Winning the hearts and stomachs of people around the world might be one of the most effective ways of bridging cultures. For centuries, food’s diplomatic prowess has provided a channel for introducing and exploring new cultures, often earlier than substantial human-to-human contact is made. The token trip to New York’s Chinatown for an authentic dim sum experience or to Brick Lane in East London for a Bangladeshi meal is a typically modern food experience many of us in the West know well. In Hend Alhinnawi’s blog post, she cites Paul Rockower’s definition of gastrodiplomacy: a way to use “culinary delights to appeal to global appetites, and thus helps raise a nation’s brand awareness and reputation.” Alhinnawi goes on to say:

It is an important tool in building cultural understanding, and in turn, breaking down traditional barriers by providing insight into a culture that might otherwise be unknown to a person. While many Americans may never experience the joys, sights and sounds of Incredible India, they can taste the culture through a culinary sampling at their local Indian market or restaurant. By bringing the food to their local communities, these outlets are great for engaging audiences through gastrodiplomacy, one palate at a time.

“Vindaloo Against Violence” is a project one Australian launched in 2010 to combat hostility towards Indians in her city, Melbourne, by encouraging people to dine at Indian eateries. It was effective – 17,000 people signed up to partake (we all know that the prospect of good food is an effective way to gather support!).

I wrote my graduate thesis on how mainstream American society shifted from initially shunning Italian foods to consuming it at very high levels. This started with the en masse migration of Europeans, many of whom were Italian, to North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At first, North American society saw Italian foods in the same way it perceived the people who created and consumed them: suspicious, foreign and unpalatable. The historical trajectory of the cuisine is remarkable, as gastrodiplomacy gradually brought people to love Italian pizza and pasta – foods consumed in countries worldwide. This was in part due to the energies of the Italian diaspora and the success they had as entrepreneurs, restaurant owners and purveyors of food in general. In my thesis, I linked the increasingly saturated Italian food industry to the Italian community’s integration into US society, and how the food acted as a diplomat by building awareness of Italian values and traditions for mainstream society.

Where have you experienced or seen gastrodiplomacy at work? Do you think food has the power to unite people from different countries and different backgrounds?

Sean
RW3 CultureWizard

I don’t mean to post yet another story on the challenges related to German culture (here’s another recent post on how to split the restaurant bill in Germany), but re-visiting Mark Twain’s essay on the incredibly difficult nature of the German language was irresistible. Patrick Schmidt of SIETAR Europa updated Twain’s famous satire on the bizarre mechanics of Deutsch (click here to read the original, published in 1880).

One of the poignant thoughts Schmidt shares is that “to be taken seriously in the German language, one needs to conceal the meaning of a sentence by placing the main verb at the very end.” Thus, one must listen to the entire statement, however long, to extract the full meaning. Because the sentence structure follows the subject-object-verb model (and not subject-verb-object, as in English), “action” doesn’t take place until the end…

It seems when Germans are listening to someone, they are intensely waiting for the speaker to tell them the last word. And when it is finally announced, you see an expression of climactic relief on their faces.

I once asked my father, who is native to Hamburg, to tell me the longest German word he could think of. The word that came to mind is of a strange origin, but it illustrates the synthetic nature of German, whereby several words are combined to create a single meaning. The word was impressive: hottentottentittenattentat (that’s 12 t’s!). Four words strung together to become an idea whose meaning (and purpose) may evade the hardiest of German students. However, it’s not only the arcane that merits long winded orthography, but everyday words, I would argue, that are on average longer in German than in English. Instead of using one word to convey a complex idea, many words are synthesized to create a very straightforward approach to communicating concepts and meaning, which relate to the brutally direct nature of the typical German communication style.

How much does language lend itself to cultural values? I’d say a fair amount considering the central value of precision and orderliness in German society. Thoughtfully constructed sentences and products are a result of these cultural values. While English is unarguably a global language and has evolved through numerous cultures and communities around the world, the German language evolved in a much smaller space, which I suspect has allowed for less foreign influence and thus less tinkering over the ages. A language that is based on so many things, often requiring much calculation and foresight (how do you spontaneously express yourself if you don’t already have the ending verbal statement in mind?) have most likely influenced many of the deeply embedded values of Germanic peoples.

What do you think?

Sean
RW3 CultureWizard

Geremie Sawadogo of the World Bank surveyed 200 international aid workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and found the top cultural challenges to be: 1) the way time is used and perceived, 2) hierarchy and family lineage, 3) relationship building, 4) deference to authority and 5) the concept of “face”.

These findings are presented in his recent MOBILITY article. Sawadogo highlights the challenge of defining general cultural concepts within the scope of “Africa” (the continent) and Sub-Saharan Africa as a region. Just as one can’t look at Europe or Asia as a general cultural region, although many always refer to the “West” and “East” for simplicity’s sake, Africa can’t accurately be understood in this context.

One of the article’s most interesting insights is an expression for losing face from Cote d’Ivoire, which is translated to “you poured my face down on the ground.” This descriptive saying expresses how losing face can severely damage a business relationship and a person’s stature within a business. Culture also informs the definition of risk, which “face” impacts: do you risk loss of face in order to reveal certain facts, or do you save face by avoiding mention of something that would be like “pouring someone’s face on the ground”?

What do you value: saving face or objectivity? What have your personal and professional experiences been in Africa?

Also, to learn more about doing business in Africa, watch this TED talk given by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Want to help Africa? Do business here.

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

I recently visited a close friend in Rwanda. She’s been living and working in Kigali for 3 years, and has built up a network of both local and expat friends. She’s German, works for a German organization and has several German friends. When we arrived, she kindly invited my partner and I to join a group of her German mates on a weekend trip to Nyungwe Forest where the chimps live in the Southwest of the country, an opportunity neither of us wanted to miss.

There were 7 of us, and we drove to the forest in their cars, stayed one night on the way in a friend’s house, who prepared a wonderful barbecue dinner of beef and goat and prepared breakfast the following morning. We were so delighted to be their guests, we later bought everyone drinks at a hotel we visited. I’m sure that at some point, we offered to contribute money towards gas, but the offer was brushed off – “we’ll figure it out later.”

A week later, just as we were leaving Rwanda, we received an itemized matrix outlining what all 7 of us owed to cover the cost of the excursion: food, drink, gas and any other collective expenditure. The entirety of the bill demonstrated a complex, thoughtful calculation (part of the equation was paying entrance to the park for one of the friends as a birthday present, part of it factored in the non-participation of an eighth friend who only joined us for part of the way).

Immediately, our reaction as Americans was, “Whoa, wait a minute. Is this for real? Did someone really keep track of everything and spent their time putting this onerous thing together?” The precise calculation of everything owed, down to the penny, is something an American would easily interpret as a stingy move, especially considering this was between friends and friends of friends. We were bewildered by the precision and energy put into the “invoice”.

We were so grateful to have been invited along that we were happy to contribute, but no one had mentioned this is how it worked, which is often the case with culture. What is “normal” to one person is abnormal to another. To be completely honest, receiving a long-winded, itemized bill was off-putting. However, being half-German myself, I understood the intent and cultural background to this practice.

Fairness, equality and accountability all play into this cultural norm. Orderliness is a central theme of the German culture. “Alles in ordnung?” (literally, “is everything in order?”) is a common expression used to ask if everything is alright. Making sure that everything is in its place and adhering to accepted, efficient processes plays into this.

You experience this when you settle your check at restaurants in Germany where the first waiter’s first question is always, “Do you want to pay together or separately?” Bezahlen sie zusammen oder getrennt? If you choose to pay separately, it’s the waiter’s duty to go around the table and settle each person’s account individually based on exactly what they consumed. I’ve never seen this in any other part of the world. In the US, for example, you can certainly request separate bills (beware: the waiter might get irritated), but many people would prefer to split evenly, however unfair or inefficient it would be (see this interesting study on the matter in the Economic Journal). More often than not, one person would elect to pay the entire bill, silently expecting someone else to do the same on the next occasion.

In any case, I wasn’t able to ask the creator of the invoice more about how often this happens – we had to catch a flight to Nairobi. My friend told me this was pretty customary. Seeing our reaction to this event, she smiled and said, “You know what, I think you Americans are more generous than Germans.”

Sean
RW3 CultureWizard

A compendium of current news and headlines with commentary providing unique cultural insight into global affairs, business and daily life around the world.

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Check out CultureWizard Digest #36 here!

* A Relationship with Disaster
* Cultural Reaction to Catastrophe in Japan
* McWeddings
* Culture of the Eyes

CultureLinks
+ Indians have a sense of humor, too
+ China’s First Nigerian Pop Star

CultureTips
+ Bahrain

RW-3.com

So, have you ever heard this story? Three friends from a tiny hamlet (this story takes place during a time when one still used words like “hamlet”), one tall, one bearded and one bald, set off one day to see a holy man who was visiting a nearby village. Excitedly, the trio of friends walked for several hours, anxious for an opportunity to visit with a living saint who was said to bestow miracles just from being in his presence. Once in the village, they joined a lengthy line heading into a tent where the holy man was receiving seekers. One by one, the line of pilgrims shuffled in to the dimly lit tent and received a personal blessing from the holy man.

The three friends from the village were ecstatic. It’s not everyday that one gets to be in presence of one so wise and holy. For the hours long walk home that afternoon, the three longtime mates could hardly even bring themselves to speak.

Finally, said the tall friend, “Wasn’t that wonderful!? And by heaven, I was surprised by how tall the holy man was.”

“It was wonderful,” answered his bearded friend, “And did you see how long and fine his beard was?”

“I didn’t notice,” replied the final friend in the trio, “I was so surprised to see a bald saint that I don’t recall anything else.”

As the story points out, it’s surprising, yet hardly uncommon, how desire, both conscious and unconscious, shapes our experience. So much so that each of the three friends saw only in the holy man what was most like themselves, but did you know that what we see can even be shaped by our culture?

In a social/cultural experiment CNN covered, the above fish scene was shown to groups of Japanese and Americans. They were given a few seconds to study the photo before it was removed and they were then asked to describe the scene in detail.

What do you think they noticed most?

Well, the Americans, by a large majority, were most aware of the placement of the three large fish, while the Japanese paid far more attention to the overall environment. When asked to reproduce the picture, the Japanese could place the kelp and the small fish, but lost site of the three large fish, while for the Americans, it was just the opposite. How do we learn to recognize our own cultural biases?

Might you have an experience where what you saw was so shaped by your cultural bias that you saw something as tall, bearded and bald, when in actuality it was short, clean-shaven and with a full head of hair?

Adam

RW3 CultureWizard

After a callous remark from Tokyo’s governor, Shintaro Ishihara, we see a growing rift in Japanese cultural values that often does not bubble to the surface until, in this case, a destructive, powerful force of nature incites human nature to rationalize. Ishihara described the earthquake a “divine punishment” and said “We need to use the tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has attached itself like rust to the mentality of the Japanese people over a long period of time.”

The growth of individualism in Japan is something we’ve watched over the past decades, as technology and globalization have irreversibly influenced its youth. Exposure to a world of popular culture, greater opportunities to travel the world and more channels to pursue one’s interests have made the idea of being a unique individual, a hallmark of many Western cultures, a popular one among Japanese.

However, the individualistic tendencies of Japanese youth don’t look similar to what a Westerner is accustomed to seeing. Take cosplay for example, which is a kind of performance art popular in many parts of Japan where people dress in costume and congregate in a designated area of a city. The desire to emulate a fictional character that one connects with on a personal level is similar to the way one might idolize celebrities or other famous individuals, but cosplay is one unique, Japanese manifestation of the value.

Ian Buruma of the Wall Street Journal tells us the far right in Japan claim Japanese youth “have lost the old collective spirit of the obedient, disciplined Japanese, who supposedly always put the interests of the nation before their own.” However, the opposite has been true from what the media has shared about the greater reaction to disaster in Japan: a strongly collective effort to “remain calm and carry on” despite widespread physical and emotional misery.

Furthermore, many of us have noted the stoicism with which the Japanese have responded to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. The cerebral if not sublime expressions we see in photos of people in the affected regions tell a unique, cultural story of collective responsibility and attitudes towards expression. The Journal also reflects on this:

Foreign observers have remarked on the discipline and solidarity of Japanese in the face of their current circumstances…It comes from the social conformity that is imposed on all Japanese from an early age, as well as from the duty to take care of one’s own and the fear of causing trouble to strangers. But it is also the result of an awareness, instilled by centuries of living with disasters, that what comes down can be rebuilt.

Many non-Japanese have a hard time interpreting the typically inward expression of emotion, which applies to both positive and negative situations. Many interactions between Japanese are highly intuitive, and feelings are transmitted with only the slightest visible or audible expression. Homogeneous societies such as Japan’s tend to be extremely contextual, as nearly 100% of the population share a common history, lifestyle and upbringing, eliminating the need to communicate in explicit, direct or overt ways (to compare, think about the way one would communicate with a person on the street in New York City).

Rescuers and victims carry bags of food aid from a helicopter in Yamada, northern Japan

The Journal continues to trace a path to the root of where many in Japan derive their feelings towards calamitous acts of nature and how to overcome them, two very cultural topics.

The sense of danger from natural calamities has deep roots in Japanese culture. The country’s earliest native religion, Shinto…is composed of rituals to appease the forces of nature, which are held to be divine. Since nature can be angry as well as benevolent, these gods must be kept happy with offerings, ceremonies and sacrifices.

Although many buildings are no longer made of wood (which is too expensive and hard to maintain), Japanese cities still look a little jerry-built, rather like movie sets, as though in anticipation of impermanence…

Impermanence is also a central concept of Buddhism, embodied in the changing of the seasons, which are heavily marked in Japan by festivals and other holidays. A somewhat fatalistic attitude towards nature is embedded in the Japanese psyche.

How does the Japanese mentality relate to the mentality of people living near active volcanoes, for example, or tornado prone areas, where disaster is known to strike without warning?

Is this a chance for Japan to steel itself and emerge as an even stronger nation and economy?

We appreciate your comments and thoughts. Please leave them by clicking on the title of this post and then scrolling to the bottom to leave your thoughts in the comments field.

RW3 CultureWizard

“Hao Ge (pronounced How Guh) is perhaps China’s most unlikely pop star: he is Nigerian, and he sings in Mandarin,” goes the singer’s article in the New York Times.

Emmanuel Uweche is his real name, and he gained popularity through China’s version of the TV show “American Idol”. He sings many classic Chinese songs, but infuses them with R&B, soul and other genres, which may be the key to his success. Listen to him sing in the video below.

The article goes on to draw a connection to China’s growing ties to and investment in Africa:

Some music industry experts in China credit part of his fame to the close economic and cultural ties — including friendship and exchange programs and other joint ventures — that have long existed between China and some African countries.

‘This is not just about Hao Ge,’ said Long Hu, 38, a music producer and talent scout…’It’s about China and Africa.’

This is an intercultural success story through and through. Do you know of any other unlikely star’s who have successfully managed to adapt to a new culture while finding celebrity?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

A poignant article in the Los Angeles Times by Geetika Tandon Lizardi, an American of Indian descent who writes for Outsourced, highlights the fact that it is OK to laugh at the ethnically based jokes on NBC’s pilot.

“Outsourced was the hippest thing to happen to South Asians in the United States since Madonna discovered henna.”

The Cast of NBC's Outsourced

Despite popular support, Lizardi points out there were many people who found the show offensive and ignorant to cultural norms. She also notes most of the offended people were not Indian. “Perhaps they don’t realize that we have five South Asian writers on the show telling stories that often come straight from our personal experiences. Or perhaps they don’t believe Indians should make fun of themselves,” she says.

We were curious to learn more about the show and commented on the intercultural perspective writers took with Outsourced through our blog last year. At RW3, we unanimously died (read: enjoyed) laughing at the preview trailer. However, we also received online comments from individuals who did not appreciate the theme of the show:

Comment 1: I will not watch this show at all. I know a lot people who are right now unemployed due to outsourcing, and I can tell you, it is not a joke for them.

Comment 2: I too know people who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing, and I don’t see a lot of humor in it. And the trailer full of lowbrow ethnic stereotype jokes doesn’t make the show any more appealing. I don’t understand how shows like this make it past the focus groups…

The connection between unemployment in the US and outsourcing to India is a separate topic from the humor employed on the show. I wonder what Lizardi would have to say about the sore topic?

In response to those who dislike the comedy, this is what she says:

Those who only cite offensive stereotypes are missing the spirit of the show (or perhaps they’ve never actually watched it). What I love most about Outsourced is that the humor ultimately comes from a place of affection.

Outsourced has the potential to celebrate our cultural quirks, to build bridges between communities and perhaps, most important, to prove that there is a viable alternative to the ‘one brown face in a white ensemble’ model of ‘diversity.’

We couldn’t agree more.

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

The impossible-to-imagine three-pronged catastrophe hitting Japan right now is almost too much to take in. Yet, we do try to take it in; to make sense of it, and in some ways we share this global disaster on a human level. I lived in Japan; I have always lived in earthquake country and I’ve witnessed powerful quake damage in Los Angeles and San Francisco several times. It is scary as your home moves around you and the ground underneath you has tantrums of varying degrees throughout the days that follow. Add a devastating tsunami and the post traumatic stress of shared recollections of radiation and it really is too much to conceive.

Yet, watching the televised images of Japanese reacting to the disaster reminds me again how different cultures are as they express their grief, fear and trauma. In an unprecedented event, Emperor Akihito gave a televised speech in which he comforted his people and applauded their ability to remain calm and respectful of each other.

Emperor Akihito's Speech

We are very interested in hearing your thoughts on what has happened and would especially value any accounts from individuals who have been in Japan or have heard stories from people in Japan. How would you react to the “keep calm and carry on” theme that many officials in Japan have exuded over the past few days? How is the stoic facade the Japanese have maintained connected to Japanese culture?

Click here to read a personal account of what’s happened from an intercultural consultant based in Tokyo, Japan.

Below are links to related articles:
Bangkok Post: “Stoic calm in the face of utter calamity“
Japan Times: A round-up of updates
Washington Post: “Emperor Akihito gives message of comfort in televised address“
Korea Herald: “Former ‘comfort women’ pray for Japan“

Harold and Lakshmi, our intercultural colleagues, continue their conversation. Click below and be prepared for a surprise. In case you missed it, click here to watch Episode 1.

 When you think about culture, think about us! 

An impressive display of forward-thinking youths in Alexandria garnered the Wall Street Journal’s attention earlier this month during the height of anti-Mubarak protests.

According to the article, “…Egyptian youths held hands last week to form a human cordon around the massive [library of Alexandria]…”

According to the library’s director, Ismail Serageldin, the Bibliotheca Alexandria, its formal Latin name, “has proved to be a key tool in ‘a battle for the hearts and minds’ of Egyptians, and whose programs served as a catalyst for the current civic unrest. ‘We’re spreading the values of democracy, freedom of expression, tolerance, diversity and pluralism that…are taking root in the young generation.’”

The library is a bastion of the values the Egyptian youth embodies, values towards which the country has made great progress over the past few weeks. It’s unique collection of material is described below:

Young people, scholars and gaping foreign tourists frequent the building to gain access to materials that are hard to come by in Arab countries. The collection, though far from complete, includes volumes critical of Islam, others dealing with gays and lesbians, and books that offer contrasting views on Zionism and Israeli affairs. Even the works of Salman Rushdie are available, though these are kept on closed stacks to prevent them from being destroyed by vandals, as are art-history volumes containing nudes.

Egypt’s population structure, where 52.3% are under the age of 25 (according to this interactive map from The Economist), and the relative influence of its youth is another important topic to note from a cultural point of view. Their exposure to the internet and the growing popularity of social media has connected Egyptian youth in a way previous generations could never connect. Virtual networks facilitate more open exchange of ideas, commiseration over politics and friendships with people all over the world have surely contributed to the surge of support that eventually led to an organized protestation.

Protesters at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The library, too had a role to play in this: “We taught a lot of these kids who are demonstrating how to use computers, how to use social media, and I’m glad to see it’s put to good use,” said Sohair Wastawy, a former chief librarian.

How else will the youth’s culture, vision and determination impact the trajectory of Egypt’s future? How is their world view changing Egyptian culture?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

In the Los Angeles Times, an enigmatic aspect of Korean culture is described:

For South Koreans han is as amorphous a notion as love or hate: intensely personal, yet carried around collectively, a national torch, a badge of suffering tempered by a sense of resiliency…Scholars have called it an all-encompassing sense of bitterness, a mixture of angst, endurance and a yearning for revenge that tests a person’s soul, a condition marked by deep sorrow and a sense of incompleteness that can have fatal consequences.

Adding to its obtuse nature, it is also described as “a sense of hope, an ability to silently endure hardship and suffering in a relatively small nation with a long history of being invaded by more powerful neighbors.”

As history forcibly shapes any culture, the indelible memory of wrongdoing and pain is something that trickles down to the individual level through the notion of han. We can begin to understand these invisible notions of culture when they manifest through behaviors and actions, but only if we know what we’re looking for. I often use the phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know” to illustrate the importance of learning culture when working in global environments.

We would love to hear about your thoughts on other idiosyncratic feelings central to a specific culture, especially those that are more easily understood viscerally than anything else. What comes to mind?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

The folllowing quote is from this New York Times article on the state of immigration in Japan:

Despite facing an imminent labor shortage as its population ages, Japan has done little to open itself up to immigration. In fact, the government is doing the opposite, actively protecting tiny interest groups, (like) a local nursing association, afraid that an influx of foreign nurses would lower industry salaries.

One of the most interesting things we do at RW3 CultureWizard (in addition to preparing people to perform in global business by familiarizing them with culture and business protocols around the world), is to make people aware of their own personal culture. It’s crucial to know how culture, unconsciously, influences the ways we act, which can cause conflict when interacting with people accustomed to a different set of cultural norms.

In light of cultural awareness, we can readily see how many of the decisions a country or even a corporation makes are often in conflict with their own best interests. As this article illuminates, so often the very things that are a country’s greatest strengths are also a significant liability. While a powerful cultural attachment to hierarchy in addition to family and group well-being might keep Japan’s crime rate, homelessness and drug use low, these cultural beliefs also create an insularity, resistance and resentment towards immigration – even at the expense of its citizens’ well being. As the article points out, this is causing Japan some major concerns as their population ages and the demand for healthcare workers grows exponentially. It’s a labor force that Japan can’t meet internally, yet the country still makes it inordinately difficult for foreign nurses and doctors to practice.

Without getting too political or polemical, can you think of other instances where a particular culture bias led a country or corporation to make a decision that seemed to immediately contradict its own best interest?

Adam

RW3 CultureWizard

Meet RW3 CultureWizard’s newest members, Harold and Lakshmi. Click below to learn about the “stuff” of culture, and don’t let cultural ignorance get you.

 When you think about culture, think about us! 

RW3 CultureWizard