Globalization contributes to an increased exchange and opportunities for global cultural diversity but also to the closure and the exclusion of many of the world's cultures. In my essay, I explore how cultural identity is affected by global developments taking place today.

As part of my study I have been to Tanzania, a country that is said to have preserved its cultures better than other nearby countries, but now many young people turn away from their culture and strive for the "western" way of life. I have interviewed people from two different tribes, Danny Zawose from Wagogo and Julieth Ngimeli and her family from the Massai, about how they look on globalization and its impact on their cultures. I have also researched two recent projects in jewellery art, Gray Area Symposium and ALLA, which both discuss these issues from different perspectives. Common to the people whom I interviewed, in the two different tribes in Tanzania, is that they believe that the technological and economical development is good. They say that time changes and so does culture. But they think it is important not to forget their origins and they believe in choosing some traditions to hold on to. The Massai think that ceremonies are an important part of keeping the culture alive and some things that they don’t want to change they cover in myth to make it untouchable. The Massai people express their cultural identity through jewellery and clothing, which for Danny from the Wagogo tribe is not as important. But his family is holding on to the musical traditions. Danny does express a concern about that the wagogo culture will disappear when the young people get more interested in the western way of living.

Within jewellery art these questions and challenges have also been discussed. The project The Gray Area was partly a blog forum called Walking the Gray Area, where forty jewellery artists from Europe and South America were mated together to discuss and work around the subjects: mobility, globalization and identity. But it was also a symposium, taking place in Mexico City, in April 2010. Many of the speakers at the symposium talked about the challenges that come with the fast moving world we live in, about cultural identity and diversity and meetings but also about the euro- centric perspective that still exists in the “jewellery world” and also about what can happen when the focus on preserving goes to far. In times of crisis and rapid change people's need for cultural belonging and security increases and you can draw parallels with the increased support for extreme right-wing groups in the world who often alludes to security and tradition. The project ALLA was started as a protest against the growing xenophobia in Sweden after the 2010 election, when Sverigedemokraterna, the extreme right-wing party, made their way into parliament. Thirty jewellery artists made brooches concerning topics as group identity, cultural identity, "Swedishness", cultural diversity and culture as a dynamic phenomenon.

The topic that I have investigated is broad and complex and has many sides and also backsides. Just as globalization can have a negative impact on cultures and its people so can excessive focus on preserving a culture, have an adverse effect in itself. Culture is dynamic and that is the condition for it to survive.