Forum topics - Input requested

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04-Jan-2002 08:03 PM

Input requested

Jim

I'd like to write an article for our school paper, but could use some input from international students. Here's the idea & question behind the article:

While visiting a foreign country such as the United States, international students are sometimes asked to share of themselves and their cultures with members of the host country. Such efforts often help to educate local residents and domestic students about places and perspectives that they might not otherwise encounter. The intent is to improve the general quality of international student life by fostering a greater awareness and acceptance of various cultural realities.

In a host culture that is driven by materialism and consumer values, how can international students constructively share something of themselves and their cultures (or otherwise engage an audience of Americans so as to help educate them) without being reduced to a line of consumer products for audience consumption?

Your input would be appreciated. Thanks!

13-Jan-2002 09:36 PM

Re: Input requested

Serge

I believe (based on my own experience) that people from poor countries tend to be in fact much more materialistic then Americans or Western Europeans.

Life in extreme poverty leads us to value material goods much more than you would normally expect. For instance, it would take my mom about two months salary to buy me a pair of Nike's. Needless to say I've never had any western-made sneakers and developed quite a fetishism for them when i was a kid. Some of my friends have dedicated their lives to getting western material goods.

So you can't really speak of the "materialistic" west and the "spiritual" rest of the world. Cultures are mixed in weird and unpredictable ways and that's what interesting about them. Comparing different cultures brings to light amazing absurdities in our life that you would never notice otherwise.

Do you know what was the first movie they showed in Gaza Strip after the end of Israeli occupation (during which all movie theaters were closed)? Right. "Rambo - The First Blood". It was also the first American movie I saw in Russia outside of alternative cinema festivals BTW - 1989.

Do you know that around 1996 Israel was the #1 in the world in DcMartens boots per person? In Korea most women hava a surgery to get a "double" eyelid. In NYC you have to drink beer outside out of a paper bag if you don't want to get arrested...

Cultures are weird, man. I guess I'm rambling here.

14-Jan-2002 01:08 AM

Re: Input requested

Jim

Thanks for your thoughts on that Serge. I guess I'm not wanting to say that the west is exclusively materialistic, and that the rest of the world is someone more spiritual by comparison. I'm just guessing that the overt materialism of the west would have to be a bit of a turn-off to anyone being asked to make a display of themselves for the benefit of the school's public relations campaign.

I imagine athletes get a bit annoyed with that too. They're always being used for the purposes of the alumni association. But then countries to the same thing with the Olympics. (If your athletes are the best, the regime is somehow legitimate.)

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