Cultural Dexterity

The Age of Information is also the Age of Cultural Wars. There is a need for a new course for students of today's global space called Cultural Dexterity.

Objective: enable students to jump through all the hoops and loops of diverse cultural spaces (physical and virtual).

Example situation: if you find yourself in Malaysia, remember that you cannot point at someone with your index finger. That's considered really rude and can get you a fist in the face. So how do you point at someone? With your thumb. Ahem!

Why do I bring this up? Because it is a physical behaviour that has been encoded into the DNA of the cultural space occupied by the Malaysian people over a period of time. It is part of the cultural sauce. Note again: it is a "behaviour" that is now encoded in the mores and practical living situations of the Malaysian people. It seems (feels like) the law, if you are on location. But you probably are not in Malaysia. If you are, watch out.

Let's switch gears to another cultural space. Let me just say: the "West", as in what is also known as "Western Culture". Not forgetting that within Western Culture there are sub-cultures, sub-sub-cultures and so on, down to the goat farmer on the hills of a village in Estonia. Where were we?

Oh, let's ask a simple question: how does Western Culture perceive and implement the concept of "behaviour" in its cultural space? In other words, what are the forces in Western Culture that shape the behavioural patterns of citizens within that space?

It turns out the question is not that simple. It is interesting to note how the Information Age has sped up communication, so that news about things happening in faraway places triggers another look at one's own backyard.

As if there is something to be afraid of… which could be a legitimate FEAR. How to describe it? Mmh! Here is how anyone with an analytical attitude would face a problem: try to know everything about it. Then look at the information. Look at it again and again. Turn it upside down, inside out, then sideways and downside up… then begin to comb through it again… until maybe you come up with an answer (sort of).

Before doing all of the above, the main obstacle to solving the problem is simple: ignorance. At one point or another in life, everyone is ignorant of something. And the only medicine for the "dis-ease" of ignorance is making an effort to know everything about something, or something about everything. Either one will work (at least).

So what is the import of the paragraph above? Just this: in the current global context of information overload and instant news feeds, if you are standing on a foundation of Kom rocks (assuming that foundation is rock-solid in the current era), why should you be afraid of "behavioural patterns" imported from other cultural spaces? Of course these patterns are, and have been, imported in 101 ways, mainly (these days) through the whole mass-communication industry. Now hear me out.

In the context of cultural spaces, globally speaking, he who has the Biggest Microphone wins the day. Like it or not, it is a fact. Why? Well, you tell me. The human brain is a thing of beauty; I mean, how it works. Even its owners have no idea what their brains are doing. Not to digress, but the effect of the Biggest Microphone on the brain of the audience can stretch as far back as "In the Beginning", where there was the Word.

So in essence, the owners of the Biggest Microphone are also the biggest storytellers in the world. Humans are addicted to stories (the Word).

So when all (or most) of the stories we hear come from a Western cultural space, of course attitudes, beliefs and behaviours (remember how the beautiful brain works) are affected and begin to change or morph into something else: a mix, a mash, a patchwork, a melting pot… or… you tell me.

I found it easier to look at global cultural questions by arbitrarily splitting "Western Culture" in general from "Other Cultures". This might not work for someone else (the brain is a beautiful thing). Given the effect of the dominant cultures owning and using the Big Microphone on audiences around the globe, it is no longer a question of stopping one culture from doing this or that. It is a question of how citizens of the world can navigate the different cultures that exist as they travel through these spaces, physically or virtually, without stepping on toes, intentionally or inadvertently. That skill is called cultural dexterity. Unless, that is, one attempts to level the cultural playing field globally and have everyone everywhere conform to a given set of behavioural patterns. That's the Cultural War. Is it on yet? You tell me.

In Western Culture, take the particular case of the US Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. Note that the process followed to bring this case to that court is itself part of Western Culture. Here is what the US Chief Justice had to say:

"If you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it."

What I note here is: "Celebrate the availability of new benefits…"

If you ask me, the Chief Justice is letting it be known that the court gave in to the fight for rights rather than to a change in the real meaning of "traditional marriage" (per Western Culture). Note that some other cultures would hold their own traditional marriage, then do another ceremony (in church, or at a resort, the "white-man" way), and call it… what again? That's again where cultural dexterity comes in. As long as we find ourselves in spaces with a dominant cultural footprint, we will face the question of acquiring, or not acquiring, the skills to navigate the hoops and loops there. And that is when (with no skills) some kind of Nyamfɨkah behaviour can begin to roost.

Wakikɨki
~wv

PS: With a population of 300,000 citizens, Kom cannot be afraid of the influence of any imported behavioural pattern within its cultural space… unless we have not taken the steps necessary to maintain command, control and development of the mechanisms and institutions that make Kom Culture possible and relevant in the daily lives of its citizens. Then the Big Microphone works, all the time, in surprisingly sneaky ways. Ijaa iku tum!

— Wanaku Verdzekov