Food fair multiculturalism
Aug. 26th, 2008 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyrasantae
I think that I have figured out why some of the "vibe" in this place [iHouse] doesn't feel "right" to me. It's not the people. It's the approach to the principles we seek to institutionalize: the ideological agenda.
I have heard too much talk of "celebrating cultural diversity" by throwing cultural festivals and inviting people to take part in and learn about cultural rituals and food. And we are doing this in a way little different than the way our cities do it: we live together, then people throw together stuff like Chinatown Festival or Globalfest or put up exhibits about Ramadan.
We can mark diversity this way, and make it apparent - but it breeds exoticism and not a deeper understanding of our shared humanity. (For example, overexposure to Latin American music and dance has rather put me off Latin American cultures without having ever really felt compelled to give those cultures a chance.) Instead of pointing out differences in this way to promote an interest and appreciation of other cultures as ways we are different, I think that it is more effective to start with similarities. But to start in this way we must move away from the layman's meaning of culture - traditions, foods, rituals, language - and towards values, attitudes, and ways of daily life. The intangible invisibles.
After all, it is often these intangibles that are the source of our prejudices, whether "Muslims are terrorists" or "Chinese students in HUB don't clean their bathrooms." Therefore, if value-similarities can be found between people, they have a basis for getting along with each other, and this should better lead to eventual exposition of layman's "culture" as they seek to understand where each other's values come from.
For this process to happen, we need culture "neutral" events - not "everybody bring a piece of your culture" event (or, "food fair multiculturalism"). Just get people together to interact with each other under no pretense of collaboration or sharing of "culture", and in such a mixed-culture situation, development of cross- and intercultural skills have no choice but to take place.
I have heard too much talk of "celebrating cultural diversity" by throwing cultural festivals and inviting people to take part in and learn about cultural rituals and food. And we are doing this in a way little different than the way our cities do it: we live together, then people throw together stuff like Chinatown Festival or Globalfest or put up exhibits about Ramadan.
We can mark diversity this way, and make it apparent - but it breeds exoticism and not a deeper understanding of our shared humanity. (For example, overexposure to Latin American music and dance has rather put me off Latin American cultures without having ever really felt compelled to give those cultures a chance.) Instead of pointing out differences in this way to promote an interest and appreciation of other cultures as ways we are different, I think that it is more effective to start with similarities. But to start in this way we must move away from the layman's meaning of culture - traditions, foods, rituals, language - and towards values, attitudes, and ways of daily life. The intangible invisibles.
After all, it is often these intangibles that are the source of our prejudices, whether "Muslims are terrorists" or "Chinese students in HUB don't clean their bathrooms." Therefore, if value-similarities can be found between people, they have a basis for getting along with each other, and this should better lead to eventual exposition of layman's "culture" as they seek to understand where each other's values come from.
For this process to happen, we need culture "neutral" events - not "everybody bring a piece of your culture" event (or, "food fair multiculturalism"). Just get people together to interact with each other under no pretense of collaboration or sharing of "culture", and in such a mixed-culture situation, development of cross- and intercultural skills have no choice but to take place.
