In his research, Kelsey Timmerman discovered that the average American is wearing clothes
made in different countries. This demonstrates how everyday items can involve all five of Arjun
Appadurai's scapes. Choose another product that is part of your everyday life. How many scapes
can you connect it to?
The five scapes Arjun Appadurai refer are ethnoscapes, technoscapes, financesapes, ideoscapes,
and mediascapes. All these aspects play a significant role in globalization. An everyday product
that I will be using as an example for this question would be my HP Laptop. Mediascapes is
widely used to prompt the latest technological achievement. The forms of mediascapes the
company uses can be anywhere from social media, magazines even commercials on TV. If it
were not for modern technology the HP company probably would not have taken off as far as it
did.
This company was initially developed in California and eventually started building products all
over the world. HP company subcontract to many countries such as Bulgaria, Malaysia, Costa
Rica, and many more. By subcontracting, they are cutting down on their production costs
therefore they are finance scaping. This company uses technoscape by getting materials from
different countries in order to create the technology within the laptop such as the touch screen
features, hardware, and memory capacity at a low cost. Ideoscape is also being used especially
when the hp company partners with other companies such as Chromebook and Microsoft.
By sharing ideas with other companies, they can end up creating a new product such as laptops,
tablets, and so much more. "Ethnoscapes refers to the flow of people across boundaries"
(Globalization, 2020, P.307). I believe ethoscape is also being used when immigrants from all
over the world move to other countries in order to work for the company. The immigrants end up
changing the area around them to remind them of their home. These are just some examples of
how a big company like HP has used all 5 scapes of globalization. Many companies also use all
five scapes when they are building new products especially big brand names like Apple,
Playstation, and even military vehicle parts. I believe if a company uses most of these scapes
they will be available all over the world.
Globalization. (2020). In Perspective: An Open Introduction to Culture Anthropology (P.307)
