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LITR 5731 Seminar in Multicultural Literature: American Immigrant: model assignments 2010
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research post 2
Ellen Kirby
How can we get a better handle on
the cultures in the book and in the classroom?
Our class has emphasized understanding the immigrant
experience through comparing and contrasting three cultural narratives—Rags to
Riches, the Immigrant Narrative, and the Minority Experience.
These powerful starting points have spurred me to
want more specificity.
I wanted cultural measures that were broadly and
evenly applicable, that were descriptive but neutral, and that could be used by
students to describe their home cultures and the cultures they had joined.
This would give future students in the class a tool
for examining their own cultures, while allowing for a more complexly nuanced
understanding of the cultures of their fellows.
I went back to Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers,”
and found his reference to Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions.
According to Hofstede, these dimensions deal “with
four anthropological problem areas that different national societies handle
differently: ways
of coping with inequality, ways of coping with uncertainty, the relationship of
the individual with her or his primary group, and the emotional implications of
having been born as a girl or as a boy” (Hofstede
http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.asp
).
I pulled these dimensions, along with definitions, into an
excel chart.
I also took data, as available, about countries whose
immigrants we discuss in class and put them into a different page on the same
chart, from
http://www.geert-hofstede.com
I feel like this information can help us understand
some of the otherwise hidden dynamics that play through immigration literature,
and I plan to discuss that in more detail in the final exam essays.
I also wanted to put forward some measures that can
help us distinguish between the cultures we participate in in America, so I
added some concepts I have used personally.
I seem to have generated them, but I was probably
influenced by environmental information and they probably need to be refined. I
also created space for students to think about their cultures.
Then I brought information from Keirsey Typology (www.keirsey.com
).
The Keirsey and MyersBriggs information is usually only
applied to individuals, but it seems to me that different subcultures privilege
the qualities of some types over others.
The
Student Cultures sheet is set up so students can describe their own cultures if
they so desire, and see the entries of other students.
Hopefully, this would bring new clarity to class
discussion, and elucidate the way cultural differences can create serious
misunderstandings and interpersonal problems.
I’ve added some of my own information as an example.
Of course, this is not even a beta test version of
this chart, but I hope that some version of it may be useful in the future.
Intended Guidelines:
1.
You can only enter information about a culture you have been part of.
a.
Clarification: gendered culture.
You can describe your culture as a whole and the gendered culture within it.
2.
This is an opportunity to describe your culture in terms that are meaningful to
you, and to deepen your understanding of who you are and where you came from.
Be honest: celebrate and critique.
3.
As you look at other entries, think about how someone else’s values might
provide good explanations for behaviors and attitudes that you’ve never
understood.
Rationale for the rules: 1. This shields the data from
ignorant remarks that might blur instead of clarifying.
2. When one is describing one’s culture instead of
defending it, one has more mental latitude to both celebrate and critique. 3.
Students will look at other entries and think
“that’s crazy and dumb.”
That’s natural thinking, but it more than defeats
the purpose of the exercise, so it’s important to redirect that impetus.
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Culture
(Hofstede): refers to the
way people think, feel, and act. Geert has defined it as "the
collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one
group or category of people from another". The "category" can refer to
nations, regions within or across nations, ethnicities, religions,
occupations, organizations, or the genders. A simpler definition is 'the
unwritten rules of the social game'.
http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture.aspx |
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Home/Joined:
Home describes a culture that you were raised in or feel "native to;"
joined describes a culture that you decided to enter, as well as
cultures that are enterable, ie Academia, Business, Gay, Evangelical |
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Interpersonal currency:
describes the qualities by which
individuals are measured within a given culture.
Interpersonal currency is a prerequisite to respect and success
in its arena. |
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Disqualifiers:
culture-specific qualities or
characteristics which prevent individuals from being successful or
respected, regardless of other factors. |
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Method of
acculturation: the means by which individuals learn and internalize the values
of a group. |
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PDI (Power Distannce Index)
(Hofstede):
Power distance is the extent to
which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like
the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. This
represents inequality (more versus less), but defined from below, not
from above. It suggests that a society's level of inequality is endorsed
by the followers as much as by the leaders. Power and inequality, of
course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with
some international experience will be aware that
"all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than
others".
http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx |
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UAI (Uncertainty avoidance
index) (Hofstede):
Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty
and ambiguity. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its
members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured
situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising,
different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the
possibility of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and
security measures, and on the philosophical and religious level by a
belief in absolute Truth:
"there can only be one Truth and we have it". People in uncertainty
avoiding countries are also more emotional, and motivated by inner
nervous energy. The opposite type, uncertainty accepting cultures, are
more tolerant of opinions different from what they are used to; they try
to have as few rules as possible, and on the philosophical and religious
level they are relativist and allow many currents to flow side by side.
People within these cultures are more phlegmatic and contemplative, and
not expected by their environment to express emotions.
http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx |
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IDV (Individualism)
(Hofstede):
Individualism on the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, is the
degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the
individualist side we find societies in which the ties between
individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after her/himself
and her/his immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find
societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong,
cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and
grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for
unquestioning loyalty. The word collectivism in this sense has no
political meaning: it refers to the group, not to the state. Again, the
issue addressed by this dimension is an extremely fundamental one,
regarding all societies in the world.
http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx |
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MAS (Masculinity)
(Hofestede):
Masculinity versus its opposite, femininity, refers to the distribution
of emotional roles between the genders which is another fundamental
issue for any society to which a range of solutions are found. The IBM
studies revealed that (a) women's values differ less among societies
than men's values; (b) men's values from one country to another contain
a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different
from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to
women's values on the other. The assertive pole has been called
masculine and the modest, caring pole feminine. The women in feminine
countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the
masculine countries they are more assertive and more competitive,
but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between
men's values and women's values.
http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx |
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LTO (Long-term orientationa)
(Hofestede):
Long- term oriented societies foster pragmatic virtues oriented towards
future rewards, in particular saving, persistence, and adapting to
changing circumstances. Short-term oriented societies foster virtues
related to the past and present such as national pride, respect for
tradition, preservation of "face", and fulfilling social
obligations. http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx |
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Guardians:
dependable and trustworthy; careful to obey the laws, follow the rules,
and respect the rights of others. (www.keirsey.com) |
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Idealists:
concerned with personal growth; want to act in good conscience, always
trying to reach their goals without compromising their personal code of
ethics. (www.keirsey.com) |
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Artisans:
at home in the real world of
solid objects and real-life events; will do whatever works, even if they
have to bend the rules. (www.keirsey.com) |
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Rationals:
problem solvers, interested in the most efficient solutions
possible, while disregarding any authority or customary procedure that
wastes time and resources.
(www.keirsey.com) |
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United States |
China |
Ireland |
India |
Latin America
Composite |
Mexico |
Pakistan |
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PDI [55] |
40 |
~80 |
~20 |
77 |
70 |
81 |
~50 |
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IDV [43] |
91 |
~20 |
~65 |
45 |
21 |
30 |
~10 |
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MAS [50] |
62 |
~50 |
~65 |
56 |
48 |
69 |
~50 |
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UAI [64] |
46 |
~50 |
~30 |
40 |
80 |
82 |
~70 |
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