Radio 101: Changing My Mind About Globalization

Radio 101 is WFDD's education program for high school students. Esraa Omar's obsession with Korean TV dramas sparked a change in her opinons on globalization.

Radio 101 reporter, Esraa Omar, says she's bored watching TV from cultures she knows well. She wanted to learn more about an unfamilar country, Korea. She uses apps on her phone to enter into the world of Korean dramas.

Esraa says she feels like a lot of Korean shows are Westernized. Pizza and burgers are typical meals on the dramas. Esraa thought American culture was dominating weaker, foreign countries, but she finds out the situation is more complicated when she talks to Ananda Mitra, a Communications professor at Wake Forest University.

Mitra tells her a lot of countries take a path called hybridization. He tells Esraa that hybridization happens when countries "are able to retain what was their own, then add a little bit, and change the thing, so a whole new culture develops."

Globalization flows both ways. Esraa says she knows more about Korean customs now. For example, she learned about kimbab, a Korean dish. Mitra says this is common. "As globalization goes on, there is a better understanding of each other's culture, and I think that is the greatest benefit."