Multiculturalism

How do you overcome the culture in which you were raised when you go to reside in another country?

Well, multiculturalism says you do not have to. Does that work?

I don't know.

I was working in England with some people from different countries - haha, like myself.

I noticed something. Among the people working on the project who were  from India, there were some who took absolutely no notice of what their manager, english in each case I noted, required of them. They covered themselves expertly though.

So I observed more closely their interactions among themselves and between themselves and members of the host and other countries.

I found an explanation for what I observed - the caste system.

If you have in your home culture a set of rules, observations, etc that let you know where you are in relation to others and what you can and cannot with propriety do, it is likely that you will bring it with you to your host country, unless you deliberately do something about it.

So if you are, say, from India (and I have other examples and observations from other countries too, not singling out India), then you may well, without thinking about it, assess those around you in your terms of where they sit in relation to you. You might judge this on a variety of things like their appearance, their demeanor, the way they are with others, and so on. And again, without thinking about it, you will begin to act towards them as though they were of such and such a status according to your own cultural upbringing.

And so if they are assessed "lesser", then even though a manager, there will be no need to put value on what they say or require - perhaps.

Whether this assessment is sound or not does not alter my original question: How do you set aside your cultural norms when living in another culture?

Does it matter?

A friend of mine, female, german, went to work in Wellington after the horrors of the Christchurch earthquake. She started work at a back-packers - so there was money and an accommodation deal, which suited her fine.

Her supervisor did not believe she had come from Christchurch. He said outright that he thought she was only saying that to get sympathy and help get the job.

To me this says more about his cultural norms than hers. Yes, she was there. Yes, she escaped the flying books and falling bookcases in the library when the 'quake hit.

And, the person concerned is not a kiwi, he comes from Japan. He has later intimated that he has a problem with german women.

Whacky-do. But I'm afraid, my friend, that you are running counter to the employment laws of the country you are living in.

So yes, there can be a clash between your own cultural upbringing and the law of the country you now reside in.

There was mass migration into Australia in the '60s. The immigrants found a lot of resistance to them if they tried their own way of doing things and if they did not make an effort to speak english.

They were, perhaps forcibly, integrated into the existing society. And in becoming Australians, they added to the culture of Australia with their own traditions, foods, style of doing things - once they had made that first effort to be accepted.

Hey, I have worked and lived in a number of countries and I always felt it was downright rude of me to talk loudly in public with same-tongued people while a guest in my host country. I'm a nomad, but if I had a home country I would not like to be immersed in the loud public language of another country.

In multiculturalism, which came along later for Australia, there is no requirement to make any adjustment whatsoever, other than required by law. And so there is no merging of cultures into the one, as before. There is separatism.

When there is a major issue for the host country nationals: the newsreaders will tell you that "the indonesian community commented that ..." or the "mulsim community commented that ...". I never hear the words "the Australian community commented that ...".

It is just like in my home, wherever it may be. I have guests. There is a protocol for hosts and guests. I make space and allowances for them being there at my invitation. I'll go out of my way for them. On the other hand, I do not expect any of my guests to comment forcibly on the way I do things in my own home. And I certainly am not going to be happy if different guests start laying the law down with each other about how to behave in my house.

It's easy for me I suppose - I am at home wherever I go and yet a guest at the same time. I always respect my hosts, as one should.

Think on it.

Youth Culture

I have lived and worked in different countries and this morning I shared one of my observations with some folk from different countries staying at the same farmstay place as myself.

As often happens with discussions among middle to older age people, the subject of current youth culture - language style, behaviour, values, etc - came up. We all know that while in that 'youth" age-group we were less than perfectly behaved. But we measured that against the culture in which we had grown up. This is different in different countries and we can share and compare those differences. To a certain extent we can also appreciate and understand the differences.

(I haven't defined "youth". It's too tricky to do rigourously. I will hope the descriptions here will "point to" the group I am talking about).

I mentioned over coffee that I had partly formed the conclusion that the "youth" of the different countries in which I had lived and worked had more in common with each other than they did with the culture of the country they lived in.

I have observed a commonness of values, behaviours, evaluations of situations, norms, reactions, language style across the board. It is as though the shared or community values of this group have been learned or developed from some source other than their parents, teachers, fellow community members,etc.

If that is the case, those people are NOT behaving countrary to "the culture". They are behaving consistently within it. In fact, those few who do not share it but are within the bounds of their country of origin, they will be the odd ones out, the pariahs. The common-culture group are not misbehaving and will perhaps be puzzled if you take them to task over their actions or language.

I wonder how it is that those responsible for the transmission of their culture have in so many countries dropped the ball, leaving their children to find other sources for learning community values. And I wonder why the result of that is a certain commonality across the board.

There may be many answers to these questions, but certainly one place to look for the common source of cultural values is the so-called "third parent" - the TV.

Well, it was the TV at one time but now that provider of cultural norms of behaviour includes DVD, You Tube, video games, on-line gaming and so on.

There is a commonality across many countries in the offerings and use of these media. The most successful are used world-wide.

Looking at the proportions by country of origin, you will find that the USA is a leader in this field.

Certainly in the english-speaking countries the use of the phrase "Oh my God" is pandemic. OK, just one example and I am not going to enumerate them. Travel and observe for yourself and the pattern may form for you.

But I am not at all concerned about this in and of itself. What does concern me is that this substitution of a different culture in a new generation growing up will lead to the end of the specific and unique country-based culture in which they live. If I am in Australia and ask "have you a zac in your kick" or say "that's a furfey", how many would now understand those iconic terms that had been in place for nearly 100 years? The values and lifestyles will be at odds and the existing culture will lose out, there is no doubt about that.

Am I saying this is a bad thing? Is there not a benefit from the whole world in a couple of generations having shared values and understandings about how one behaves in a given situation?

Of course there could be benefits. It could even lead to a shared global culture. Fewer misunderstandings in the United Nations? Perhaps.

But couldn't we have done this with a better choice of culture-of-origin? We could end up stuck with the culture of arguably the most conservative, hide-bound, competetive, aggressive country on earth.

IMHO

Whatever...