Karly Adams

Globalization is the process in which people, ideas and goods spread throughout the
world, spurring more interaction and integration between the world's cultures, governments,
and economies (definition). Throughout the course of this class, we explored globalization
throughout the world. Although it is seen everywhere, we focused specifically on the effects
globalization has on indigenous religions. Today, almost every indigenous religion has been
globalized by the culture around them. However, globalization is not a new concept, as it has
been around since Christopher Columbus came to the new world. Columbus globalized the
Indians by changing their culture and their way of life. Christopher Columbus set out on his
voyage to find an alternate route to Asia. This place was believed to have large amounts of gold,
which would be beneficial for his country. However, instead of going to Asia, he went Haiti. He
met the Arawaks and at first it was a friendly exchange. They taught Columbus and his crew
about the land and Columbus showed them guns. Before Columbus arrived, the Arawaks culture
was characterized by happiness, friendliness and a highly organized hierarchical, paternal
society, and a lack of guile. (Pre-Columbian). The Arawaks were hunter-gatherers, living
primarily off of meat or fish. They used bow and arrows and spears that they made to hunt and
kill animals. Although they were friendly at first, Columbus and the Arawaks soon began to
disagree. Due to globalization, Indians were killed off by disease, slavery and guns, which were
introduced to them by the Europeans. For example, half of the 250,000 Arawaks on Haiti died
due to cassava poison. Also, Columbus decided to take 500 Arawaks back to Spain to sell them
as slaves. However, 200 died on the ship (Columbus). Globalization had a negative impact on the
Indians as their culture soon began to disappear. The Indians had to adapt to the Europeans
culture and their way of life to survive.

That is only one example of the impact of globalization on indigenous cultures. In my

mini-paper and panel presentation, I focused on the Ainu tribe. This ethnic group is from Japan
and lives on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Like many other indigenous tribes, the Ainu were
traditionally hunters-gathers and fisherman. They had rituals as part of their culture, especially
the iomante. The iomante ritual was the most important because the bear was important to them,
using it for food, clothes and tools. However, they are no longer allowed to practice this
traditional ritual today as the Aborigine Protection Law of 1899 forced the Ainu to integrate with
the Japanese. The Ainu people were forbidden from using their language and their hunting
rituals. They were forced to take up Japanese names. The Japanese treated the Ainu very similar
to how the Europeans viewed and treated the Indians. The Japanese took control of much of the
Ainu peoples land, forcing them to move off of their ancestral grounds, which are very important
to them. Again, globalization for them Ainu culture was a very harsh reality. They were forced to
stop their own rituals and change their culture because of the outside world, the Japanese.
Unfortunately, negative globalization is still going on throughout the world for indigenous
religions. Many tribes are starting to fight back globalization hoping to restore their native
culture and rituals.

"Ainu - Religion and Expressive Culture." Religion and Expressive Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 25
Nov. 2016.
Pre-Columbian Hispaniola - Arawak/Taino Indians. Pre-Columbian Hispaniola Arawak/Taino Indians. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
Article:
Columbus, The Indians and Human Progress (from RAT 5)