It's been a good day for cultural insight, as this is my fourth post today. I cringed while I was reading this article, as I do anytime I read anything about this topic. The thought of anyone holding a knife down there really makes me queasy. I doubt anything could bring me around the idea that infibulation (the most drastic form of FGM, usually performed without anesthesia or sterile instruments) is anything less than barbaric. It's a way of controlling method by physically (and permanently) restricting their ability to walk or do much of anything without excruciating pain, much like the Chinese foot-binding tradition. Recently though, the Western media has been seeing more and more articles like this one urging Westerners to at least take into account the cultural reasons why parents (including mothers) choose to have the procedure performed on their daughters. This is step away from outright bans adopted from the top down, which tend to only drive practitioners underground. I applaud this approach for its pragmatism; lasting change is more likely if it comes from within a society, and for international rights groups to be effective they need to understand the cultural reasons why women in particular believe that FGM is beneficial. I was struck by this quote from the (male) chair of social services of the Assalaam Foundation"
“One, it will stabilize her libido. Two, it will make a woman look more beautiful in the eyes of her husband. And three, it will balance her psychology.”
To me, "stabilizing the libido" means reducing the likelihood of infidelity by reducing (or removing completely, in some cases) female sexual pleasure. From my cultural perspective (ie, as a Western woman) this is unacceptable, and I find the implied assumption that a woman who can feel sexual pleasure will be unfaithful to her husband demeaning. But I accept that this assumption is part of the cultural reality in many parts of the world.
The second reason I find very interesting - I'm not sure how FGM would make a woman "more beautiful in the eyes of her husband," but maybe some of my male readers can enlighten me here. However, there is a striking parallel with elective plastic surgery as performed in the West, including so-called "vaginal rejuvenation" surgery. The key difference though is the FGM is performed on young girls, including infants who have no say in the matter, whereas in the West elective plastic surgery is performed on adult women, with their consent. This isn't to discount the normative pressures from the media, society, or a woman's partner that women are under, but there is an element of choice that simply isn't present in the majority of FGM cases.
Finally, I'm not sure I understand the reference to "psychology" - any thoughts? Please don't be shy!Excellent overview from EveryCulture.com
Although excellent, this article appears to have been written before the 2003 invasion, so it's important to keep that in mind. There is a lot of literature out there on post-2003 Iraq, much of it focusing on the military and policy options facing the US Government. For the "on the ground" perspective, I highly recommend listening to War News Radio, an independent radio show out of Swarthmore College (full disclosure: my good friend and colleague Amelia Templeton was a founding member). You can download it for free from iTunes as a podcast, including past editions.
Men drinking tea in Baghdad
Excellent overview from EveryCulture.com
It's important to note that the official language of Haiti (spoken by the majority of the population) is not French but creole or kreyol. Although many French-speakers can understand spoken Creole (and vice-versa), they are distinct languages and should be treated as such. The degree of French words and syntax used in speech is a marker of social class, along with skin tone and the straightening of hair.
As an aspiring diversity trainer (diversity and ICC are closely related terms that can often be used interchangeably) this article really caught my eye. It also really made me think of The Office's Michael Scott, whose "diversity trainings" rapidly degenerate into a slur-fest extolling the virtues of embracing stereotypes and negative traits that Michael associates with different groups. Remember the "Post-It" game where you had to guess what "minority" you were based on how others treated you? Priceless. Especially since Michael's definition of "minority" seems to be "anyone not a WASP male."
The reason this makes us laugh even as it makes us cringe is that we've all witnessed something similar, or could very easily imagine happening. Ask me about explaining to my mother why you can't go around referring to Asian-Americans as "Orientals," or to my dad why puns about Africans marrying to get legal status in France are kind of offensive (in French, a fake marriage to get papers is called "un marriage blanc"). My parents aren't bad people (and neither is Michael Scott, deep down), they just don't know any better.
This companion piece to the WP article lists some ways to determine the potential effectiveness of diversity training. RAP doesn't exactly fit within that framework, but this is worth thinking about.
Diversity training and similar initiatives have positive effects when:
Diversity training and other initiatives have negative effects when:
Even though he never uses the word "culture," that is exactly what Dr. Page is referring to when he talks about "tools" or "varying ways of looking at problems." In our (at least theoretically) egalitarian society, it can be uncomfortable to bring up issues of cultural diversity. "Different but equal" sounds a lot like "separate but equal," and we know what a fallacy that was. I think that there is always a risk, or at least a fear that talking about cultural diversity will lead to value statements about one group's superiority over another. However, pretending that differences don't exist doesn't make them go away or make talking about diversity any easier. The goal, to second Dr. Page, is to find creative ways to help us all work better together, to leverage the diversity of strengths within a group so that the whole may become stronger than its parts.
I'd like to share an anecdote as an example of a creative solution. In my office, we have constant confrontations with our Central-American clients over punctuality. Like many Washingtonians, my colleagues and I are very schedule-bound. Meetings need to start on time, because we have allotted exactly an hour to each task. There can be a little flexibility, but anything more than 10 and certainly 15 minutes is tardy. Our Central American clients, in contrast, do not live according to rigid schedules and it is very difficult for them to understand that the lawyer will not be able to see them if they arrive at 11:30 instead of 11. Each client considers that he has a good reason for being late - he got lost on his way to the office, or missed the bus, or maybe the metro got stuck in a tunnel. With time, each person will eventually acculturate, but since we only see each client a couple times, we are having the same interaction over and over again with different people (think Adam Sandler in 50 First Dates). Eventually I asked a Mexican-American friend for advice on how to get our clients to arrive "on time." She laughed, saying that "there's no cure for Latino Standard Time." Her advice? Lie, and tell people to come at 10:30 if we want to start a meeting at 11. So far it's been working!
In instituting this policy, we were aware that it is just a "band-aid" fix that does nothing to bridge the culture gap between our US staff and Latin clients. But since we are meeting with new clients every week, it's not possible to help them internalize our cultural norm. The other constraints on our time don't allow us to adapt to their "time is fluid" norm either, so setting different times is the most pragmatic solution we have found so far. Have you ever had to do something similar with a friend who is always "late"? Or maybe you're that friend?
Though I identified this problem early on, it took me a while to get my colleagues to accept my explanation. Since some clients were on time (and even early!) my colleagues assumed that the clients who were late had an individual problem with punctuality. Over time, we noticed that Central American clients tended to be late more frequently than clients from other parts of the world, and that Central Americans from rural areas were the latest of all. The clients aren't deficient - they're following different "hidden rules" than we are. There are a number of other cultural factors that I've identified since then that also contribute to tardiness. For example, reading a map can be almost impossible for someone who has never before ventured outside of her village. I've also had clients tell me that they didn't follow the directions provided by our office because they required taking the metro - they had never ridden a train before (let alone one that goes underground!) and were too intimidated. I'm sure there are lots of other reasons that I am not even aware of yet because I've only been at my job for a year and a half.
An Indian anthropologist, Chandra Thapar, made a study of foreign cultures which had customs similar to those of his native land. One culture in particular fascinated him because it reveres one animal as sacred, much as the people in India revere the cow.
The tribe Dr. Thapar studied is called the Asu and is found on the North American continent north of the Tarahumara of Mexico. Though it seems to be a highly developed society of its type, it has an overwhelming preoccupation with the care and feeding of the rac - an animal much like a bull in size, strength and temperament. In the Asu tribe, it is almost a social obligation to own at least one if not more racs. Anyone not possessing at least one is held in low esteem by the community because he is too poor to maintain one of the beasts properly. Some members of the tribe, to display their wealth and prestige, even own herds of racs.
Unfortunately the rac breed is not very healthy and usually does not live more than five to seven years. Each family invests large sums of money each year to keep its rac healthy and shod, for it has a tendency to throw its shoes often. There are rac specialists in each community, perhaps more than one if the community is particularly wealthy. These specialists, however due to the long period of ritual training they must undergo and to the difficulty of obtaining the right selection of charms to treat the rac, demand costly offerings whenever a tribesman must treat his ailing rac.
At the age of sixteen in many Asu communities, many youths undergo a puberty rite in which the rac figures prominently. The youth must petition a high priest in a grand temple. He is then initiated into the ceremonies that surround the care of the rac and is permitted to keep a rac.
Although the rac may be used as a beast of burden, it has many habits which would be considered by other cultures as detrimental to the life of the society. In the first place the rac breed is increasing at a very rapid rate and the Asu tribesmen have given no thought to curbing the rac population. As a consequence the Asu must build more and more paths for rac to travel on since its delicate health and its love of racing other racs at high speeds necessitates that special areas be set aside for its use. The cost of smoothing the earth is too costly for any one individual to undertake, so it has become a community project and each tribesman must pay an annual tax to build new paths and maintain the old. There are so many paths needed that some people move their homes because the rac paths must be as straight as possible to keep the animal from injuring itself. Dr. Thapar also notes that unlike the cow, which many people in his country hold sacred, the excrement of the rac cannot be used as either fuel or fertilizer. On the contrary, its excrement is exceptionally foul and totally useless. Worst of all, the rac is prone to rampages in which it runs down anything in its path, much like stampeding cattle. Estimates are that the rac kills thousands of the Asu in a year.
Despite the rac's high cost of its upkeep, the damage it does to the land, and its habit of destructive rampages, the Asu still regard it as being essential to the survival of their culture.
"The Sacred Rac," by Patricia Hughes, Focusing on Global Poverty and Development, by Jayne C. Millar (Washington D.C. Overseas Development Council, 1974), p. 357-8.
Here are some links to online resources you may find useful. Please make note of the usual disclaimer that I am not responsible for the content of these websites, etc. I haven't had a chance to read them in great detail, but hopefully they will help us relate to our Burmese clients and will be good fodder for discussion. If you find more resources, feel free to post in a discussion or e-mail them to me.
Life in Exile: Burmese Refugees along the Thai-Burma Border (IRC Policy Paper)
From Baylor University - with yet more links!
Burmese American Professional Society
From Northern Illinois University
An essay by a bicultural Burmese-American student
More scholarly article on Burmese culture (layout is awful but content very interesting)
The first picture on the subway is especially interesting. An American friend who spent time in Cairo commented to me that there, it would have been the opposite.
Do you think veiling oppresses women? Or is modest clothing a necessary shield from lustful gazes? Where does "freedom" fit in? In France, the culturally unique concept of laicite led to a complete ban on head scarves and other ostentatious religious symbols in public schools and other places. Public opinion generally supports this measure, seeing it as preserving women's freedom from the veil (and from Islam). In the US, such a ban is seen by many as an attack on freedom of religion.
What cultural values could be behind all these attitudes? Would you adopt the veil if you visited or moved somewhere where that is the norm? Why or why not? I look forward to discussing this and other topics through the group!
Mariel passed on this great cartoon to me... I don't know that it closes the debate on this topic, but it certainly made me smile!
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