Treasures of the Internet: World Literature

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Untitled 11 Oct 2008
Saturday 18:15:00

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Visit the more focused sections on American Verse, English Poetry and Spanish and Latin-American Literature. This page is a part of a much larger website -- "Treasures of the Internet" -- that includes other major sections, including the links shown on the left. If this is your first visit, please read "navigating this site", for further guidance.

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Untitled The need to know and understand other cultures . In an ever increasing globalization of the economy and geo-politics, failure to have a well-grounded understanding and respect of other cultures can be very costly.

The "September 11, 2001 incident" in the United States shocked the world, and made us realize that events in distants parts of the world can affect our lives quite dramatically. Economically, the "September 11 incident" had devastating impact not only in the United States but almost all other countries, around the world. In Western countries, many instant experts rationalized that the "incident" of September 11 occured because "they" (meaning the rest of the world) do not understand "us" (the Westerner).

We should ask also: Have "we" really taken the time to understand "them"?

In polyethnic societies, like the United States and many Western countries, the "them" have become part of "us". In fact, in the case of the United States, the collective "them" within our midst has become, or is becoming, the majority; and the traditional "us" (i.e., Caucassians) is slowly becoming a minority in the United States. In spite of this situation, the institutions (educational, cultural, etc.) of the United States are still behaving as if it is still only a largely Caucassian nation. [This situation is explored further in the Untitled American Dream section of this website.]

In a more mobile and interactive state of the world today, we are gradually becoming a global community. There is no more "us" an them", because the "them" have become fixtures of our community, or at least part of the more interactive and accessible world we live in -- brought about by modern communication, transportation and the internet.

It is imperative therefore that we understand other cultures in order to improve harmonious coexistence -- at the local, national and international level. Unfortunately, our educational system and media have not been structured to ensure that we are exposed thoroughly to the cultures of other people. Quite often, the media and the educational systems, become part of the inadvertent, or sometimes deliberate, misinformation about other peoples and cultures.

One of our goals in creating the Untitled World Literature section is to address the issue raised above and foster greater global understanding and harmony through appreciation of arts and literature of peoples from different countries and cultures. The Untitled World Literature section will attempt to consolidate and have more extensive database (rather than just point to internet sites) and systematic presentation of the works of poets and writers from other non-English speaking countries, as well as women and ethnic minorities.

We take this opportunity therefore to invite volunteers to help us develop a more representative literature, as well as, culture and history sections of your country of origin or ethnic group. We extend this invitation also to scholars and academicians who have intimate knowledge of other cultures, to help develop this site.

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First Written: 19990104 Latest Update: 20060328 Untitled

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