Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Why I'm here
I'm seeking stories about people from different regions of the world and cultural backgrounds who are making attempts to understand each other. There are a lot of stories about cultures in conflict. We've seen enough of that. What we need now is more examples of people finding ways to get along across cultural divides. It's not easy, but it's important. Please send your stories of positive cross-cultural contacts to share with others on this blog. Thanks!
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Great idea for a blog, Mark! My years as an ex-pat gave me an entirely different global perspective. There is nothing like immersion in a foreign culture to focus the lens through which one views the world. It certainly changed my perspective. I look forward to contributing, as my graduate work and teaching included global management. I will part for now with this thought: cultures evolve as a means and byproduct of survival, and to truly understand a culture you must understand its history.
ReplyDeleteSteve--thanks so much. I love the thought you added. Very interesting. I've never heard culture described that way, but it makes a lot of sense. As a historian, I think you need history to understand everything. I know that you speak a lot of languages, but did not know how long you may have spent outside the U.S. Please keep the insights coming!
ReplyDeleteHi Mark, thanks for visiting my blog and making me aware of yours. I look forward to reading more stories.
ReplyDeletePersonally, everything about me is cross-cultural: i have a french mom, a pakistani dad, they both met in switzerland, i grew up in london, england, then lived in switzerland, boston, NYC, and am now in montreal, canada.
i think one of the things you find when you are exposed to such different cultures and viewpoints, is that you learn the ultimate skills of acceptance and understanding, appreciation of differences, open-mindness at different ways of doing things...
not to mention all the good food you get to taste and learn to cook when you are surrounded by other multi-cultural people!!
Talk soon!
-CC