Kwame Anthony Appiah The Case For Contamination Summary

In the article "The Case for Contamination" author Kwame Anthony Appiah reflects on globalization, more so than on religion. He recalls the blowing of the horn at the palace, announcing the arrival of the king of Asante that Wednesday festival day in Kumasi, the town in Ghana where he is from. A ceremony rooted in years of old traditions but still present to its modern time, where prior to the kings arrival one could witness business men on their cell phones and conversations about contemporary issues. Traditional ceremonies like these are often seen as an interruption to the modern world and a threat to its uniformity.
Western cultures push for a uniform world, but the process of international exchange of ideas, values or beliefs that is globalization also represents a challenge to cultural diversity. In an ideal world we would all have access to medical care and clean water, but globalization doesn’t stop once we all have the same basic means of living. The desire to create uniformity does not end there. That’s why when people in small villages are faced with big changes to the way they have been taught to live by generations before them, change is a threat to their identity.
Authenticity does not mean to stay in the same town, with the same beliefs and practices, for an entire lifetime. Because despite efforts to fight of the changes brought on by globalization, change is inevitable. The fact that Western markets dump cheap clothes making the purchase of traditional silk completely unaffordable is an example that everything changes. Those who wish to preserve the authenticity of cultures view the changes brought by globalization as evil but what we know as tradition began as an innovation, “societies without change aren’t authentic; they’re just dead” (Par