Globalization and local identity: A study on the food habits of local people in the district of Mymensingh

Abstract

Globalization is characterized by an intrinsically related series of social, cultural and economic phenomena. It affects the total life and life-style of people. Economic wheel of globalization is controlling the rest of the things. As a result, the whole gamut of food staff from production to consumption has been corporatized over the years. This action has been promulgated by the "structures" global free market economy. Food habit is a way to express ourselves. It analyses from where we come from, how we go. It symbolizes our different cultural backgrounds. It is connected to our daily living in a certain manner. This work has not focused the positive or negative impact of globalization on different social, economic and cultural aspects. Rather, this thesis has examined the impact of globalization on local and native food system of people in the greater district of Mymensingh. It investigates subsequent impact of alteration of food habit on identity of local people. There are innumerable kinds of human identities. Socio-cultural and indigenous identity is taken here as an element of examination. The key assumption is-'traditional food habit of rural people of Bangladesh is being withered away because of globalization'. It is strongly asserted that social identity has a deep-rooted connection with food habit. Since food habit is being withered away, socio-cultural identities are being reshaped into a meta-generalized introduction. There are three areas which have eluded me tremendously to work in this field-academic background, practical understanding from my early boyhood, and intuitional motivation to grasp the impact of globalization on local identity only by changing our indigenous food habit. Let me clarify. Firstly globalization is a all-encompassing idea; I want to see how local identity has lost appeal to the people. Secondly an expectation of practical dissection of these debates on a local issue always drives me. I have been searching a grounded problem related to globalization for last ten years. I have searched an issue that must be very closely connected to mass people of rural Bangladesh. Finally, I have got one. Here, the main institution is my family and then my society with its folk culture. It is mentionable that traditional cultural diversity is related to different social identities. Cultural diversity has been projected through food habit of local people. I have felt and observed it very closely. I discover that local identity is getting a general shape. I observed some distinctions among different kinds of identities from my early boyhood. Now it is a rare case. There are many contributing factors of globalization which are accelerating these changes; these are Satellite TV, mobile phone, diasporas of people, transport and communication, people’s mobility, etc. Through these multiple via of communication, globalized food items have fetched some changes and challenges to the local food culture over the years. In many cases, they create social unrest, chaotic situation and disorder. It has presented a challenge to the traditional culture and social order. Cultural change has created social friction. It is known to all that food habits, rooted in identity, have been changed remarkably because of globalization both in the urban and rural life. This is a modest endeavor to depict how globalization has brought vigorous changes in traditional food habits of local people; and generates threats to the local identity, and creates a number of turbulences. A good number of rural cultural affairs had been celebrated by the local people only with the arrangements of different food stuffs and folk songs. Food stuffs were definitely the symbol of socio-cultural identity in those programs. These celebrations were done very seriously and with full heartedly. But today we do not find them commonly in pastoral life. The great thing is that there was a "unity in the social" diversity amongst people. Today we see the just opposite of previous one-separation in sameness. Social union is a rare case at present days. The emphasis of this thesis is on the cultural dimension of globalization. In order to provide the clarity on the scope of this thesis, it is useful to note that culture is a very broad idea and the entire notion of it will not be addressed. Culture will be enthralled through the prism local identity. Local identity shall be understood by using the criterion food habits. Specifically, it is observed that globalization is an emerging menace to our local identity by destroying our indigenous food habits.