Jacob W. Dearing
Dec. 16th, 2015
Critical Abstract #16
Article author: Anna Tsing
Article title: Friction
When I took my first anthropological class a strong focus fell on this idea of a globalizing culture. The idea was logical; the larger more powerful entity would have the greatest influence in the interaction between itself and the minority culture. Customs, actions, and ideas would become centralized and dominate the planet in a way that would dwindle diversity. However, this concept is developed on certain assumptions such as the minority culture either accepting new customs from its larger counter or they would be unable to resist the influence. Also, the majority culture would be impermeable to the actions and ideas developed by the minority culture. Finally, these two entities are separate until their discernable interaction.
Anna Tsing proposes an alternative to this common method of thought that explores the idea of “friction”. This concept shows the theory of globalization in a way that does not follow the previous assumptions. First, minority cultures witnessing the obvious degradation of their lands are resisting the influences of the majority by allying with modernized citizens to function as a single unit. Second, such resistance clearly alters how the majority culture must function in order to continue with capitalistic methods. Third, this interaction between the two creates “friction” but not always in opposition. This is the main idea of friction, which is an unpredictable reaction to the encounter of the two distinguishable cultures. The point of interaction is where Tsing believes we can find and measure the concept of “the global”.