US Open as a Global Space

Jan 11, 2013 at 10:43 AM by Katheryn Wright

In Ch. 1 “Going Global” from Introduction to Global Studies, Campbell et al identifies one of the characteristics of globalization is deterritorialization, or the assertion that networks transcend traditional boundaries like those of the nation-state. Deterritorialization is the best way to describe globalization, however, because it seems to suggest that “place” doesn’t matter anymore. I argue where you are continues to matter even though people now have the ability to communicate with each other across the globe almost instantaneously. It’s just that the place in a global context looks and feels differently from those determined by national borders.

Let’s take a look at the US Open Tennis Championships that happens annually in Queens. This is one of the largest sporting events in the world, drawing over 700,000 fans to New York over the course of the two-week event. The front page of the website http://www.usopen.org/ includes an images of center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, cheering fans, and players (like Serena Williams) celebrating victory. The venue is a great example of a global space, epitomizing the economic, political, and cultural dimensions of globalization Campbell et al identify in their chapter:

1. Economically, the US Open is a space made for consumption. It’s a site where multi-national corporations come together to promote the event (walking around the venue is like a marketing fair where you get free products, make an Evian commercial, and play the latest tennis game on the Wii). There’s also a massive environmental impact for such a large event, and green marketing strategies are increasingly visible through bottled water recycling efforts, much like Champlain College’s campus.
2. Politically, this international event transcends the traditional borders of the nation-state, drawing people from across the globe. Although it’s called the “United States” Open, the event is actually owned by the USTA that follows rules laid out by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
3. Culturally, there is a negotiation that takes place every year between the local culture of New York and the international appeal of the event’s identity. In a park in downtown Manhattan, the USTA sets up a giant screen where locals can watch a live feed of the event for free. They set up the park to mimic the set-up of a tennis match, where security personnel actually sit in a raised seat that umpire’s use during the match.

The US Open is an example of the type of territory that is increasingly common in a global context, at least in spaces occupied by affluent consumers. What’s the difference between the way spaces of consumption are created, and spaces where the products being sold are actually made? As a point of comparison, check out this feature by NPR news on maquiladora factories in Mexico at http://www.npr.org/2011/11/20/142536024/border-town-factories-give-manufacturers-an-edge. In duty-free factories enabled through NAFTA, do the political interests of the multinational corporation transcend the rules of the nation-state? What is the tension between the local culture of Mexico and global industry? There has been a lot of criticism about the rights of the women who work in these factories, including a history of exploitation and mistreatment – what about the question of human rights? How are “producers” and “consumers” treated differently in a global economy? Who has more power?