A Cultural Explanation

RSZ recently introduced me to Beyond Culture by Edward Hall, an anthropologist. The book was published in 1976, and is obviously a bit dated in its sensitivity to issues of race and gender, but many of his cross-cultural observations, analysis and comparisons are timeless. Many of his insights about culture very useful and eye-opening, especially given my own life abroad. The following passage is particularly pertinent given the experience of many English teachers in Japan and frustrations they face when they are asked to move schools:

Yes, the whole matter of being moved like a piece of derelict luggage puzzled me. In the United States, the person who gets moved is often the lowest-ranking individual. This principle applies to all organizations, including the Army. Whether you can be moved or not is a function of your status, your performance, and your value to the organization. To move someone without telling him is almost worse than an insult, because it means he is below the point at which feelings matter. In these circumstances, moves can be unsettling and damaging to the ego. In addition, moves themselves are often accompanied by great anxiety, whether an entire organization or a small part of an organization moves (Hall 1976: 61).

Hall's own cultural enlightenment on this issue came years after multiple experiences staying in Japanese hotels and being moved into another room without prior notice! He eventually came to expect it when traveling in Japan until one day he found all his belongings had been moved to another hotel in another neighborhood. This threw him for a loop. Even as a cultural anthropologist, trained to be expect and be aware of cultural differences, he had a difficult time interpreting this situation because it was not part of his own 'cultural mold'.

In Japan, one has to 'belong' or he has no identity. When a man joins a company. he does just that - joins himself to the corporate body - and there is even a ceremony marking the occasion. ... It was my lack of understanding of the full impact of what it means to belong to a high-context culture that caused me to misread hotel behavior at Hakone. ... As soon as you register at the desk, you are no longer an outsider; instead for the duration of your stay you are a member of a large, mobile family. You belong. ... This is a very highly prized state in Japan, which offsets the official properness that is so common in public. ... Americans don't like to be moved around; it makes them anxious. Therefore, the Japanese in these establishments have learned not to treat them as family members (Hall 1976: 63-65).

It is obvious to me that there is a serious lack of cultural awareness and understanding among both the organizations in Japan that host English teachers and the English teachers themselves! It's disturbing to think of all the complaining, bitching, arguments, fights, and bad relationships that are caused by this lack of understanding. Especially when the goal of the program is to promote cross-cultural understanding! Why aren't both parties a bit better prepared to handle each other, especially after 20+ years of the JET Programme. Unfortunately, it seems like cultural awareness training usually consists of: don't stick your chopsticks in a bowl of rice, take off your shoes when you enter someone's home, bow a lot, and don't blow your nose in public. And in reverse: they like to eat fast food everyday, they can't and have never used chopsticks, they only eat bread, and they all own guns. Wow...enlightening! And totally wrong and not useful! Of course these are wide generalizations, but they are true to some degree.

Maybe I'm biased caused I studied cultural anthropology as an undergrad, but I really don't think most people give enough credit to how critical culture is to every interaction and every relationship. It's books like Beyond Culture that help identify the cultural underpinnings to everyday life.

Just a few random thoughts after reading a good book!