AFRICA AND GLOBALIZATION
RETHINKING THE MORAL PRINCIPLES OF COSMOPOLITANISM IN THE LIGHT OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
Keywords:
AFRICA AND GLOBALIZATION, COSMOPOLITANISM, CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHINGAbstract
The notion of globalization is no longer an imaginary concept. The
last few decades of the inevitable interaction among people of
different geographical locations and economic potentialities provide
positive data demonstrating that globalization is a reality in nearly
every local community. Everybody talks about it, but many are
unaware of the devastating consequences it has on people who are
vulnerable to different social and economic problems. Globalization
is a phenomenon that has strong economic, political, social, religious
and cultural dimensions, and has indisputably produced a twofold
dialectic.1 The one is a dialectic of differentiation whereby we are made
increasingly aware of our cultural identity. This seemingly negative
dialectic unveils why we are different from other people with respect
to our nationality, culture, religion, ethnicity, gender, class, language etc. The other is a dialectic of interdependence whereby we become
more aware of our need for others irrespective of any natural or
conventional difference that may define our relationship with them.
The later is positively oriented, hence it constitutes a bridge that
brings people together to bring about an enduring cosmopolitanism.
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