Globalization, information and communication technologies, and the prospect of a 'global village': Promises of inclusion or electronic colonization?

This paper discusses the reciprocal relationships among globalization, information and communication technologies (ICT), and the prospect of a 'global village'. The current metaphor of a 'global village' (regardless of physical access to ICT) is problematic, and can be interpreted as a form of electronic colonization. However, through such concepts as blurred identity, nomadism, and hybridity, a distinctly (post-modern) ICT landscape can be redrawn in a way that accepts the global identity of the ICT, but denies the colonial erasure associated with the global-village narrative. ICT, in themselves, cannot serve as an end in education, but the demand for critical education involving ICT is pressing as the effects of globalization are experienced. Three methods of promoting decolonizing criticality are proposed: critical emotional literacy, collective witnessing, and collective intelligence.