~Culture is an iceberg (only a small number of things are superficially visible, and there's a lot more to it beneath the surface),
~High-Context / Low-Context cultures (The US tends to be direct, Japan indirect and non-confrontational),
~and today, Cross Cultural Methods of problem solving.
These are the kind of things that most of us tend to dismiss as totally obvious. Yeah, yeah, I know cultures think about things differently. Duh. It's easy to categorize these kinds of talks into that wishy washy bin of the humanities, where you're continually surprised people make careers out of publishing on topics that should be so obvious. But I think CET has actually done a pretty good job at helping me get over the cynical assumption that I know all this stuff.
Like today, I was selected to do a roleplay in front of the group for different cultural methods of problem solving. The task was to confront a friend, played by one of the Japanese instructors, about how she had told the rest of the groups problems I had confided in her about my roommate. For a variety of reasons, my problem solving skills that I thought so well-attuned didn't accomplish much--what most surprised me most is that during the subsequent discussion, most of the Japanese viewed my tone and demeanor as aggressive and angry, when I thought I was being composed and direct. Huh.
But the flip side of these kinds of chats may sometimes result in a kind of paranoia in trying to be too culturally sensitive. Last summer, after the cultural training of pre-departure meetings at Yale for my first study abroad, I felt like I had to suppress my own individuality and background so as to not cause ripples and offend the Japanese sense of decorum. This time at CET, a few students have felt the talks urge to hyper-vigilance, wondering if even when their Japanese roommate is chill and says everything's fine, they have to continually suspect hidden problems gnawing away at their relationship.
But for all those narcissistic assumptions that I already know everything about cross-cultural understanding, the results are pretty telling that I don't. I'm 90% sure I was chosen to do the role play because I've been grumbling about my own roommate issues to anyone who'll listen.
We spoke for maybe 5 minutes this morning, between him waking up and me going to school--this is probably the most we've interacted at once since last Thursday. I'd love to try again with what I took away from the discussion today, but he's once again at his part-time job until after I go to bed. Even if the talk had tried to give me a concrete answer to how to deal with this, it probably wouldn't count for much because this kind of understanding can only be built through experience. That said, I'm barely even getting a chance for that experience when my roommate is never home.
After the roleplay, Chichiishi Sensei commented that she was interested to hear me speaking quickly and assuredly in English, since I stutter so badly in Japanese. The surrounding instructors tittered politely. I'm making the choice to interpret this comment more as being pleased to find my buoyant personality that shines through in English, and less as a reminder of how piss-poor my speaking ability is. At least it wasn't quite so backhanded as another Sensei`s compliment when I apologized for a difficult to read part of my hand-written speech: "Your handwriting isn't nearly as bad on this manuscript as it usually is in your notebook!" Um... thanks?
Time for something more upbeat... look! It says Friend! You can buy food from the Friend Bakery at the Friend Mart.
A sweet photo from the 8th floor observation deck of Osaka Tower taken on my Birthday.
3 comments:
Really good summation of a number of complex matters that interact in fascinating ways. Without a doubt, trying to get at deep inter-cultural issues in a PowerPoint slide can shoot, at best, for raising awareness. What the person does after that is entirely unpredictable.
Some students will dismiss it, only later to see that perhaps more reflection IS in order. Some students will become over-cautious or get hung up on the notion that there is always a right way to handle a given situation.
The answer is in the middle: It's a constant effort to remain aware and to work toward deeper understanding without going on an impossible mission of eradicating self.
It's about adding dimensions to oneself, as you seem to be doing!
Nice, dude. Totally felt the same way about the high-context culture in Uganda. I never really saw it as a way of intruding on my individuality; instead, I think I simply saw it as a barrier that came between me and "the other". Maybe I was giving up too early?
Hope you're doing well bro!
Oh no, disappearing roommates :( I had the same issue with my CET program last year, but I figured it was a fluke because I was really the only person in my program who had that trouble. I was never really able to resolve that problem, but I hope you can find a way to fix it. I was also afraid to go out exploring by myself until the end of my program, but it seems like you´re already taking advantage of that route (boo rain). I found it really rewarding.
Good luck! Also, happy belated birthday! Consider this a virtual cupcake from Africa :)
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