A excerpt from a 55 min documentary. Dances and songs have been an expression of Pacific Islanders’ origins, their journeys, their struggles.

Throughout this past week, my social studies students and myself have been studying globalization and the movement of cultures. Globalization is the process by which cultures mix and blend together through technology, trade and commerce. One of the major draw backs that we have identified with globalization is the disappearing of qualities that make cultures “unique”. While globalization does provide many opportunities for countries and their citizens, many cultures are losing their identities.

With this in mind, I decided to share some video with my students from Mr. Lamshed and his class. Mr. Lamshed is a year 5/6 teacher from South Australia, and his students have been practicing the Haka for several months now. The Haka is the traditional dance form of the Māori of New Zealand. The Māori culture is a culture that has been severely been effected by globalization in their native land of New Zealand. Throughout the week, we have been watching Mr. Lamshed’s class Haka practice videos and holding small discussions on how the Māori culture has been able to contain their identity. The Māori culture is a one that has been able to keep their identity while other cultures have not been as lucky.

This has proven to be a very worthwhile activity for my class as well as enlighten for myself and students. Living in America, the poster child for globalization, it is very easy to loose perspective on how very important it is for cultures to maintain their identity in a world of rapid pace globalization. We will continue our discussion of cultures over the next few days and begin to focus on economies and governments.

Mr. McClung