Globalisation is a fascinating process, as shown by the popularity of books like Dharshini David’s ‘The Almighty Dollar’ and Peter Frankopan’s ‘The New Silk Roads’, which explore the connections that link people and locations across place and space. Yet, despite all the obvious benefits that globalisation has bought, it has also been a driving factor behind issues such as increasing levels of global inequality and the recent COVID pandemic.
In planning a new scheme of work on globalisation and preparing a walk-through aimed at improving our explanations of the extent to which the world is shrinking (Thanks to Michael Child’s book, CRAFT, for advocating the practice of our teaching explanations and to Ben Ransom for the inspiration to create a ‘How I teach…’ walk-through – see download below), I was forced to reflect upon what we mean by the world getting smaller and how in these strange times, globalisation has resulted in a shrinking of our worlds, but in a different way to which we are used.
Whereas globalisation is normally credited with making the world a more connected web of places and people through the contribution of transport, goods and communication, thus making it smaller, this same process is also the one which has led many of us to experience a reduction in our sphere of physical existence these last few months. Our worlds have shrunk. Under normal circumstances, we would be free to move and travel wherever we please. However, because of globalisation, overnight, we became restricted in our movement – until the last couple of weeks, my life since lockdown began has existed within a few square miles. In a strange way, the globalisation that has physically isolated many has also allowed for greater connection in other senses, such as through the increased traffic on video conferencing sites such as Zoom, but there is no getting away from the fact that globalisation has impacted people in a way that none of us has previously experienced.
Therefore, even though this is not what the outbreak will be remembered for, this whole sequence of events has meant that when I next teach about globalisation, there will be a new nuance and perspective added to what is discussed when the concept of a shrinking world comes around.
BVC Geography 
