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Wrapping Our Western Minds around Yoga . . . and Bindis and Other Things Hindu

I’ve been collecting links to stories about yoga—its acceptance, and rejection, in Western culture—and have been content to let my list grow.

Then, several weeks ago, one of my sons joined a local Color Run, and I couldn’t help but see the connection between the tossing of all that colored powder and the Hindu celebration of Holi. And later, I saw that singer/actress Selena Gomez had gotten some negative attention for wearing a bindi (a decorative dot on the forehead) at the MTV Movie Awards.

That last news item put me over the edge. I’m stretched beyond limit. I need to take a cleansing breath . . . and empty my browser of its yoga bookmarks, before the next wave of Hindu-inspired trends washes through our consciousness.

Can yoga be simply a physical exercise? Or is it unquestionably Hindu? Or does yoga have an inherent Hinduishness that’s more difficult to define?

Yoga: Changing The Brain’s Stressful Habits

It may sound like magic that posing like a proud warrior or a crow could have such extensive effects, but it’s not magic. It’s neurobiology. This next statement may sound to you either profound or extremely obvious, but it comes down to this: the things you do and the thoughts you have change the firing patterns and chemical composition of your brain. Even actions as simple as changing your posture, relaxing the muscles on your face, or slowing your breathing rate, can affect the activity in your brain (beyond, of course, the required activity to make the action). These changes are often transient, but can be long-lasting, particularly if they entail changing a habit.”

As a neuroscientist, despite my initial incredulity, I came to realize that yoga works not because the poses are relaxing, but because they are stressful. It is your attempts to remain calm during this stress that create yoga’s greatest neurobiological benefit.

(Alex Korb, Psychology Today, September 7, 2011)

Genetic Evidence of Yoga’s Impact on the Immune System

Newly published research from Norway suggests that a comprehensive yoga program rapidly produces internal changes on a genetic level. . . .

The University of Oslo experiment featured 10 participants who attended a week-long yoga retreat in Germany. For the first two days, participants spent two hours practicing a comprehensive yoga program including yogic postures (asanas), yogic breathing exercises (in particular Sudarshan Kriya), and meditation. For the next two days, they spent that same time period going on an hour-long nature walk and then listening to either jazz or classical music. . . .

Fourteen genes were affected by both exercises, which suggests “the two regimens, to some degree, affect similar biological processes,” the researchers write. That said, they note that yoga’s impact was far more widespread, which indicates the practice “may have additional effects over exercise plus simple relaxation in inducing health benefits through differential changes at the molecular level.”

(Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard, April 23, 2013)

Suit Eyed over Yoga in Public Schools

Last month, half of the students attending classes in the Encinitas Union School District K-6 elementary schools in San Diego North County began taking Ashtanga (Sanskrit for “eight-limbed”) yoga for 30 minutes twice per week. In January, the other half will begin the lessons.

Concerned parents have now retained constitutional first amendment attorney Dean Broyles, who says that Ashtanga yoga is a religious form of yoga, and that religious aspects have been introduced into the schools. . . .

Broyles says that it has been argued that the in-school yoga programs have been stripped of their spirituality. But he says that kids in EUSD are being exposed to Hindu thought and belief within the school.

“On the wall there was a poster that showed the Ashtanga, or 8-limbed deity. There are words showing what the limbs are,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to be absorbed into the universe, which is called Samadhi. They had a poster depicting that. Fundamentally it is a Hindu religion being taught through Ashtanga yoga.”

(Kevin Dolak, ABC News, October 24, 2012)

Yoga Has More to Offer Than Traditional Classes

“Yoga is constantly evolving,” said Kaitlin Quistgaard, editor in chief of Yoga Journal. “Variety gives people an opportunity to approach yoga from different perspectives.” . . .

Want to hold side crow to some classic Notorious B.I.G.? At YogaHop, with studios in Santa Monica and Pasadena, you can do just that. . . .

Stand-up paddle boarding has grown exponentially popular in recent years. So why not try some yoga while balancing on a paddle board? That was Sarah Tiefenthaler’s logic after taking her yoga-teaching course in Costa Rica and getting introduced to paddle boarding soon after her certification.

(Mikaela Conley, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2013)

Wary of Eastern Spirituality, Christians Try Yoga with a Twist

“Everybody has their own path that they have in terms of their spiritual journey, and my point of view is that I would want everybody’s path to eventually merge into the Christian path,” said Nancy Harvey, who leads the PraiseMoves group at Huntington Court United Methodist Church in Roanoke. “But it’s not my judgment to make one way or the other.” . . .

Kristy DiGeronimo is a certified yoga instructor who teaches classes at two Virginia Beach churches. She said she understands the concerns but thinks yoga allows her to honor God and gives her a calm that makes her more receptive to biblical teachings.

“It really is a tool,” she said. “Anyone of any faith or background can apply it to their life.”

(Jorge Valencia, The Roanoke Times, March 22, 2011)

Seeking to Clear a Path between Yoga and Islam

As a community activist in Queens, Muhammad Rashid has fought for the rights of immigrants held in detention, sought the preservation of local movie theaters and held a street fair to promote diversity.But few of those causes brought him anywhere near as much grief and controversy as his stance on yoga.

Mr. Rashid, a Muslim, said he had long believed that practicing yoga was tantamount to “denouncing my religion.” . . .

But after moving to New York in 1997 from Bahrain, he slowly began to rethink his stance. Now Mr. Rashid, 56, has come full circle: not only has he adopted yoga into his daily routine, but he has also encouraged other Muslims to do so—putting himself squarely against those who consider yoga a sin against Islam.

(Sarah Maslin Nir, The New York Times, April 8, 2012)

To Some Hindus, Modern Yoga Has Lost Its Way

One group, the Hindu American Foundation, has launched a “Take Back Yoga” campaign to address what they see as a fundamental disconnect between yoga and Hinduism.

Sheetal Shah, senior director at the foundation, says the group started the campaign when it noticed that while “Vedic,” “tantric” and many other words appeared regularly in yoga magazines, the word “Hindu” was never mentioned.

So, the foundation called up one of the country’s most popular magazines to ask why.

“They said the word ‘Hinduism’ has a lot of baggage,” Shah says. “And we were like, ‘Excuse me?’ “

(Margot Adler, NPR, April 11, 2012)

The Theft of Yoga

Nearly 20 million people in the United States gather together routinely, fold their hands and utter the Hindu greeting of Namaste—the Divine in me bows to the same Divine in you. . . .

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Pagans, agnostics and atheists they may be, but they partake in the spiritual heritage of a faith tradition with a vigor often unmatched by even among the two-and-a half-million Hindu Americans here. The Yoga Journal found that the industry generates more than $6 billion each year and continues on an incredible trajectory of popularity. It would seem that yoga’s mother tradition, Hinduism, would be shining in the brilliant glow of dedicated disciples seeking more from the very font of their passion.

Yet the reality is very different. . . .

Hindus must take back yoga and reclaim the intellectual property of their spiritual heritage—not sell out for the expediency of winning more clients for the yoga studio down the street.

(Aseem Shukla, On Faith, The Washington Post, April 18, 2010)

The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America

After writing about yoga as part of the White House’s Easter celebrations, the author adds,

There certainly was no better proof that Americans had assimilated this spiritual discipline. We had turned a technique for God realization that had, at various points in time, enjoined its adherents to reduce their diet to rice, milk, and a few vegetables, fix their minds on a set of, to us, incomprehensible syllables, and self-administer daily enemas (without the benefit of equipment), to name just a few of its prerequisites, into an activity suitable for children. Though yoga has no coherent tradition in India, being preserved instead by thousands of gurus and hundreds of lineages, each of which makes a unique claim to authenticity, we had managed to turn it into a singular thing: a way to stay healthy and relaxed.

(Stefanie Syman, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010)

The Subtle Body—Should Christians Practice Yoga?

The president of The Baptist Theological Seminary, after quoting the above passage, responds to The Subtle Body in this way,

Syman describes yoga as a varied practice, but she makes clear that yoga cannot be fully extricated from its spiritual roots in Hinduism and Buddhism. She is also straightforward in explaining the role of sexual energy in virtually all forms of yoga and of ritualized sex in some yoga traditions. She also explains that yoga “is one of the first and most successful products of globalization, and it has augured a truly post-Christian, spiritually polyglot country.” . . .

When Christians practice yoga, they must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga. The contradictions are not few, nor are they peripheral. The bare fact is that yoga is a spiritual discipline by which the adherent is trained to use the body as a vehicle for achieving consciousness of the divine. Christians are called to look to Christ for all that we need and to obey Christ through obeying his Word. We are not called to escape the consciousness of this world by achieving an elevated state of consciousness, but to follow Christ in the way of faithfulness.

(Albert Mohler, AlbertMohler.com, September 20, 2010)

Now that I’ve seen all these pieces on yoga, I’ll be looking to see if anything more pops up about Holi celebrations and the wearing of bindis. For now. . .

Hindu Spring Festivals Increase in Popularity and Welcome Non-Hindus

“All of this is related to our culture—our Krishna consciousness. This is a very fun lifestyle, it’s a very vibrant lifestyle,” said Ramdas Shingdia, 25, moments before Chaitanya Prakash, 25, ambushed him with a smear of green powder to the cheeks. “And love!” he added. “This is love.” . . .

In recent years, as social media and colorful fanfare have helped Holi festivals gain traction in the United States, some say American Holi festivals are downplaying Holi’s religious and spiritual history, putting more emphasis on its allure as a lively social event.

An increasing number of Holi-inspired color throws on American college campuses is also seen as a sign that Holi may be adopting more of a secular tone.

(Chris Lyford, The Washington Post, April 5, 2013)

Indian-Inspired Bindis a Hot Trend in Winter Bling

“As a fashion impulse it makes perfect sense,” Anya Kurennaya, a faculty member in Parsons’s fashion studies department, told The Daily Beast’ “A bindi is going to attract interest and has that level of sparkle, but it’s not a big style commitment, and demonstrates a level of culture and spirituality.”

But the flirtation with bindis also may have something to do with a heightened attention to India, with many in today’s Internet-inclined generation heading to the country during their school recesses. “There is so much more global perspective today that it’s only natural that you would find these cultures more appealing than the typical European cultures that are more canonized in our history books,” Kurennaya explained, “It’s kind of a rejection of traditional Western education.”

(Misty White Sidell, The Daily Beast, January 4, 2013)

Selena Gomez under Fire for Wearing Bindi at MTV Movie Awards

“The bindi on the forehead is an ancient tradition in Hinduism and has religious significance,” Rajan Zed, a spokesman for the Universal Society of Hinduism, said. “It is also sometimes referred to as the third eye and the flame, and it is an auspicious religious and spiritual symbol. . . . It is not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects or as a fashion accessory aiming at mercantile greed. Selena should apologize and then she should get acquainted with the basics of world religions.”

(Sadie Gennis, TV Guide, April 16, 2013)

[photo: "Strobist CTO Exercise 2," by Sami Taipale, used under a Creative Commons license]

A Scholar, a Footballer, and a Tourist Walk into a Foreign Country . . .

Published April 19, 2013 cross cultural , expats , film and video , languages , sports , travel 2 Comments
Tags: Big Train, China, football, Havard Rugland, Jesse Appell, Kickalicious, Laowai Style, living overseas, Norway

Did you hear the one about the Fulbright Scholar in China studying stand-up comedy? The student, Jesse Appell, put together a spoof of Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” called “Laowai Style.” Lao wai is a Mandarin term for foreigner—literally meaning “old” and “outside.” Here’s the video, with subtitles:

And then there’s the former amateur soccer player from Norway, Havard Rugland, who watched the Super Bowl in 2011 and started working on his American-football-kicking skills. The result was a video of amazing trick kicks, called “Kickalicious.” It went viral and caught the attention of some NFL franchises, with a couple giving him tryouts. Last week, the Detroit Lions announced that they had signed him to their team. No joke.

I heard about the two stories above on “PRI’s The World” while I was listening to NPR in my car last Friday afternoon. This last video isn’t related, but it shows some cross-cultural miscommunication, between an English-speaking tourist and a couple French locals—and I think it’s pretty funny. It’s “Do You Speak English?” by BBC’s Big Train comedy team:

(Nina Porzucki, “Humoring the Chinese: An American Comedian Has a Run-in with Chinese Censorship,” PRI’s The World, April 12, 2013; Steven Davy, “Norwegian Kicker Havard Rugland Signs Detroit Lions NFL Deal after YouTube Video Goes Viral,” PRI’s The World, April 12, 2013)

Asian-American Stereotypes: “A Whole Different Issue”

Published April 16, 2013 cross cultural , expats , film and video 2 Comments
Tags: 60 Minutes, Asian Americans, cultural stereotypes, Jeremy Lin, National Council of Asian Pacific American

Jeremy Lin puts up a shot in a game against the LA Lakers last year.

Jeremy Lin shoots in a game against the LA Lakers last year.

60 Minutes devoted a segment of its April 7th show to Jeremy Lin. Lin’s is a great story—born to Taiwanese parents in California, he graduated from Harvard and now plays basketball for the NBA’s Houston Rockets. The interview covers a range of topics, including culture, race, religion, and . . . prejudice.

When Charlie Rose asked Lin about why he didn’t get any scholarship offers from Division I schools, even though he was named California’s player of the year in high school, Lin replied: ”Well, I think the obvious thing, is . . . in my mind is . . . that I was Asian-American, which, you know, is a whole different issue, but that’s . . . I think that was a barrier.”

“When you say because you were an Asian-American, what is that?” said Rose. “Because there’s nothing about being an Asian-American that doesn’t give you the ability to play basketball.”

“Yeah,” said Lin. “I mean it was just, I mean it’s a . . . it’s a stereotype.”

“Average” Asian Americans?
While Lin certainly contradicts some common Asian-American stereotypes, he seems to fit with others.

A study by the Pew Research Center, “The Rise of Asian Americans,” gained attention last year for announcing that Asian-Americans had surpassed Hispanics as the largest group of immigrants entering the US. But there is a lot of other information in the detailed report, including:

In 2010, 49% of Asian Americans age 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or more (compared to 28% of the overall US population).
“More than six-in-ten (61%) adults ages 25 to 64 who have come from Asia in recent years have at least a bachelor’s degree. This is double the share among recent non-Asian arrivals, and almost surely makes the recent Asian arrivals the most highly educated cohort of immigrants in U.S. history.”
The median household income of Asian Americans is $66,000 (US population: $49,800)
93% agree with the statement, “Americans from my country of origin group are very hard working.”
50% identify as part of or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 28% identify or lean Republican.
The largest religious affiliation for Asian Americans is Christian, at 42%. The next largest group is “Unaffiliated,” at 26%.

A Double-Edged Sword
While much of the information in the Pew report reflects well on Asian-Americans, some feel that the statistics can have negative consequences.

Deepa Iyer, executive director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, told NPR that

it’s really important to understand that the community’s not a monolith and that we can’t use this information to think that it is the norm across all Asian-Americans because, historically, our communities have either been seen as model minorities or we’ve been put into the box of being disloyal, suspicious or we’ve been put into a box of foreigners who take away jobs. And the reality is that none of these stereotypes are true. Right?

Iyer wants us to remember that within the group of Asian Americans are many subgroups, representing people from a great diversity of circumstances and from a great diversity of countries—such as China, India, Vietnam, Pakistan, Cambodia, and the Philippines. (The Pew site has a great graphic that breaks down the demographics for each country of origin, here.)

Asian immigrants themselves tend to identify more with their country of origin than simply as “Asians.” While 19% most often refer to themselves as “Asian” or “Asian American,” 62% most often describe themselves by their country of origin, as in “Chinese” or “Chinese American.” Only 14% most often call themselves “American.”

Academic Robots?
The question of what to call oneself can be especially relevant to high-achieving high-school graduates. According to an Associated Press article, published in USA Today, some are refusing to check the “Asian” box on applications for top colleges. That is because they believe they need to score hundreds of points higher on test scores to compete with applicants from other ethnic groups. Critics of the current system believe

that Asian-Americans are evaluated not as individuals, but against the thousands of other ultra-achieving Asians who are stereotyped as boring academic robots.

Some applicants refuse to mark any box in the race section, but some who are mixed race, have a choice of which box to check.

Tao Tao Holmes is a student at Yale. Her mother is Chinese-born, and her father is a white American. She told AP:

My math scores aren’t high enough for the Asian box. I say it jokingly, but there is the underlying sentiment of, if I had emphasized myself as Asian, I would have (been expected to) excel more in stereotypically Asian-dominated subjects.

Holmes calls herself “an American . . . an Asian person who grew up in America.”

Susanna Koetter, another student at Yale, said that her racial identity changes depending on where she’s at. The daughter of a Korean mother and a white American father, Koetter said she’s “not fully Asian-American. I’m mixed Asian-American. When I go to Korea, I’m like, blatantly white.” But back in the US, when it came time to fill out her college application, did she leave the “Asian” box unchecked? No. “That would be messed up,” she said. “I’m not white.”

(“Linsanity: Jeremy Lin’s Rise to Stardom,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, April 7, 2013; “The Rise of Asian Americans,” Pew Research Center, June 19, 2012, updated April 4, 2013; Asian-Americans on the Rise,” NPR, June 20, 2012; “Some Asians’ College Strategy: Don’t Check Asian,” USA Today, December 4, 2011)

[photo: "Jeremy Lin 林书豪," by DvYang, used under a Creative Commons license]

Pitt Pal: Facilitating Friendships with International Students

Published April 12, 2013 cross cultural , expats , overseas students Leave a Comment
Tags: Brenda Hawkins, international students, PITT Pal, Pittsburg Kansas, Pittsburg State University, study abroad

A student worker shares about International Programs and Services at PSU’s annual Community Activities Fair.

Tucked in the southeast corner of Kansas, in the heart of the United States, is Pittsburg State University. Though it’s far from any international borders, this school with an enrollment of less than 7,300 has become the educational destination for students from around the globe, with 469 internationals attending from 37 countries in the spring of 2012.

In light of statistics that say more than one third of international students have no close American friends, it is easy for students to arrive in the US feeling out of place and to leave feeling the same way. How does a school like Pitt State leverage Midwest hospitality to make its international population feel at home?

One answer is the Pitt Pal program, which facilitates friendships by pairing international students with American students. I asked the coordinator of Pitt Pal, Brenda Hawkins, to share about the program:

Pitt State had its International Friends program, matching up international students with local families, for many years before starting Pitt Pal. What are some of the added benefits of involving American students, rather than just relying on families?

My first day of work here we went to a regional international education conference and I heard K State talk about their buddy program. Realizing that we didn’t have anything like that I did some research on that type of a mentor program and we decided PSU needed one. At first I thought it would be a great opportunity for a domestic student to serve an international student and help them acclimate to the USA and college life here. We also wanted to encourage domestic students to have a global eye and outreach and knew that this would change their lives as well. Having been overseas myself on many trips, I knew that the hospitality of people we met always impressed me and helped us feel welcome.

The local family opportunity is encouraged to meet at least once a month. I felt like international students could also benefit from more frequent interaction with an American-born student. Since they would have in common being students this would provide an initial platform to build a friendship on. Being on campus and perhaps in the same dorm or classes would lend itself to potentially daily contact.

A recent survey found that 38% of international students have “no strong American friendships.” What do you see as the biggest obstacles to friendships between US and international students, and how does Pitt Pal help to overcome them?

In a nutshell, obstacles to friendships between US and international students are language barriers, cultural differences and misconceptions, stereotypes, and indifference to get out of your comfort zone and learn about another culture. Students don’t always see the value in learning about another culture and the effort that takes.

But I think another obstacle is a structural challenge that most universities face because international students arrive on campus up to a week before domestic students return. The first students they have a chance to meet and befriend are other international students. By the time most of the domestic students return to campus, friendships are formed and they tend to sit with other international students in class. To an American student it may appear that internationals prefer to hang together. Another structural challenge in some universities is that international students are separated from domestic students in their freshman experience classes. While this is necessary because some topics are unique to each group, it might put them on unequal footing for making friends.

Pitt Pal helps overcome these obstacles because it becomes a tool to facilitate cultural interaction and challenges each party to a level of commitment. It helps break the ice for students who may not reach out to form friendships with those who do not have as much in common with them. Finding common ground is key to the beginning of a newly forged relationship between an international and domestic student. In getting acquainted, students relate to each other by finding similar interests like shopping, sports, food, and exchanging stories about their lives. But having a desire and flexibility to try and learn new things takes the friendship to another level.

Pitt Pal helps students get to know the individual regardless of their culture and not hide behind generalities. They learn to appreciate the differences and similarities of their cultures and personalities.

Also, for the domestic student it appeals to their sense of helping a student in need. This generation is strong in their desire to volunteer. I believe finding common ground and having a commitment to this responsibility helps overcome stereotypes and misconceptions. When domestic students return from their study-abroad opportunities, they understand the challenges international students face and are quick to volunteer to help them acclimate.

That’s an interesting thought on international students arriving to campus early. I would think that having students get in touch with each other before the international students get to the States helps with that. Of course, in the end, the relationships that develop are dependent on how much the students invest in them. Can you leave us with a couple examples that show the potential of Pitt Pal friendships?

I have several great examples of Pitt Pal relationships. Some American students have even been able to visit their international friends when they were on study abroad in Korea and Finland, etc. But I think I’ll let two students from China tell about their experiences in their own words, from essays they wrote about Pitt Pal:

This was my first time to meet my Pitt Pal. She was in a green shirt with golden hair and sunshine smile. We introduced ourselves to each other and she said she was American and good at volleyball while I like Ping-Pong, but this didn’t affect us talking about our favorite clothes and bags. We also determined that next week I would cook Chinese dishes for her and she would teach me how to bake.

and

I am proud that I built a good relationship with my Pitt Pal over the semester. I am so thankful for her keeping company with me during the fall break, when everyone flew to other places to have an enjoyable holiday except me. Even though the dorm on that day was very cold, I felt warm with my Pitt Pal and not lonely any more.

[photo: "DSC_0018," by Michael Fienen, used under a Creative Commons license]

Preschooler Lessons in Taiwan

Published April 9, 2013 adoption , cross cultural , Third Culture Kids 4 Comments
Tags: expat life, life abroad, living overseas, Taipei, Taiwan, TCKs

Last week’s post on adoption got me rethinking some of my family’s experiences. Here’s a story we put in a newsletter three years ago. One of our sons is Taiwanese and had been in our Taipei home for a couple years, long enough to become a part of the culture within our walls.

Our youngest son has recently started preschool in the mornings. The main goal is to help him understand and speak more Chinese. After his first day, the teacher told my wife that he was hugging the other children—and they didn’t know how to respond. The teacher said that she explained to them, “It’s OK, he’s a foreigner. They hug a lot at his house.”

As he learns more about himself and the world around him, we have more opportunities to talk with him about “who he is.” While we were out one day last month, he saw a sign showing Chinese chess pieces. He asked why they had letters on them. I told him that they weren’t letters, they were Chinese characters. Seeing an opportunity, I asked him, “Are you Chinese?”

He said, “No.”

“Are you American?”

“No,” again.

“What are you?” I asked.

“I’m normal,” he said.

[photo: "Parachute Fun," by Chris Pawluk, used under a Creative Commons license]

10 Lessons for Cross-Cultural Conversations from That Mila Kunis Interview

Published March 26, 2013 cross cultural , film and video , Third Culture Kids 2 Comments
Tags: Chris Stark, cross cultural communication, interviews, Mila Kunis, Oz the Great and Powerful, Scott Mills, TCKs, Watford

Have you seen the viral video of actress Mila Kunis and BBC Radio 1′s Chris Stark? Kunis was on the interview circuit for Oz the Great and Powerful, in which she plays the witch Theodora, and sat down with Stark for a segment on the Scott Mills show.

Stark told The Daily Beast‘s Kevin Fallon that Mills, as “a bit of a joke,” didn’t let him know he’d be interviewing Kunis until only around half an hour before they were to meet. Sounding somewhat starstruck, Stark begins the interview with “Seriously, I’m petrified” and “I’ve never done this before,” leading to an informal chat on a range of subjects, including his “boys” at the bar, the local football team, and Nando’s chicken. Kunis calls it “the best interview I’ve had today.”

It strikes me that we can learn a lot from these two about how to have a good cross-cultural conversation. So here’s the “interview”—between a Third-Culture Kid who moved from Ukraine to Los Angeles at the age of 7 and a lad from England—followed by 10 lessons that they can teach us:

Be yourself and don’t put on airs. Talking to someone from another culture can be daunting, but if you admit your limitations, you stand a better chance of having a meaningful and heartfelt conversation. Genuine curiosity trumps preparation. Just jump “in the trenches.”
A conversation, where both people talk and learn is much better than an interrogation (where one person simply rattles off a series of questions) or a speech (where one person simply rattles off a series of facts).
Boilerplate questions and answers can give some useful information, but after you get them out of the way (Where are you from? What’s your job/major? What do you miss most from your home?) It’s obvious that the reason this video is popular isn’t because we learn that Kunis “loved working with James Franco.” Actually, the biggest scoop probably is finding out that she used to be a bartender.
Asking questions that build upon what someone just said is much better than working through a list. It shows you’re interested and that you’re paying attention. And it’s “way more fun.”
You may need to listen to the voice inside your head (or off camera) to get you back on track if you start talking too much about yourself, but it’s even better to just listen to the voice across from you.
Showing an interest in someone else’s story is a great way to put that person at ease, so is finding something you have in common, which is probably easier than you might think.
Realize that words may need defining. Football isn’t always football. And a pie isn’t always a pie.
It’s one thing to invite people into talking about your world. It’s even better to invite them to experience it themselves. Too bad Kunis has that silly movie she’s working on in June.
Understand that there are cultures within cultures, and not everyone represents an entire country or continent. I really don’t think that “dropping trou” at wedding parties is common with all people all across the UK (though I’m open to learning otherwise).
Have gifts on hand. Imagine how much it would have impressed Kunis if Stark had been able to pull out a Watford jersey—even a yellow one.

(Kevin Fallon, “Chris Stark, Man behind BBC’s Hilarious Mila Kunis Interview, Speaks,” The Daily Beast, March 5, 2013)

[photo: "A Watford Football Shirt under the Beavers Uniform," by Steve Bowbrick, used under a Creative Commons license]

Fake News: You Can Fool Some of the World All of the Time

Published March 15, 2013 cross cultural , global Leave a Comment
Tags: Bangladesh, China, Dennis Rodman, fake news, Harper's, Iran, Kim Jong-Un, NewsBuiscuit, North Korea, The Onion, This Is That, visual allergies

No matter how you slice it, some people in some countries are just so gullible.

Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of North Korea, has had a busy few weeks. Not only did he watch a basketball game in the company of Dennis Rodman, but he also threatened to launch a nuclear missile at the US. He sure knows how to grab the headlines.

Phony News Is Still News
But the dictator whom Rodman calls “awesome” isn’t new to being in the news. Take for instance when The Onion last year named him the “Sexiest Man Alive.” Of course, you and I know that The Onion is a satirical news outlet, so everything it reports is fake news. But it appears that others outside our borders are not so savvy.

Following the bogus proclamation, the People’s Daily in China jumped on board, running its own story on Kim—including 55-photos of the dictator—and borrowing quotations from The Onion, such as

With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-born heart-throb is every woman’s dream come true.

Will Tracy, editor of The Onion, told BBC that he’s not surprised. ”I mean, this kind of thing has happened in different forms before,” he said, “so it never totally takes us by surprise, although it’s a total delight whenever it does happen.”

Not the First Time
When has it happened before? Well, 10 years earlier, the Beijing Evening News reworked (without attribution) another story from The Onion, “Congress Threatens to Leave D.C. Unless New Capitol Is Built.”

But China hasn’t been The Onion‘s only victim. Two Bangladeshi newspapers, The Daily Manab Zamin and The New Nation, issued apologies in 2009 after running stories based on an Onion article titled “Conspiracy Theorist Convinces Neil Armstrong Moon Landing Was Faked.”

Last year, the Iranian news agency Fars apologized as well, after publishing a story based on The Onion‘s “Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama.” In the agency’s defense, Fars’ editor-in-chief wrote,

Although it does not justify our mistake, we do believe that if a free opinion poll is conducted in the US, a majority of Americans would prefer anyone outside the US political system to President Barack Obama and American statesmen.

And in December 2012, Ghana’s SpyGhana republished a satirical news story that came from NewsBiscuit, originally titled “Mike Tyson Sex Change Operation ‘a Complete Success’, Say Surgeons.”

Good Thing the US Is Safe
What is it that makes the rest of the world so easily taken in by satire? You’d never read about an American publication believing foreign-born fake news.

For instance, a magazine like Harper’s would never be duped by a report on something like “visual allergies” from, say, the satirical program This Is That of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Harper’s, in its “Findings” section last month, wouldn’t have written, “A Canadian student sued her university for failing to accommodate her allergies to cactuses, escalators, tall people, and mauve,” as if it were true and then wouldn’t have had to follow up in its March issue with “We regret the error.” Of course, that kind of thing would never, ever happen here. Right?

(“China Paper Carries Onion Kim Jong-un ‘Heart-Throb’ Spoof,” BBC News, November 28, 2012; Henry Chu, “U.S. Satire Tricks Beijing Paper,” SFGate, June 8, 2002; “Bangladeshi Newspapers Duped by The Onion’s Spoof Moon Landing Story,” The Telegraph, September 4, 2009; “Iran’s Fars Agency Sorry for Running the Onion Spoof Story,” BBC News, September 30, 2012; Sydney Smith, “Mike Tyson Sex Change Hoax, Part 2,” iMediaEthics, January 16, 2013; “Findings,” Harper’s, February 2013)

[photo: "Red Onion Slice," by Earl, used under a Creative Commons license]

A Little Slice of Germany on a Mountainside in South Korea

Published March 12, 2013 cross cultural , expats , film and video , home , repats , reverse culture stress Leave a Comment
Tags: American Village, German Village, homesickness, Korean American Village, South Korea, West Germany

As I was finishing up writing about China’s penchant for imitating foreign architecture, I thought I’d end with something like “Not to be left behind, South Korea has its own German village.” But when I looked into the history of that town, I realized it deserved more attention, so . . . here it is:

In the early 1960s, South Korea’s economy was in shambles. Unemployment was high, and per capita annual income was low (only US$87 in 1961). In order to help the desperate situation, in 1962, the government began sending its citizens to work in West Germany. This continued until 1973, when West Germany stopped accepting gastarbeiters, or guest workers. Over that time, more than 8,000 miners and 13,000 nurses made the move, sending most of the money they earned back to family in South Korea. In all, they contributed US$50 million to the Korean economy, and in exchange for the influx of needed workers, West Germany gave South Korea credit at reduced rates.

When President Park Chung-Hee visited West Germany in 1964, he met with about 300 Korean miners and nurses. According to an article in The Chosun Ilbo, Park told the group,

Let’s work for the honor of our country. Even if we can’t achieve it during our lifetime, let’s work hard for the sake of our children so that they can live in prosperity like everyone else.

The president’s speech ended when he choked up with emotion, and the final strains of the Korean national anthem were nearly drowned out by all of the crying.

Years later, South Korea showed its appreciation for the sacrifice of those who went to Germany by inviting them and their families back to take advantage of discounted plots of land. Namhae County, in 2002, even founded Dogil Maeul, or German Village, on a mountainside overlooking the ocean. The community is open to those returnees who spent at least 20 years in Germany and who want to build a subsidized house following a prescribed German style.

Buim Ulmer, from South Korea, and her German husband, Ulrich, moved to German Village in 2006. She told Spiegel Online last year that she came back because she “didn’t want to take [her] homesickness to the grave.” But she still doesn’t feel completely comfortable in Korea. For instance, her Korean, she says, is the Korean from “40 years ago.” And while Ulrich says, “My home is where my wife is,” Buim disagrees: “We have no home, there is always something missing.”

In the Engelfried family, too, the German husband seems more content living in South Korea than his Korean wife. Wilhelm Engelfried has lived in German Village for more than 10 years. ”It would hurt me to leave here,” he tells Spiegel Online, but his wife, concerned about issues such as healthcare, wants to move back to Germany: “What should I do here if he gets sick? How should I take care of him?”

In a 2005 New York Times article, former miner Bai Jung-Il says, ”I left when I was 26; I’m now 65. I’m more accustomed to the customs in Germany and the people there. When I come here, I feel I’ve come to a foreign country.” During his time in Germany, Bai became a home builder, and back in South Korea, he refused to follow the home designs provided by Namhae County. ”The other houses here are German on the outside but on the inside they’re Korean,” he said. “Only my house will be German on the inside and outside.”

Take a look at this trailer for a documentary by Cho Sung-Hyung on German Village. The film is titled Endstation der Sehnsüchte, or Home from Home:

The head of Namhae County, Ha Young-Je, told The New York Times that one problem with the village is that some residents still live in Germany and make their house in Korea a holiday home, traveling back to Europe every nine months to retain their citizenship there.

At the time the article was written, Namhae County was making plans for an American town for returning Korean-American retirees. One difference from its German counterpart is that people who move there would need to give up their foreign citizenship, said Ha, requiring them to live in South Korea full-time.

Since then, American Village has been completed, and you can see photos of it at the blog Daniel’s Rants. (I particularly like the entryway sporting a miniature Statue of Liberty.)

And for Korean Americans looking for a more urban experience to return to, there’s Korean American Village, scheduled to be built in the Songdo International Business District. The Korea Economic Daily reports that the finished multi-structure high-rise project will contain over 3,000 residential units, including apartments, office-residence complexes, and residence hotels.

(“60 Years of the Republic: Koreans Go to Work in West Germany,” The Chosun Ilbo, July 18, 2008; Manfred Ertel, “Weisswurst and Beer: Tourists Flock to South Korea’s ‘German Village,’” Spiegel Online, July 12, 2012; Norimitsu Onishi, “In a Corner of South Korea, A Taste of German Living,” The New York Times, August 9 2005; “Korean-Americans Flocking to Songdo for Residential Town Development Project,” The Korea Economic Daily, November 16, 2012)

[photo: "More German Houses," by Ian Burrett, used under a Creative Commons license]

Sorry You Weren’t the One to Buy “Afghan Girl”

Published February 15, 2013 cross cultural , global , photos 2 Comments
Tags: Afghan Girl, auction, Christie's, eyes, N.C. Wyeth, National Geographic, photography, Steve McCurry, The Duel on the Beach

My apologies.

It’s been more than two months since the National Geographic auction at Christie’s, and I need to set something right.

It’s quite likely that at least one of you, dear readers, saw my post about the sale of Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl at auction, arrived at Christie’s on December 6 with only $12,000 in your pocket, and watched in horror as other bidders immediately left you behind . . . far behind . . . so far behind that you weren’t able to lift your paddle even once.

The pre-auction estimate that I quoted for McCurry’s iconic photo was indeed cited at $8,000 to $12,000 in October, but the estimate listed on Christie’s website, where the photo was displayed, was $30,000 to $50,000. Not that that would have helped a lot anyway, as the print’s winning bid came in at a whopping $178,900 (with the buyer’s premium added to the “hammer price”).

And Afghan Girl wasn’t the only item to bring in an enormous amount of money. N.C. Wyeth’s Duel on the Beach topped the sale at $1,082,500. The entire auction brought in $3,776,587.

I was wondering what would make a print of a photograph worth so much. The anonymous buyer didn’t get the original Kodachrome slide. He didn’t purchase future licensing rights. And he didn’t buy the last copy of the photo ever made.

I think I’ve figured it out, though. The print is signed, of course, and dated. But then comes the really special part. Next to the signature is the marking “1/1.”

That does it for me. Not 1 of 200 or 1 of 10 . . . but 1 of 1.

Afghan Girl truly is an iconic photo. Monica Hess of The Washington Post calls it “the photograph of photographs of photographs” and then describes “the ragged red scarf, the scissors-sharp green eyes, the hungry, hunted, haunted beauty.”

Ah, yes, the eyes.

If you’d like to get a better view of what $178,900 got for one bidder, do this: Go to this link—which will bring you a larger-than-life image of Christie’s “Sale 2603 / Lot 194″—and click on the zoom-in symbol a few times. Re-center the photo and look into those “scissors-sharp green eyes.”

Those eyes. Two of two.

(Monica Hess, “National Geographic’s Auction of Images Fetches $3.8 million,” The Washington Post, December 6, 2012)

[photo: "Steve McCurry: On the Outside Looking In," by Steve Evans, used under a Creative Commons license]

Is This the Africa You Know?

Published January 29, 2013 cross cultural , film and video , imports and exports , relief and development 2 Comments
Tags: Africa, Africa for Norway, Hollywood, Kenya, Mama Hope, misconceptions about africa, My Africa Is, Norway, Radi-Aid, This Is My Africa

“What do you know about Africa?”

That’s the question that the producers of My Africa Is asked pedestrians on the streets of New York. Not surprisingly, the answers they received showed a lack of knowledge mixed with an abundance of stereotypes. But there was also a desire to learn more about the continent.

To help us all in our education, here are five videos that creatively take on the task of tearing down common misconceptions about Africa and replacing them with a more complete picture:

The first video is from the Kickstarter campaign of My Africa Is, a proposed documentary series. (The campaign ended in July of last year, without reaching its goal.)

My Africa Is Kickstarter Video

“We know what you’ve seen and heard about Africa—what they think is happening, what they think she needs, what they think she is. The four things that come to mind when people think of Africa are population, problems, poverty, and promise unfulfilled . . . but that’s not the whole story.”

The next two come from Mama Hope, part of its video campaign “Stop the Pity. Unlock the Potential.”

African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes

“If people believed only what they saw in movies, they would think we are all warlords who love violence.”

Call Me Hope

“It is only when people are no longer seen through the stereotypes of poverty that we can begin to see we are not so different from each other.”

The following video is from Radi-Aid, inspired by the Live Aid concerts of the mid 1980s.

Africa for Norway

“Imagine if every person in Africa saw the ‘Africa for Norway’-video, and this was the only information they ever got about Norway. What would they think about Norway?”

And finally, here’s a clip from the documentary This Is My Africa, in which interviewees imagine the Africa of the future.

This Is My Africa—Excerpt—Africa 2060

“Created to reveal a more personal vision of the continent by weaving together the personal memories, tastes and experiences of 21 Africans and Africaphiles, This Is My Africa has been described as a 50-minute crash course in African culture.”

Clearing Customs

Archive for the 'cross cultural' Category

Wrapping Our Western Minds around Yoga . . . and Bindis and Other Things Hindu

A Scholar, a Footballer, and a Tourist Walk into a Foreign Country . . .

Asian-American Stereotypes: “A Whole Different Issue”

Pitt Pal: Facilitating Friendships with International Students

Preschooler Lessons in Taiwan

10 Lessons for Cross-Cultural Conversations from That Mila Kunis Interview

Fake News: You Can Fool Some of the World All of the Time

A Little Slice of Germany on a Mountainside in South Korea

Sorry You Weren’t the One to Buy “Afghan Girl”

Is This the Africa You Know?

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