and dismissive of a person like Fatima. Music doesn’t only have the power to cause societal revolution, it can also cement beliefs on separation in class and power; who gets a say and who doesn’t.

               One of the first questions you ask a person when you are getting to know them is: where are you from? What if this question became irrelevant? That’s what a “global citizen” is.  What it means to be a global citizen, or a cosmopolitan, is the application to an idea that requires understanding of all cultures. It requires a disposition that is free of acting upon ignorance. Global citizens only react to what they know, and to what they don’t they explore and seek to understand. They are egalitarians that don’t raise or lower themselves by any standards. Global citizens simply are, and they simply do.

               By being a global citizen, a requirement is that you must open yourself to cultural tenets and be a part of a cultural cohort. Cultural cohorts are the basis of any attempt to branch away from everyday life that being a citizen requires. Experiencing different cultures in settings outside of your own is a way of being a global citizen and participating in cultural cohorts. Eventually a relationship between a global citizen and a cultural cohort will mature into a cultural formation. These formations become a large part in the way you dress, think, and act. Two great examples of a way global citizenship can manifest locally in Bloomington is through attending music sessions on Tuesday night at the Runcible Spoon, or attending the Bloomington Contra-Dance every Wednesday night at the Boys and Girls Club. The Bloomington Contra-Dance was one of the most profound examples of the two because of how involved it got me. It was in a participatory format that got every up from their couches on a Wednesday night to enjoy dancing to festive music. A sense of togetherness and euphoria filled the room. People of all different skill levels showed up and participated. That in tale is the reason for the success of something like the Contra-Dance. Global citizens come to appreciate and participate in the activities that another culture can provide. When aspects of the Contra-Dance branch out from the walls of the Boys and Girls Club, that is when it becomes a cultural formation and changes the way people speak and interact with each other.

               With being a great global citizen, comes great responsibility. The role of a global citizen is to set an example. Forcing an idea or concept on to a group of people would work against every value a global citizen holds so telling people to be tolerant is the reverse of what their job is. Cultural tolerance and appreciation is the image a global citizen is meant to convey, not one of oppression and annoyance. When people follow in the footsteps of a global citizen, good will come out of it. Ignorance won’t be a means of reaction, because people will know to turn their ignorance into understanding and acceptance. The consequences to being a declared citizen of any specific location begins the cycle already set in motion by the majority of the population by creating differences that don’t need to be fabricated in our society. Hierarchical societies are created by location and status. So if societies were based on what we do rather than where we are from, unity by the masses would be the result.

               I agree with the idea that global citizenship is one of the most productive ways of living. Taking lessons from other cultures and improving your own is an important aspect of being a global citizen. Being a global citizen means much more than any one man can understand. The only hope humanity has in living in a world of peace is by starting with cultural tolerance. When the human population learns that they have more in common than they have different, that is when a world of coexisting global citizens will be born.