ABSTRACT
Being a Western, middle-class traveler in the modern global environment can be quite disconcerting. Traveling has always been the experience of difference – going from the familiar to the novel. But today such a traveler – especially someone from the United States – may well be struck by how similar a foreign community is to one’s own home. While cultural features including language, food, and religion often change as we cross borders, much that awaits the Western traveler in almost any new land is already well-known. The films one leaves back home play in movie theaters across the globe. The music video channel in the hotel room will likely feature songs the traveler knows well. Sporting events from back home appear on the screen at the local bar. Visual images of pop culture stars from the traveler’s homeland are often plastered all over street-corner kiosks and urban walls.
