Writers and translators discussed Intercultural Dialogues in literary congress

Writers and Literary Translators’ International Congress ( WALTIC) held in Swedish Capital, Stockholm, from June 29 to July 2, 2008. The Swedish Writers’ Union (SFF) was the organizer of the event. As the union put it WALTIC’s main focus were on “three urgent global issues: Literacy, Intercultural Dialogue and Digitalization”.

“WALTIC is a global arena for collaboration, creating opinion and achieving change... The theme “Intercultural Dialogues” is the most comprehensive of the three themes of the congress; therefore we will dedicate several seminars and round table discussions to literature dealing with movement in the world”, the WALTIC organizers said before the beginning of the congress.

Translators facilitate the relationship between cultures. Translators are important people in conveying knowledge in a globalized world. One of the main topics of the congress was Translation. People in different events of the congress strive to discuss new ways for raising the status of translators. Also the ways of appropriate conveying of experiences between different languages and cultures were discussed.

Digitalization and its rule in literary production was another topic of the congress. The main concern was how writers and translators can utilize new communication technologies like internet to promote intercultural dialogue and human rights. Furthermore, with the rapid expansion of internet, new issues regarding to copyright and freedom of speech have been raised. These new issues alongside with new ways of reinforcing democracy were also discussed.

In the event, Over 600 participant writers and intellectuals from around the world decried censorship. Also President of the Swedish Writers' Union Mats Söderlund criticized the cultural policy of the Swedish Government, which he claimed is more or less blind to the crucial role of literature for social development. Nearly 400 people have signed the WALTIC resolution to increase literacy, safeguard freedom of speech and strengthen authors’ rights.

According to SFF authorities the next WALTIC congress is scheduled for 2010.

Speaking Through Weapon

Dead Man (1996)

Written and Directed By Jim Jarmusch

Cast: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, Robert Mitchum, Mili Avital, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina

Editing by Jay Rabinowitz

Cinematography: Robby Muller

Music by Neil Young

Running Time: 121 Minutes


“Some Are Born to Endless Night” – William Blake

“Your poetry will be written with blood” – Nobody

Strange is the first thing burst into your mind after watching Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. An eccentric western fabulously filmed in black and white.
William Blake (Johnny Depp) is an accountant who is looking for a job in the western town of Machine. When he arrives in Machine he learned that his would-be employer, John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) has filled the position. Dickinson is the owner of Dickinson Metal Works. He is a man with a gun always stuck in his hands and yelling at a stuffed bear most of the times.
Blake, now without job, money and hope, ends up with a former prostitute, named Thel, in bed. Later Thel’s Former lover, who happens to be Dickinson’s son, came to her house and after some skirmishes, after young Dickinson killed Thel, Blake guns down him and runs away.
Dickinson hires three Savage bounty hunters to bring Blake, dead or alive, back. Meanwhile Blake befriends an Indian named Nobody. From here to the end, the movie shows us the chasing of Blake and Nobody by three bounty hunters.
***
The movie is full of scenes of killing and shooting, still totally different with new violent movies. Jarmusch portrays savagery suffered by Indians in America, but never over-sentimentalized their depiction. Jarmusch’s mirror-like representation of the town of Machine and where Indians live, unlike his story telling, is full of details.
***
At the beginning of the Blake’s journey, where he sits in the train, a man asks him where he is going. He answers “town of Machine”. “That is the end of the line.” replies back the man. Does Jarmusch mean as machines dominates the life of human beings, their lives are coming closer to an end?
Dead Man is the story of a lost innocence. It shows how a simple man who even does not know how to use a gun, learns how to speak through a gun. That’s where bullet replaces tongue, metal replaces humans.
***
Robby Muller’s black and white cinematography is distinctive. Neil Young’s enigmatic score is pleasant and a good companion to the movie. Cast’s, specially Depp’s, performance is impressive.
***
Jarmusch is one of the most notable figures of American independent cinema. Jonathan Rosenbaum, American critic, describes him as a more citizen of the world rather than an ordinary American director. Dead Man is probably his best feature.

Media Ethics

Objectivity and being Unbiased are two characteristics usually attributed to professional journalists. Although when it comes to media the term objectivity seems to be empty. There is invention of new stories (and sometimes in the case of photojournalists, invention of photographs) and there is also false representation of different groups.
Another highly important matter is the privacy of individuals. To what extent journalist are allowed to invade privacy of celebrities and politicians? But there are other questions like should journalists pay informants let’s say in a crime story? Should newspapers publish names or pictures of criminals?
Another issue is the relationship between governments and media. Some governments try o control the flow of information through censorship or manipulations. Their tactics vary from ownership of mainstream media to intimidating and jailing journalists and shutting down the media outlets.
Another ethical issue concerned with media is the depiction of Violence and Se*x and using profane and obscene language in media outlets. Although there are some regulations and rating systems in different countries, but this function of media still makes many people anxious.
Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, in an entry for media ethics also mentions “intercultural dimensions of media ethics”. Under this title it reads “If values differ interculturally, the issue arises of the extent to which behavior should be modified in the light of the values of specific cultures”. Wikipedia mentions “Google's self-censorship in China” and “The Jyllands-Posten Prophet Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark, and subsequently worldwide” as two examples of controversy from the field of media ethics.
***

Here regarding to media ethics, let me outline an imaginary (but still possible) scenario. Suppose there was an earthquake in a very large scale somewhere in the world. The damage was substantially great and the human loss was unspeakable. Here the journalist wants to draw world’s attention to the scale of the disaster.
The ethical issue here lies with the refugees and quake-stricken people. Should journalist be allowed to use those disaster-stricken people as the subjects of his work?
Of course there is not any clear consensus of opinion over this question among journalists. Many believe that it is not ethical to use people who are gravely suffering the consequences of a disaster, to bring attention to the story. They argue the story of a quake is such big that does not need any emotional overdose. But others say that if those who are racked with pain does not oppose, journalists can tell their stories.

Social Distance

Emory S. Bogardus is one of the first scholars to create a scale for measuring social distance among different groups. He defined social distance as “the degree of sympathetic understanding that functions between person and person, between person and group, and between groups”.
His scale comprises of seven items ranging from total acceptance of an out-group to absolute rejection. The first one is determined with acceptance of marriage of a close relative to a member of an out-group, and the last is indicated with request of exclusion of an out-group member.
Lawrence Bobo, American sociologist observes intermarriage as the “last taboo” in race relations (Weaver, 2008).
But Bogardus scale also received some criticisms. Some believe that Bogardus Scale measure psychological distance, not social one. They argue that there are people that like each other very much, but still there is a significant social distance among them.
Another argument by Bogardus is that social distance among different social groups in the United States decreased in the course of 20th century. This argument supported by some other scholars. Recently Weaver (2008) in an essay titled “Social Distance as a Measure of Prejudice among Ethnic Groups in the United States” observed “another decade of decreasing prejudice among ethnic groups”. But he also discussed “despite strong evidence that prejudice has decreased slowly [in the United States], the findings of large and significant differences between almost all of these groups suggest that considerable ethnic prejudice still exists”.
He argues that still different ethnic groups in the US stick to significant differences among themselves. I.e. in a Bogardus scale they usually rank themselves as the most favorable in desirability of ethnic groups as neighbors and acceptability of ethnic groups as marriage partners (Weaver, 2008).
Finally he quotes Smith’s conclusion that the “recognition of the mass of prejudice, discrimination, and inequality that persists [in the US] is sobering and discouraging”.

References

Weaver, Charles N. (2008). Social Distance as a Measure of Prejudice Among Ethnic Groups in the United States. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.38(3). pp. 779-795.

Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions

“Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." Prof. Geert Hofstede, Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University.

Geert Hofstede, Dutch anthropologist, conducted a research in international subsidiaries of IBM between 1967 to 1973. Primarily he wanted to find out the work attitudes of international employees. He used a questioner for his survey.

He published his results in 1980 in a book that titled “cultures consequences”. Hofstede believes that world cultures differ in five dimensions. And those dimensions are power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, femininity vs. masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long- vs. short-term orientation.

Power distance, refers to the unequal distribution of power in a society. He argues that countries like Malaysia, Guatemala and Mexico are high power distance countries, i.e. older generations are respected in a traditional way.

Individualism vs. collectivism, Hofstede claims that individualistic societies like the US and Australia value personal achievement whereas in collective societies like Panama and Ecuador people in exchange of their royalty to a group receive protection.

Femininity vs. masculinity, in Hofstede view masculine cultures, like Japan and Italy, emphasize on traditional distinction between gender roles and perceptions, while feminine cultures such as Norway and Sweden, women are valued as to the same extent as men.

Uncertainty avoidance, refers to the extent people tend to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty. Hofstede says that countries like Greece and Portugal are high in uncertainty avoidance and tend to choose more formal rules and regulations while countries such as Jamaica and Singapore which are low in uncertainty avoidance are vise versa.

Finally Hostage’s fifth dimension is long/short term orientation. In an excerpt of his ideas, Hofstede in his personal homepage says: “this fifth dimension was found in a study among students in 23 countries around the world, using a questionnaire designed by Chinese scholars. Values associated with Long Term Orientation are thrift and perseverance; values associated with Short Term Orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting one's 'face' ”.

Hofstede theory of cultural dimensions also came under some harsh criticisms. Some argued that his methodology was not valid. Some questioned the validity of his data and others said that we can not generalize the results that extracted from a survey on a company level to a nation or culture.

But Brendan McSweeney –who is a full professor and Director of Research at the Department of Accounting, Finance and Management, University of Essex, England - was one of the scholars that challenged Hofstede theory seriously. In an article titled “Hostage’s Model of National Cultural Differences and Their Consequences: A triumph of faith - A failure of analysis”, McSweeney questioned Hostage’s assumptions. He said that IBM Company as a micro-location is not typical of a nation. Also employees of a company are not representatives of a country. Furthermore he discussed that the main dimensions of culture can not be identified by a questionnaire.

In his response to McSweeney, Hofstede accepted that nations are not the best units of studying cultures but said that researchers do not have any other choice as boundaries of different cultures can not easily be determined. He also said that he intended to measure differences between national cultures and any set of samples from national populations can provide information about such differences.

References

Callahan, Ewa (2006).Cultural similarities ad differences in the design of university web sites. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication.239-273.

Hofstede,Geert(2008).A summary of my ideas about national culture differences. Available from: http://feweb.uvt.nl/center/hofstede/index.htm retrieved May 3rd 2008.

McSweeney, B. (2002). Hostage’s model of national cultural differences and consequences: A triumph of faith - a failure of analysis. Human Relations, 55, 89–118.

The Other

The 3rd Annual International Conference on "Engaging the Other: The Power of Compassion” will be held from September 4 - 7, 2008 in San Francisco (San Mateo), California, USA. Registration for the conference is Open to the Public.

This conference is intended to address “roots of negative stereotypes, prejudice, and concepts of "The Other" from a universal, cross-cultural perspective”.

Common Bond Institute (CBI) is the organizer of the conference. CBI is a U.S. based Non-Governmental Organization.

For more information visit: http://cbiworld.org/index.htm

***

The concept of the Other is essentially a modern concept. Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt in their book Empire argue how modernism determines insiders and outsiders. This is for the good of imperialism and in Negri and Hardts words Empire. Modernism, they say, with taking this dualistic view define its own boundaries. This in turn, facilitates controlling different people from different cultures.

Other is: “ A person, persons, group, social class, community, race or nation who are not `us` and who are defined by their difference from us; yet who by that difference contribute to our concept of self, as individuals, members of groups etc”

Hill, Anne and James Watson (2006). Dictionary of media and communication studies. 7^th edition. Hodder Arnold.London.p.207.

In this sense, the Other who is from outside is an alien and probably threatening. Edward Said in his reputable study, “Orientalism” shows that the orient in dominant western discourse was constructed as an “other” to the west.

Thus, apparently this otherization process is a socially constructed process. Media can contribute to this process a great deal. They can represent dominant culture’s dislike, disapproval and fear of a group which is entitled as the Other. Media in the modern world reinstate the binary divisions of progressive modernistic states.

A new journal on intercultural communication

“When cultures collide, all kinds of possibilities open up for communication scholars to rethink ‘‘communication,’’ as well as the world.”
Tom Nakayama


First issue of “Journal of International and Intercultural Communication “ is available from February 2008.

“We should always see the complexity of the human condition and the many different ways of knowing that exist around the world.” Tom Nakayama, Editor of the journal wrote in his statement for the first issue of the journal.
Rona Tamiko Halualani, Arizona State University professor published an essay on the relationship between globalization and the diasporic movements of cultural groups, under the title of ““Where Exactly is the Pacific?": Global Migrations, Diasporic Movements, and Intercultural Communication”. In this article she discussed the practice of identity among diasporic groups. Article’s hypothesis was diasporic groups dynamically reconstitute their understandings of cultural tradition, authenticity, and identity in line with their diasporic contexts and experiences.
She used qualitative in-depth interviewing methods to examine her hypothesis on two Pacific Islander groups (Tongans and Hawaiians). Finally she came out with a new question: Where is the Pacific? And then concludes: Cultural identities are changing due to globalized effects.
In another article, a group of American scholars argued that those characterized by higher degrees of independence will tend to perceive any message that departs from the truth as highly deceptive in nature and those characterized by higher degrees of interdependence will be more likely to perceive messages that depart from truth as ‘‘not deceptive”.
In their article titled “‘‘Deception: Moral Transgression or Social Necessity?’’: Cultural-Relativity of Deception Motivations and Perceptions of Deceptive Communication”, Min-Sun Kim and his colleagues used Revised Self-Construal Scale to determine participants’ cultural identities.
The sample size was 664, and research participants were chosen from Hong Kong, Hawaii and the US.
They concluded that the willingness to use the various deception strategies was found to be moderated by effects of the self-benefit versus other-benefit situations.
Also Pei-Wen Lee in an article on processes of relational identity formation within intercultural friendships, titled “Stages and Transitions of Relational Identity Formation in Intercultural Friendship: Implications for Identity Management Theory”, argued that three stages (i.e., initial encounter, interaction, and involvement) and two transition phases emerged within the intercultural friendships of his research.
Lee’s theoretical framework was based on identity management theory (IMT). In his research, Lee used Grounded Theory and for data collection, he conducted several interviews.
Eventually he concludes that while IMT contributes to people’s understanding of the process of intercultural relationship formation, it overlooks how intercultural relationships transition from one stage to another.
finally, Etsuko Kinefuchi and Mark P. Orbe, respectively professors of University of North Carolina and Western Michigan University, in an article under the title of ” Situating Oneself in a Radicalized World: Understanding Student Reactions to Crash through Standpoint Theory and Context-Positionality Frames”, argued that students, regardless of the region, race, gender, and other backgrounds, were deeply influenced by the Oscar-wining movie, Crash.
Kinefuchi and Orbe’s standpoint theories based upon the simple idea that the world looks different depending on people’s social standings. The researchers used longitudinal methods (they conducted the research over a period of 18 months).
They contributed a great deal to complementing standpoint theories with the context-positionality framework.
At the end they wrote: "students of various racial groups positioned themselves in relation to social and racial issues".
Kinefuchi and Orbe added: "standpoint theories also provide motivational contexts for the racially diverse inclinations and aversions".
Routledge is the publisher of Journal of International and Intercultural Communication.

Islamophobia; what Muslims can do?

Although the term Islamophobia is commonly used after 2001 September eleventh attacks, it probably dates back to 1980’s, when the presence of Muslims in Western world increased.
“In 1997, the British Runnymede Trust defined Islamophobia as the "dread or hatred of Islam and therefore, to the fear and dislike of all Muslims," stating that it also refers to the practice of discriminating against Muslims by excluding them from the economic, social, and public life of the nation. It includes the perception that Islam has no values in common with other cultures, is inferior to the West and is a violent political ideology rather than a religion.” [1].
Islamophobia is a form of racism and discrimination, though rarely studied and regarded in this sense.

***

The rule of media in spreading Islamophobic ideas and sentiments is very vital. The unrealistic representation of Muslims in some Western media is one of media tricks that have been used to manipulate the reality.
However, here I need to mention two things. First of all I don’t say some ferocious acts by some (so-called) Muslims did not happen. But the point is, some media over symbolize and over generalize these happenings to all Muslims.
Also by saying that, I do not mean to apply a conspiracy theory to my ideas. I do not believe there is an orchestrated effort among the majority of westerners to confront with Muslims. But we can not deny that there is such an effort among some westerners. The idea of confronting Muslims especially invigorated, as I mentioned, after 9/11th. The cruel act of killing civilians by some extremists provided neo-conservatives with an excuse to spearhead the assaults on Muslim’s faith and culture.
All said, underlines the importance of a self criticizing process among Muslims. I think the key phrase for Muslims is “do not ask what the westerners can do for you, but ask what you can do to heal the situation”.


[1]. Runnymede 1997, p. 5, cited in Quraishi 2005, p. 60.

Seeking Identity in London

“We came to London, ‘cause in Göteborg (Sweden) there wasn’t much for Muslims”, the young man in his 20s was telling me. “Here we have more opportunities to practice our religion”, He went on to say.

***

The young man’s name was Kamal [1], a devout Shia from a Khoja community in London [2]. He was born in Sweden. His family immigrated to the UK when Kamal was 11.
Boshar - Kamal’s brother, sitting next to him - was listening to our conversation with a smile on his face. Boshar, aged 28, was a Computer engineer, working for a British construction company in London.
He told me how his co-workers reacted to his refusal of drinking beer. "They found it odd", Boshar said with a smile on his face. “The most important thing is to make them sure that your refusal is not ‘cause you don't care about them. But because your faith has obliged you not to drink alcohol”, He continued.
Their father, hereafter Mr. Bhojani, was an Indian who immigrated to Uganda in mid-60s with his parents. During the ruling of Uganda's brutal dictator, Idi Amin, they, among many other Indians, has immigrated to Europe. Mr. Bhojani's destination was Sweden.
Mr. Bhojani also had a daughter. Her name was Fatima. She was 16 years old and was going to school in London.
As a European born teenager it is not always easy for her to wear Hijab. “Sometimes school kids make fun of me”, she said. “They thought I had a problem with my hair that I cover it with scarf”.
But it is not always the case with Bhojani family. Boshar and Kamal also gave me many examples of understanding people who respect and care about their beliefs.

***

Boshar, Kamal and Fatima are known as Third-Generation immigrants. “The First generation is made up of people who initially came to Europe to
work. They are now aged 60 or more. The Second generation is made up of the children of those people. They were born outside Europe and came at a very young age, or they were born in Europe. They are aged between 30 and 50. The Third generation is made up of the children of the Second generation. They were born in Europe and they are less than 30 years old” [3].
These Third-Generation girls and boys, all are growing up, going to school, socializing, making friends and working in Europe. Still the only thing makes people call them Europeans is their place of birth.
They stick firmly to their ancestral and familial values. They develop their distinctive identities, far from what western societies, where they’re living in, expect them. They defy the common rules of society to distinguish themselves from mainstream currents.
They reproduce their “selves” in the collective identities of their communities. Religion, here Islam, is a mighty source of preserving their cultural and communal identities.
But it is not always, as some Western commentators inclined to say, a source of fundamentalism and radicalism. Both these phenomena diverge considerably from what I described as an identity seeking process in a postmodern world of uncertainties.


[1] For privacy matters, names are not real. Also any direct clue to their real life has been changed.
[2] Khojas are a (mostly Muslim) community that are mainly concentrated in South Asia, but due to migrations over the centuries have spread to many parts of the globe.
[3] Moniquet, Claude (2005). The radicalization of Muslim youth in Europe: The reality and the scale of the threat. European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center. Available from: http://www.cpt-mi.org/pdf/IslamicExtremism_EuropeMoniquet.pdf

Monsieur

My first intercultural experience dates back to my early childhood. In fact, to be exact, to the day my mother gave birth to me.

Ok! Let me explain!

Our downstairs neighbors are Assyrians. The Assyrians are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. In addition to these countries an Assyrian Diaspora lives in Western Europe and Northern America.

Assyrians are mostly Christians. They believe, they – not the Armenians - are the first ethnicity to convert to Christianity and it happened during the lifetime of Jesus.

This Assyrian family comprises of a mother of over 90 years old and her son in his 70s. The husband/father passed away when I was a kid. There are two other sons/brothers who are living in the States. But there is no communication, whatsoever between American members of the family and the ones living in Iran.

I and my cousins, among ourselves, call the old man Monsieur. That usually is the way Iranians call old Christian men living in Iran.

Monsieur is a man of honor and decency. He is a humble man.

He used to work, before 1979 revolution, for an American company in Iran. But after revolution he never worked anywhere.

His style of life is very different from what we commonly see. He doesn’t have a TV set in his house. Up to two years ago, before he became gravely ill and depressed, his hobbies were listening to VOA English service and to read English Books, mainly about American history and politics.

Now and then I and Monsieur talk about politics, religion and life. When I was a teenager, I realized that I like to talk about these subjects. I was, as probably every man in his adolescence is, thinking that I have to change the world in one way or another. However, not many years later, I ascertained how ridiculous the idea is.

During our relationship I learned a few rules. First of all never tell a man about what he believes the way you believe in what he believes.

We used to chat about different religious things. Beforehand, for instance, I didn’t know the Jesus birth story, the way it’s been told in the New Testament (Luke 2: 1-20). So I told him the story the way I’ve always heard about in the school. And I was stunned when he told me the Holy Mary gave birth to Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem (the place later rebuild as a church and now is known as The Church of the Nativity), not beneath a palm tree – as it is believed by Muslims.

Second rule I learned was that never talk about a man’s faith, unless he talks about your faith (or generally, in what you believe) in a disrespectful fashion. I mean unless you have to protect yourself against defamatory remarks.

And that was not the case with Monsieur. He never talks about other people beliefs unless they talk about his beliefs from their own perspectives.

Well! I learned neither I can change someone’s opinions about the way he lives nor do I have to. The only thing I need to do is to respect those ideas, get to know them, even some times bring them to my life and live with them (I know it sounds a little bit grandpa-ish, but it is true).

And luckily, I learned these facts when I was a teenager.

Finally, the third one is a golden rule for me. And that is to keep silent when you don’t feel like argue about something. Later I discovered the rule was used in a complex manner by North American Apache tribes and is called by K.H. Basso in his article “to give up words: silence in western Apache culture”, Apache Silence.

Basso describes Apache silence as “a response to uncertainty and unpredictability in social relations”. It is an important element when you meet a stranger, in the time of romantic relationships and in the presence of other people’s grief (Hill & Watson, 2006, p.12).

***

“Intercultural communication occurs between individuals from differing cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences are a potential source of much miscommunication and misunderstanding” (Hill & Watson, 2006, p.51).

I and Monsieur are Persians. Thus we have similar cultural backgrounds. But at the same time we have our differences. He is an Assyrian. I am from Azeri origins (Although Iranian-Assyrians usually originate or live in Western Azerbaijan). He is a Christian and I was born in a Muslim family. Even if we look at it from Sapir-Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis perspective, his thought, alongside with Persian language, has to be determined with Assyrian language.

In addition we have an age difference of about 50 years.

Therefore, there is an intercultural, inter-religious, intergenerational and even inter-linguistic relationship between us. And to tell you the truth, Monsieur is filled the empty place of my deceased grandparents.

Reference

Hill Anne and James Watson (2006). Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies. 7^th ed. London: Hodder Arnold.