While\nmusing over this week\u2019s core readings I have found myself distracted and reflecting\non some of the current implications of a transnational or global approach to\nhistory. Interactions between countries, nations, and cultures shape who we are\nand how we view ourselves today more than ever. The easy access of the internet\nmeans that not only those lucky enough to travel are able to experience and\nlearn of other cultures, and thus going forward their views are influenced by\nanother culture through something as trivial as a YouTube video. Now, more than\never, this is leading to the influence of different cultures on the progress of\nour social developments. Celebrities and media, charities and politics are\nconstantly creating points of contact between our culture and society and\nothers. While it may be more apparent in our media than ever, this streams from\na long history of international and global interactions between countries and\ncultures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jan\nR\u00fcger\u2019s article uses the primary example of the development of OXO cubes to discuss\napproaching history with this transnational mindset. OXO was, and continues to\nbe, a meat stock cube of German invention made in South America by a\nLondon-based company. From the promising invention of Justus Liebig in Munich,\nthe product was invested in and a company created in London, subsequentially\nmanufactured in Uruguay and sold through out Europe. This global company grew\nrapidly after much advertising and endorsements. While a trivial example, the\narticle indicates how it became a product connecting different actors divided\nby nation and culture and yet reliant and influenced by each other\u2019s fortunes\nand actions. The success of this product, still a go to for most households (in\nthe UK at least) relied on the economic, social and trade networks, pathways\nand connections of all the countries involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\ninterconnectedness and co-dependency exemplified by this company indicated the\npoints of connection between nations, thus breaking down the boarders, literal\nand metaphoric, between the states and cultures. We can see not only the key\nevent that divide us, but the areas where we come together and are not so\ndifferent. In doing this, there is some concern acknowledged by Ruger that the\nimportant differences and characteristics of the nation that defined and differentiated\nfrom others and influenced a nation\u2019s history become lost. However, highlighting\nthese areas of connectedness indicates the importance of questioning the\nposition of the nation state within a transnational and global context. If anything,\nI believe they can show us the true difference between two states. By studying\nthe networks, we can see the similarities, just as important to understand as\nthe differences, and we can see the areas of divergence. The areas where maybe\nculture or politics meant that the path was blocked and from here, we may\ninvestigate and ask questions. OXO again provides an example in the British\nimage it fostered during the First World War, effective losing the German side\nof this Anglo-German story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After\nsome procrastination \u2018googling\u2019 it appears that since their conception in the\nlate 19th<\/sup> Century, OXO have expanded their farmland and herds from\nUruguay to Argentina, Paraguay, Rhodesia, Kenya and South Africa. Furthermore,\nOXO facilitated the first trade of beef products from South America for\nconsumption and opened the doors of the South American beef industry \u2013 an\nindustry with a complex network of international networks, relationships and\ninfluences of many, many different kinds. So many of our daily lives are\ninfluenced by small transnational and global interaction such as these. Tea,\nthat hourly requirement by most Brits is another fine example. Without\nacknowledging and attempting to understand these interactions how can we expect\nto understand our economic, political and social developments that have led to\nthe global world we are living in? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While musing over this week\u2019s core readings I have found myself distracted and reflecting on some of the current implications of a transnational or global approach to history. Interactions between countries, nations, and cultures shape who we are and how<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5wNtZ-p4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1555,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions\/1555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}