Friday, January 23, 2015
Weekend Discussion: Cross-Cultural Infusions and the Future
Still working on the photo gallery, but a new topic emerged yesterday in the midst of discussing the Christmas episodes of Mi Corazon es Tuyo. It's been going on since the age of cinema and picked up speed after the emergence of television. How much faster is this happening now?
Probably about 15 years ago I heard physicist Michio Kaku talk about how in the future there will be Global Culture (American) and Local Culture (original culture of each country). I think we're there now. One of his many great quotes:
I'm a physicist, and we have something called Moore's Law, which says computer power doubles every 18 months. So every Christmas, we more or less assume that our toys and appliances are more or less twice as powerful as the previous Christmas.
Maybe the writers of MCET's Christmas Day episode heard that one? Whether they did or not, I think this one is particularly telling:
If a Martian came down to Earth and watched television, he'd come to conclusion that all the world's society is based on Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. He'd be amazed that our society hasn't collapsed.
So would I. It continually bothers me that the most well-known television program worldwide a few years ago was Baywatch. I would love for it to have been Masterpiece Theatre, the documentary series Civilisation, or even Mad Men. Dark Shadows would have been good, too, because it led members of my generation to reading the classic literature that inspired many of the plots. I also wonder where Star Trek is in that grand scheme of things because of its own predictions and the assumptions it made about the future and extra-terrestrial humanoid life.
We physicists don't like to admit it, but some of us are closet science fiction fans. We hate to admit it because it sounds undignified. But when we were children, that's when we got interested in science, for a lot of us.
Star Trek envisioned a future in which entire planets had global cultures. I wonder to what extent this was because the writers were looking for simplicity in the telling of their tales or whether they had a clue that future communication and travel could lead in that direction. Curiously, it didn't explore this issue on Earth of the 23rd century except in showing that the crew of the Enterprise included people from different countries who still had different accents and were still true to their parent cultures.
There is a relatively new Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood where I was disappointed at the blandness of the enchiladas I had last weekend. The waiter told me later that I could have requested to have them made spicier, with more garlic in the salsa verde, or whatever else. I wondered what the rank and file of their customers asked for. In general, was the restaurant's food blanded down for a culture or a generation they perceived as not being fond of spicy food? Did they make sangria that tasted like soda (I have yet to find out)? However, the guacamole was fabulous and made tableside in a mocajete; the guy asked me whether I liked it spicy and with cilantro. Friends who moved out of New York City into suburban areas complain that Asian takeout places need to be told to spice things up because all their food is substantially blander than what they were accustomed to when they lived in the Big Apple. Will this change or stay the same?
Cultural watchdogs in various countries get upset at infusion, often seeing it as intrusive and even invasive. And a bad influence. It upsets a status quo they're comfortable with. However, they are very unlikely to stem the tide, even in the most repressive cultures. Technology isn't a force of nature and nobody is holding it back. It makes these things happen whether it is the technology of communication or travel.
What do you love about this? What do you hate about it? Sound off, amigos.
Comments:
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Part One
Hi UA! This is an interesting subject, and one which I have talked about for a long time.
The world is becoming a global neighborhood and I feel that there are both pros and cons to it.
I think that there is a sad aspect to it as many unique things to real neighborhoods, towns, vicinities, etc., are being lost. I'll give you an example from my own area, Tallahassee, Florida, which is very near the Georgia line.
Many people think that there is one basic Southern accent which also includes Texas as well. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Prior to Interstates, fast cars and everyone having a telephone, people were much more isolated. Accents and colloquialisms were very distinct even in other places as near as say 40 or 50 miles. I always thought that might be the case, but when a comedian came to our local Comedy Club, he did a brilliant routine where he imitated those things from Carabelle, Bainbridge, Valdosta, Thomasville, etc.
Sadly, those distinctions, as well as the people who use them, are dying out.
Not long ago I stopped at a roadside stand near the Florida-Georgia line to buy some Mayhaw Jelly for my dad. The elderly gentleman who helped me had such an extreme and specialized southern accent, that I could barely understand him. I have no doubt that if this elderly man has grandchildren, that their southern accents do not sound nearly as distinctly different as his.
I'll give another example which comes from Elvis Presley's song, Kentucky Rain.
Seven lonely days
And a dozen towns ago
I reached out one night
And you were gone
Don't know why you'd run,
What you're running to or from
All I know is I want to bring you home
So I'm walking in the rain,
Thumbing for a ride
On this lonely Kentucky backroad
I've loved you much too long
And my love's too strong
To let you go, never knowing
What went wrong
Kentucky rain keeps pouring down
And up ahead's another town
That I'll go walking thru
With the rain in my shoes,
Searchin for you
In the cold Kentucky rain,
In the cold Kentucky rain
Showed your photograph
To some old gray bearded man
Sitting on a bench
Outside a gen'ral store
They said "Yes, she's been here"
But their memory wasn't clear
Was it yesterday,
No, wait the day before
So I fin'ly got a ride
With a preacher man who asked
"Where you bound on such a dark afternoon?"
As we drove on thru the rain
As he listened I explained
And he left me with a prayer
That I'd find you
Hi UA! This is an interesting subject, and one which I have talked about for a long time.
The world is becoming a global neighborhood and I feel that there are both pros and cons to it.
I think that there is a sad aspect to it as many unique things to real neighborhoods, towns, vicinities, etc., are being lost. I'll give you an example from my own area, Tallahassee, Florida, which is very near the Georgia line.
Many people think that there is one basic Southern accent which also includes Texas as well. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Prior to Interstates, fast cars and everyone having a telephone, people were much more isolated. Accents and colloquialisms were very distinct even in other places as near as say 40 or 50 miles. I always thought that might be the case, but when a comedian came to our local Comedy Club, he did a brilliant routine where he imitated those things from Carabelle, Bainbridge, Valdosta, Thomasville, etc.
Sadly, those distinctions, as well as the people who use them, are dying out.
Not long ago I stopped at a roadside stand near the Florida-Georgia line to buy some Mayhaw Jelly for my dad. The elderly gentleman who helped me had such an extreme and specialized southern accent, that I could barely understand him. I have no doubt that if this elderly man has grandchildren, that their southern accents do not sound nearly as distinctly different as his.
I'll give another example which comes from Elvis Presley's song, Kentucky Rain.
Seven lonely days
And a dozen towns ago
I reached out one night
And you were gone
Don't know why you'd run,
What you're running to or from
All I know is I want to bring you home
So I'm walking in the rain,
Thumbing for a ride
On this lonely Kentucky backroad
I've loved you much too long
And my love's too strong
To let you go, never knowing
What went wrong
Kentucky rain keeps pouring down
And up ahead's another town
That I'll go walking thru
With the rain in my shoes,
Searchin for you
In the cold Kentucky rain,
In the cold Kentucky rain
Showed your photograph
To some old gray bearded man
Sitting on a bench
Outside a gen'ral store
They said "Yes, she's been here"
But their memory wasn't clear
Was it yesterday,
No, wait the day before
So I fin'ly got a ride
With a preacher man who asked
"Where you bound on such a dark afternoon?"
As we drove on thru the rain
As he listened I explained
And he left me with a prayer
That I'd find you
Part Two
This song was written by Eddie Rabbit and Ronnie Millsap in the late 1960's and made a hit by Elvis Presley in 1970. Despite the modern decade it was written, it evokes visions of a time decades earlier when one might not own a car and have to hitchhike from small town to small town. One can imagine the subject of the song, this woman who left, taking all of her worldly items in a battered old suitcase, boarding a Greyhound and getting off in some small town. It is easy to then imagine her getting a room in an old boarding house, obtaining a job in a diner as a waitress, then disappearing and moving on to the next small town doing the same thing.
Small towns, narrow two lane roads, party line telephones, few TV's, isolation from the "Big Cities" makes it easy to see how there could be marked differences from region to region, even within the same state. Now, with Interstates, fast cars, telephones and televisions in every home, cell phones, computers, and of course the internet, those differences are disappearing and can never come back again.
When I was very little, in the late 50's, we lived in the Philippines for 2 1/2 years on the island of Mindanao. My sister and I were very pale and had blonde hair. We were very different looking and some of the women would pinch us because they wanted to see if we felt the same as their children. I (later) knew a missionary who had served there and said that when his son was little and wanted to relieve himself outside, sometimes some children and even adults would try to peek at him to see what a "white" penis looked like.
Nowadays there, despite being an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, everyone knows what "white" people look like, sound like, etc. There is still a little isolation there as occurred when my sister returned to the Philippines in October last year. They were on a small island. My sister is 56, has pale skin, is slim but not skinny or chesty, blonde highlights in her hair. She had her pulled back in a pony tail. I forget where they were, perhaps in someone's home, but at some point a little girl of about four years timidly walked close to my sister. She stared at her for a little bit, then said one word. "Barbie?" Oh my gosh! Such an example. Obviously in 2014 she knew what or who Barbie was, but was isolated enough that to see someone so very different like my sister made her wonder who or what my sister was!
So, I will end this very long post agreeing that, yes, the world has changed and cross cultural infusions are everywhere. Kind of sad, don't you think?
This song was written by Eddie Rabbit and Ronnie Millsap in the late 1960's and made a hit by Elvis Presley in 1970. Despite the modern decade it was written, it evokes visions of a time decades earlier when one might not own a car and have to hitchhike from small town to small town. One can imagine the subject of the song, this woman who left, taking all of her worldly items in a battered old suitcase, boarding a Greyhound and getting off in some small town. It is easy to then imagine her getting a room in an old boarding house, obtaining a job in a diner as a waitress, then disappearing and moving on to the next small town doing the same thing.
Small towns, narrow two lane roads, party line telephones, few TV's, isolation from the "Big Cities" makes it easy to see how there could be marked differences from region to region, even within the same state. Now, with Interstates, fast cars, telephones and televisions in every home, cell phones, computers, and of course the internet, those differences are disappearing and can never come back again.
When I was very little, in the late 50's, we lived in the Philippines for 2 1/2 years on the island of Mindanao. My sister and I were very pale and had blonde hair. We were very different looking and some of the women would pinch us because they wanted to see if we felt the same as their children. I (later) knew a missionary who had served there and said that when his son was little and wanted to relieve himself outside, sometimes some children and even adults would try to peek at him to see what a "white" penis looked like.
Nowadays there, despite being an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, everyone knows what "white" people look like, sound like, etc. There is still a little isolation there as occurred when my sister returned to the Philippines in October last year. They were on a small island. My sister is 56, has pale skin, is slim but not skinny or chesty, blonde highlights in her hair. She had her pulled back in a pony tail. I forget where they were, perhaps in someone's home, but at some point a little girl of about four years timidly walked close to my sister. She stared at her for a little bit, then said one word. "Barbie?" Oh my gosh! Such an example. Obviously in 2014 she knew what or who Barbie was, but was isolated enough that to see someone so very different like my sister made her wonder who or what my sister was!
So, I will end this very long post agreeing that, yes, the world has changed and cross cultural infusions are everywhere. Kind of sad, don't you think?
I agree that accents must be flattening out. Radio and television are definitely the main reason for this. I'm not sure when it began, but the lack of regional accents on TV newsreaders first and later actors must be heavily influential on the accents of the people who watch them. When I speak Spanish I speak Televisa, which lacks regionalisms and the Castilian lisp. I'm not sure if the Castilian accent is still taught in US schools, as nobody I know has a child who is studying foreign language in schools.
Which is one of the liabilities of globalization. Not that I think varying languages will disappear, but the failure of US kids to learn foreign languages on the assumption that the rest of the world is learning English makes us look like fools.
Which is one of the liabilities of globalization. Not that I think varying languages will disappear, but the failure of US kids to learn foreign languages on the assumption that the rest of the world is learning English makes us look like fools.
I teach English to people of all ages from all over the world.A few years ago,I read that 75% of teens all over the world were studying English in high school. Most of the young people I get have studied English in high school in their countries. I also read a newspaper article predicting that some languages will begin to die out. Technology has made the world smaller as it ties us together.
Permalink posted by 
: Friday, January 23, 2015 at 11:28:00 AM EST
: Friday, January 23, 2015 at 11:28:00 AM EST
"It continually bothers me that the most well-known television program worldwide a few years ago was Baywatch. "
Imagine my horror when hubby and I were in Ireland in 2007, we turn on the TV in our hotel room, and "Wife Swap" from the USA was on. Que horror!!!
The internet has brought the global world closer together and into our homes, along with TV and movies in previous decades.
Anita, yes, our Southern accents are all quite regionalized and often localized. Nobody has a Texas accent except a Texan. There was a time when I could talk with a stranger in Washington, D.C., and guess she was from Alabama. I don't think she actually was, but she was from a neighbor state and lived close to the AL border,so I was not too far off.
The neutral English accent to which TV news broadcasters aspire, along with the mobility of our population, has led to a flattening out of accents. Yet while laughing hysterically at SNL's "The Californians" skits, one had to wonder if some areas still talked like that.
I taught conversational English to adult immigrants for several years. The most interesting accent I encountered was a delightful Chinese woman. When she came to North America as an adult, she first lived in Canada for several years before moving to the South here in the U.S. She had lived in the South for several years before having time to attend classes.
She spoke with a Chinese accent that was heavily peppered with a Southern accent (twang), if you can imagine all that!
Imagine my horror when hubby and I were in Ireland in 2007, we turn on the TV in our hotel room, and "Wife Swap" from the USA was on. Que horror!!!
The internet has brought the global world closer together and into our homes, along with TV and movies in previous decades.
Anita, yes, our Southern accents are all quite regionalized and often localized. Nobody has a Texas accent except a Texan. There was a time when I could talk with a stranger in Washington, D.C., and guess she was from Alabama. I don't think she actually was, but she was from a neighbor state and lived close to the AL border,so I was not too far off.
The neutral English accent to which TV news broadcasters aspire, along with the mobility of our population, has led to a flattening out of accents. Yet while laughing hysterically at SNL's "The Californians" skits, one had to wonder if some areas still talked like that.
I taught conversational English to adult immigrants for several years. The most interesting accent I encountered was a delightful Chinese woman. When she came to North America as an adult, she first lived in Canada for several years before moving to the South here in the U.S. She had lived in the South for several years before having time to attend classes.
She spoke with a Chinese accent that was heavily peppered with a Southern accent (twang), if you can imagine all that!
Interesting topic. Speaking of odd accents, some years ago a Scotch woman was in my advanced Spanish class. She spoke with the Castilian lisp and also with a Scotch burr. Wow! It was so strange.
When I first visited Mexico in 1970 Christmas was not Americanized the way we see in MCET. I heard relatives caution their children to be good or "los reyes" would not bring them anything on Jan. 6th. Some things about our American culture are great, but not everything! BTW one would think this globalization would bring civilized behavior to the Neanderthals of ISIS, no?
Denise
Denise
Permalink posted by : Friday, January 23, 2015 at 3:36:00 PM EST
: Friday, January 23, 2015 at 3:36:00 PM EST
Clearly our US culture has incredible influence in Mexico. For example, we have managed to take a relatively obscure and minor Mexican holiday... Cinco de Mayo... and turn it into a major US Hispanic holiday and are currently teaching the good folks in Mexico how to properly celebrate their own heritage.
Carlos
Carlos
I don't want to say a lot in order not to cause a ruckus, but I am of the strong opinion that when one visits or lives in a foreign country, then they chose that country mostly for the things or opportunities that particular country has to offer; and they "chose" to change their home in order "to benefit" from those very same opportunities.
I lived in Mexico and Central and South America for a good many years with my Dominican husband. Being very fair skinned and having flaming red hair, I usually didn't pass for a native. However, I made it a point to immerse myself completely in the culture of each one of the countries we lived in, because while all were "Latin", each country had its own uniqueness and distinctiveness. Just learning the different Spanish word for something from one country to the next was a challenge (expressed very well and funny in the novela "La Hija del Mariachi").
I tried very hard to assimilate myself into the Latin culture and creed; while at the same time, celebrating those very things that make the "Latin" culture unique---fireworks at Christmas and on some particular Staint's day blew me away !
I feel very strongly that if one chooses to live in another country then they most definitely should learn the language of that country--no matter their age, along with participating in that country's uniqueness, be it Halloween or Thanksgiving, or whatever.
One doesn't have to loose their own essence or personal being by assimilating into a new culture, for instance the Jewish Sabath; but if they made the decision to live in a country different than their native one, then they should honor the customs and culture of their new home and not try to turn their new home into their old home.
OK now you can throw stones.
I lived in Mexico and Central and South America for a good many years with my Dominican husband. Being very fair skinned and having flaming red hair, I usually didn't pass for a native. However, I made it a point to immerse myself completely in the culture of each one of the countries we lived in, because while all were "Latin", each country had its own uniqueness and distinctiveness. Just learning the different Spanish word for something from one country to the next was a challenge (expressed very well and funny in the novela "La Hija del Mariachi").
I tried very hard to assimilate myself into the Latin culture and creed; while at the same time, celebrating those very things that make the "Latin" culture unique---fireworks at Christmas and on some particular Staint's day blew me away !
I feel very strongly that if one chooses to live in another country then they most definitely should learn the language of that country--no matter their age, along with participating in that country's uniqueness, be it Halloween or Thanksgiving, or whatever.
One doesn't have to loose their own essence or personal being by assimilating into a new culture, for instance the Jewish Sabath; but if they made the decision to live in a country different than their native one, then they should honor the customs and culture of their new home and not try to turn their new home into their old home.
OK now you can throw stones.
No Victoria, no stones here, I liked it and I agree. I always like learning things about other cultures and would be sad if every place was the same
Permalink posted by : Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 4:08:00 PM EST
: Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 4:08:00 PM EST
I definitely concur with that. Back in the early 90s my mother visited her sisters in Germany and sent me a postcard with a bird's-eye view of a section of their city where the older buildings were on one side and newly-constructed ones on the other. She said "They're rebuilding everything new there; it's great." My reaction was "Do you really want every big city to look like Chicago?"
No criticism of Chicago, but it would really be sad if all major cities looked exactly alike. I fell in love with London in the 80s and Sevilla in the 90s. Still need to go to Paris and Rome.
No criticism of Chicago, but it would really be sad if all major cities looked exactly alike. I fell in love with London in the 80s and Sevilla in the 90s. Still need to go to Paris and Rome.
UA--Don't delay those two trips. Paris in the Spring!!!! My last European trip took me to Barcelona in January 2014. We had a wonderful time (with a side trip to Granada). I want to go back in warm weather. Many years ago I made it to Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, Toledo and Segovia. Loved all of it. I felt a real connection, knowing the language.
Of course my return trip to Uruguay was especially nostalgic and that's where I felt the real connection. Montevideo had modernized at a slower pace than perhaps other major world cities, so I recognized much of what I had left behind 50 years before and felt quite at home. Though they had their share of McDonald's, they had plenty of open air cafes, a local eateries where I could get good faina, asado, puchero, real dulce de leche and other delicious local cuisine and the coffee was great and so was the cane-sugar based Coca-Cola.
I'm also on the fence about regionalism vs. homogenousness of the landscape, accents/dialects, cuisine and culture. It would be sad to lose the distinctness of different countries and regions within a country--but the juggernaut of modern society can't be held back from societies that want to "catch" up to the "good things" our modern "developed" world has to offer. It would amount to forcing rain-forest tribes in Brazil and the far East to require them to maintain a hunter-gatherer type of existence for our curiosity.
I just watched a PBS program on losing distinct languages permanently and what it does to a culture--assimilation or adaptation. They features the Australian aboriginal languages, the Hawaiian language and Welsh. Interesting how the Australian are fighting a losing battle, Hawaiian is now being taught in special immersion programs in elementary schools and Welsh is now a co-official language, much like Canada has with French.
Interesting topic. I wish I had commented earlier.
Post a Comment
Of course my return trip to Uruguay was especially nostalgic and that's where I felt the real connection. Montevideo had modernized at a slower pace than perhaps other major world cities, so I recognized much of what I had left behind 50 years before and felt quite at home. Though they had their share of McDonald's, they had plenty of open air cafes, a local eateries where I could get good faina, asado, puchero, real dulce de leche and other delicious local cuisine and the coffee was great and so was the cane-sugar based Coca-Cola.
I'm also on the fence about regionalism vs. homogenousness of the landscape, accents/dialects, cuisine and culture. It would be sad to lose the distinctness of different countries and regions within a country--but the juggernaut of modern society can't be held back from societies that want to "catch" up to the "good things" our modern "developed" world has to offer. It would amount to forcing rain-forest tribes in Brazil and the far East to require them to maintain a hunter-gatherer type of existence for our curiosity.
I just watched a PBS program on losing distinct languages permanently and what it does to a culture--assimilation or adaptation. They features the Australian aboriginal languages, the Hawaiian language and Welsh. Interesting how the Australian are fighting a losing battle, Hawaiian is now being taught in special immersion programs in elementary schools and Welsh is now a co-official language, much like Canada has with French.
Interesting topic. I wish I had commented earlier.
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