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What is meant with “the world becoming increasingly seen as one place” is that because of the
aspects from different cultures that are now shared in many different places it gives a feeling of
the world becoming one place with one shared culture. It provides a feeling of one-placeness by
sharing practices and cultural characteristics on a big scale. This can be seen both in antiquity and
in the modern world. An example of this is a Roman villa that was built in Tivoli near Rome. This
villa was build in a traditional Egyptian style. Foreign elements were incorporated in Roman
architecture due to increased contact between the two cultures. Due to this ‘Egyptian’ style
buildings were build in Rome, while on the other hand in Egypt locals initiated ‘Graeco-Roman’
architecture (van Beek et al. 2014, 113; Altenmüller et al. 2007, 294).
What is meant with “the ways in which we are made aware of this process” is first of all that
people become aware of what ones own culture is and how it is defined. People define a certain
material culture to belong specifically to their culture to create a difference between them and the
others in a globalised world, but also to share who they are with the rest of the globalised
community.
The second is becoming aware of other cultures and their specific aspects, including aspects that
are shared by many different cultures due to globalisation processes. This can have both negative
and positive effects. It can cause a fear of other cultures and a fear of losing ones own culture. This
causes an increased focus on the local culture. On the other hand it can also create an interest in
different cultures or a need to belong to the global culture (Hodos 2014, 244).
These two processes (defining ones own culture and adapting the global culture in a local way) are
part of a process that is sometimes referred to as ‘glocalisation. The word ‘Glocalisation’ can be
defined as: ‘The local adaption of widely shared practices and values which are most popularly
associated with globalisation.’ Two important characteristics of this process are the increasing
awareness of and the increasing sensitivity to differences between cultures. Whether or not this is
a part of globalisation or a process on its own can also be discussed, however I will be treating it as
a part of the globalisation process (Hodos 2017, 4-6).
Because there are many different ways of defining globalisation it can be difficult to use it as a
theoretical perspective. Therefore I will be using it in a very specific way. When I refer to
globalisation processes I will be referring to the process in which the Roman empire expanded to a
global scale. The expansion of the Roman empire resulted in increased connectivity in all regions
involved. Even beyond the Roman empire itself regions were affected by the increased
connectivity, for example in the form of trade.