UNIVERSAL, CULTURAL, OR PERSONAL:

MAKING OBSERVATIONS

Culture is the outward expression of a unifying and consistent
vision brought by a particular community to its confrontation
with such core issues as the origins of the cosmos, the harsh unpredictability of the natural environment, the nature of
society, and humankind's place in the order of things.

Edward Hall, The Silent Language

To begin thinking about culture, read carefully the following statement that describes a classroom in a developing country as seen by an American observer, a Peace Corps volunteer.

The frequent use of corporal punishment teachers discourages students from actively participating in the classroom. Students are expected to sit rigidly in their seats and speak only when spoken to. Conditioned in this way, it's not surprising they don't feel free to speak out in the classroom; their shyness, however, should not be mistaken for lack of interest.

If you read between the lines, you see that the writer makes a number of assumptions about children, students, teachers, and the way people learn. Before reading further, list as many of these beliefs or assumptions as you can in the space below.

1. that student participation in class is good.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Now imagine for a moment a culture in which people do not share these beliefs, whose people, in fact, believe the opposite. How would they view the same classroom? How would they view a classroom in the United States? How do you view classrooms in the U.S.? That people from two different cultures can view the same behavior differently is precisely what makes cross‑cultural encounters so challenging and problematic.

WHAT IS CULTURE? THE ICEBERG

Culture has been compared to an iceberg. Just as an iceberg has a visible section above the waterline, and a larger, invisible section below the water line, so culture has some aspects that are observable and others that can only be suspected, imagined, or intuited. Also like an iceberg, that part of culture that is visible (observable behavior) is only a part of a much bigger whole.

The items that appear below are all features of culture.

facial expressions religious beliefs

religious rituals importance of time

paintings values

literature child-raising beliefs

concept of leadership notions of modesty

foods eating habits

understanding natural world music

concept of self work ethic

concept of beauty styles of dress

gestures general world view

holiday customs concept of personal space

concept of fairness rules of social etiquette

You can see that there is a relationship between those items that appear above the waterline and those that appear below it.

In most cases, the invisible aspects of culture influence or cause the visible ones. Religious beliefs, for example, are clearly manifest in certain holiday customs, and notions of modesty affect styles of dress. The following contains a list of behaviors. In the space preceding each of them, put a "U" if you think the behavior is universal "C" if it is cultural, or "P" if it is personal.

1. Sleeping with a bedroom window open. 11. Eating with knife, fork, and spoon.

2. Running from a dangerous animal . 12. Calling a waiter with a hissing sound.

3. Considering snakes to be "evil." 13. Being wary of strangers

4. Eating regularly. 14. Preferring soccer to reading a book

5. Respecting older people. 15. Feeling sad at the death of your mother.

6. Liking spicy food.

7. Men opening doors for women.

8. Wearing white mourning robes for 30 days after the death of your mother

9. Not liking wearing mourning robes for 30 days after the death of your mother.

10. Regretting being the cause of an accident

TOUGH MOMENT

Think of the worst experience you've had in another country so far. A moment when you've been most frustrated, embarrassed confused, or annoyed, or something that bothered you on a daily basis. What in your cultural background made you react so strongly? Is there a cultural explanation? Do you think local people would have reacted the same way? Why, or why not?

LINKING VALUES TO BEHAVIOR

In the iceberg exercise, you saw how certain aspects or features of culture are visible—they show up in peoples behavior—while many other aspects of culture are invisible, existing only in the realms of thought, feeling, and belief. The examples in this exercise show how these two realms, the visible and the hidden, are related to each other, how the values and beliefs you cannot see affect behavior.

To understand where behavior comes from—to understand why people behave the way they do—means learning about values and beliefs. The behavior of people from another culture may seem strange to you but it probably makes sense to them, and vice versa. The reason only behavior makes sense is simply because it is consistent with what a given person believes in or holds dear. Conversely, when we say that what someone has done "makes no sense," what we mean is that that action contradicts what we believe that person feels or wants.

In the exercise below, match the value or belief in the column on the left to a behavior in the column on the right.

1. Directness

2. Centrality of family

3. External control

4. Saving face

5. Respect for age

6. Informality

7. Deference to authority

8. Indirectness

9. Self‑reliance

10. Egalitarianism

A. Use of understatement.

B. Asking people to call you by your first name.

C. Taking off from work to attend the funeral of an aunt.

D. Not helping the person next to you on an exam.

E. Disagreeing openly with someone at a meeting.

F. Not laying off an older worker whose performance is weak.

G. At a meeting, agreeing with a suggestion you think is wrong.

H. Inviting the teaboy to eat lunch with you in your office.

I. Asking a headmasters’ opinion of something you're the expert on.

J. Accepting, without question, that something cannot be changed.

On the road in Nepal

I hadn't timed it right. The village I had to get to was still an hour away when night fell. Walking in the dark was a nuisance; also, it had been raining since early afternoon. Worst of all, as I leaned against the wall of a cliff and felt the blessed release from the weight of my backpack, I discovered my flashlight batteries were dead. The hour ahead was shaping up poorly.

As I stood there in the rain, my glasses fogged, drinking from my water bottle, an old woman came around the bend, bent over under a stack of firewood. She headed for the village nearby, her eyes down, and nearly walked into me, looking up suddenly when she saw my feet. "Namaste," she said, shifting her load onto the wall. "Kaha jaane?"

"To the village," I said. "Tonight? It's dark and your shirt is wet." Then, more urgently, "You're the American, aren't you?"

"My son is in America," she said. She didn't look like the type whose son would be in America. "He joined the army, the Gurkhas, and they sent him there for training. Three months ago. He's a country boy. I worry. You need some tea before you go on." After ten minutes, we were at her small house beside the trail. She doffed the firewood and turned to me, "Take off your shirt." I looked surprised. "I'll dry it by the fire in the kitchen. Put on this blanket."

A few minutes later she came out of the kitchen with two mugs of tea, swept a hapless chicken off the table, and pulled up a bench for me. The tea worked wonders, bringing back my courage for the walk ahead. She offered me food, too, but I declined, explaining that I didn't want to be on the trail too late at night. "It's OK," she said. "You have a flashlight."

She fetched my shirt. I put it on, revived by the warmth against my skin, and went outside to hoist my pack. I turned to thank her. "Switch on your flashlight," she told me.

"The batteries are dead." She went inside and came back with two batteries, a considerable gift for someone of her means.

"I couldn't," I said. "Besides, I know the trail." "Take them." She smiled, showing great gaps where teeth had once been. "You've been very kind to me," I said. "My son is in America," she said. "Some day, on the trail, he will be cold and wet. Maybe a mother in your land will help him." —P C V in Nepal

UNIVERSAL, CULTURAL OR PERSONAL

Culture is only one category or dimension of human behavior, and it is therefore important to see it in relation to the other two dimensions: the universal and the personal. The three can be distinguished as follows:

The term “universal” refers to ways in which all people in all groups are the same, while the term “cultural” refers to what a particular group of people have in common with each other and how they are different from every other group

Personal describes the ways in which each one of us is different from everyone else, including those in our group

These are two important points for you to remember:

1. Because of universal behavior, not everything about people in a new culture is going to be different; some of what you already know about human behavior is going to apply in your host country.

2. Because of personal behavior, not everything you learn about your host culture is going to apply in equal measure, or at all, to every individual in that culture.

Culture is the outward expression of a unifying and consistent vision brought by a particular community to its confrontation with such core issues as the origins of the cosmos, the harsh unpredictability of the natural environment, the nature of society, and humankind's place in the order of things.

—Edward Hall

UNIVERSAL, CULTURAL, OR PERSONAL :

MAKING OBSERVATIONS

The differences between universal, cultural, and personal behaviors occur in all cultures. Try to find examples of each in your host country. Spend some time in the streets observing the people around you and try to note four examples of each category of behavior. For personal behaviors, you may find it easier observing people you know well, such as people at your training site or in your host family. When you have completed this exercise, it may be helpful to show your list to someone else to get that personts reactions. This exercise contains a list of behaviors. In the underlined space preceding each of them, put a "U" if you think the behavior is universal "C" if it is cultural, or "P" if it is personal.

1. Sleeping with a bedroom window open.

2. Running from a dangerous animal.

3. Considering snakes to be "evil."

4. Men opening doors for women.

5. Respecting older people.

6. Liking spicy food.

7. Preferring playing soccer to reading a book.

8. Eating regularly.

9. Eating with knife, fork, and spoon.

10. Calling a waiter with a hissing sound.

11. Being wary of strangers

12. Regretting being the cause of an accident.

13. Feeling sad at the death of your mother.

14. Wearing white mourning robes for 30 days after the death of your mother.

15. Not liking wearing mourning robes for 30 days after the death of your mother.