Look, I see everywhere the influence of the Western world here in Mali, I don't doubt that it exists one bit. Our cell company is a French one and is advertised every 15 feet. Malians(generally) crave blue jeans, cell phones, rap music and American movies. But no matter how developed it gets, how many McDonalds and Starbucks invade, and how many McMansions are built, Bamako will never, in my opinion, feel the same as visiting New York.
The musicians that I refer to often, that live behind us. These are some well travelled guys. They've toured with lots of groups in the States, Europe and Asia. To hear these guys talk about where they've been makes me ashamed for not having traveled more. They've been to Paris, Tokyo, New Orleans, Baltimore, New York, LA, Hong Kong, just to name a few. They've been exposed to the "comforts" of the modern world, and do you know what they do when they are here? They sit outside their house on a rickety old bench and drink tea all day long. They stand behind me in line down the street to buy juka (mashed up boiled peanuts with spices), they make bean jokes and laugh about things I don't fully understand. They find their own comforts they've depended on since they were children. Their children are learning them too.
Things that will always be different here regardless: the smell, the sounds, the sky, the weather, the landscape. These are things that throughout the ages have proven to create different architecture, different cuisines, different art, fundamentally different places. One of the author's premises is that with the web and more info access to far away worlds, you can experience so much without ever having to go there. True, in many regards, but there is so much you can't. Anyone who has traveled abroad at all can attest to that. No matter how adept I become at describing or photographing this place, it will never capture a day here. It will never capture the smells, the tastes, the subtle nuances of language I navigate, the feeling of the dusty air in, well, everything.
Globalization is such a crazy term. I do see its effects, and, don't get me wrong, many of them disturb me. But something truly wonderful, fascinating and unique, happens in its wake. How foreign elements are absorbed into an environment is so amazing to me. PlayStation is here in Mali, but instead of it being singular in someone's home where friends may come by to see, its in shacks on every other block, where people patiently wait their turn for a chance. Discarded Christmas decorations become a taxi driver's prized bling. And comfort food, for many, as Ian learned one day all too well, will always be Ba Kungulo Na on Bashi(saw dust couscous with goat head sauce), albeit with a bit of Maggi and Chinese imported MSG tossed in.
Just think about our own culture. Would anyone else, do with Italian food, what we have done at Olive Garden? It may disgust some of you, but its uniquely ours. Even other Western cultures would attack such a beast differently. The Brits and Aussies would use different flavors, different comforts to create a mid range priced "Italian" restaurant chain.
Read Ian's dissertation for more thoughts on this subject. Something I agree with as well. We aren't the only one's who are passing off our ways.
