An Introduction to Intercultural Communication. Fred E. Jandt
alt="Three women and a man pull two trolleys with kennels, along the sidewalk. A building is seen in the background."/>
Dogs being rescued from a South Korean dogmeat farm. Can you explain your feelings about this photograph? Your reaction of disgust to the picture is a culturally learned interpretation, and that interpretation can be quite strong.
Barcroft Media/Barcroft Media/Getty Images
Dogs were eaten to celebrate Liu Bang becoming emperor (202 BCE–195 BCE) in his hometown in Pei County in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu. The practice was recognized as a provincial cultural heritage. Dogmeat is also popular in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in the south; Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, in northeastern China; and neighboring North Korea. Urban Chinese today are more likely to have dogs as pampered companions. In 2009, China’s first anti–animal cruelty legislation was proposed that would make eating dogs and cats illegal (Ying, 2010).
In 1989, California made it a misdemeanor for any person to sell, buy, or accept any animal traditionally kept as a pet with the intent of killing the animal for food. More recently, animal rights groups have protested the sale of live animals, such as turtles, frogs, lobsters, crabs, fish, and chicken, for food at Asian-American markets. Asian tradition is that fresh meat is tastier and more healthful, that the best meat “enters your house still breathing.” Animal rights activists contend that the animals are treated inhumanely in the shops and are killed in ways that cause them unnecessary pain. Asian-American groups argue that eating dogs and cats is an extreme rarity among Southeast Asian immigrants and call the law and the animal rights activists racist.
In some cultures, parts of some animals are categorized as medicine. In other cultures, certain animals are considered sacred and definitely would not be eaten. The Hindu elephant-headed God1 Ganesh is accompanied by a rat whenever he travels. Rats, like cows, are deified by Hindus in India. No Hindu worship is complete without an offering to Ganesh and his companion, the rat.
Focus on Technology 3.1 Using Social Media to Influence Perceptions
Perceptions of the status of animals vary across the world. However, people can use social media channels to influence those interpretations. The director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare has said that the use of social media in China has grown substantially to protest incidents of animal cruelty. Several animal rights groups amassed 11 million signatures on a petition calling for the cancellation of the dogmeat festival in Yulin, China, and one anti-cruelty message was retweeted 34,000 times by users of Weibo. Celebrities support the protests as well. Actress Sun Li and singer-actress Yang Mi posted on Weibo. In one post, a dog sheds a red tear, saying, “Please don’t eat us. We’re your friends.” Public opinion has turned against the festivals.
Sources: Kaiman (2017); Linshi (2016); Makinen (2013).
Case Study: Weather Vane as Christian Cross
The examples so far have been of practices that could offend some English speakers. Let’s turn that around with an example of what speakers of English do that could be offensive to others. Johnston Pump Company, a U.S. company now based in Brookshire, Texas, has been doing business with Saudi Arabia for more than 70 years. By the 1930s, Johnston Pump was well established in California, its pumps having helped change California’s arid lands into a leading agricultural area. Johnston’s general manager at the time was a world traveler. During a trip to Saudi Arabia, he noted how similar the climate was to areas of California and convinced the Saudi government that vast wastelands could be turned into fertile farmland through the use of Johnston pumps. The first pump was installed in the king’s palace.
Over the years, Johnston’s success in the kingdom has largely been due to its respect for the country’s strict religious customs. All personnel in its international division receive cultural training.
“Making the deserts bloom for 50 years” was Johnston’s advertising campaign in 1986. Ads in English and Arabic began appearing in various Middle East publications early in the year. With the success of the campaign, Johnston made large posters of the ads to be distributed throughout the kingdom.
Johnston Pump poster.
Copyright © Johnston Pump Company. Reprinted with permission.
Study the Johnston Pump poster and see if you can tell why a Saudi customs inspector would not allow it into the country. Saudi Arabia allows no public worship of any religion other than Islam. No churches, temples, or symbols of other religions are permitted. To the customs inspector, the weather vane in the poster (see circled area on the right side of the image) looked like a Christian cross and would therefore be prohibited from being displayed. It took intervention by the minister of customs to allow the posters into the country.
Years later, 10 million bags of potato chips from Thailand were confiscated by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment because toys inside each bag were adorned with crossed triangles that were perceived to be the Star of David. With the perception step of categorization comes a culture’s values, and it is those differing categorizations that can so often impede communication, particularly when one group believes its perceptions are right and any other’s wrong.
Focus on Skills 3.1 Interpreting Gestures
A soccer player in London makes a gesture that some see as the quenelle.
Christopher Lee/Getty Image Sport/Getty Images
Assume you work in public relations for the San Antonio Spurs. All-NBA point guard Tony Parker was harshly criticized in the media for making a gesture identified as a reverse Nazi salute. The Simon Wiesenthal Center (2013), a major Jewish human rights organization in the United States, called on Parker to apologize for using the gesture.
You quickly do some background research and learn that the quenelle has been commonly used in France for many years. French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala was said to have popularized the gesture (one hand pointing downward, the other touching the shoulder with an arm across the chest) to signify antiestablishment disdain. A native of France, Parker was photographed displaying the gesture with Dieudonné 3 years earlier.
Recently, Dieudonné has been accused of using the gesture to connote anti-Semitism. Dieudonné has been convicted several times for inciting racial hatred or anti-Semitism. Photos on French news sites show a man doing the gesture in front of the Jewish school in Toulouse where three children and a rabbi were gunned down in 2012. Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham H. Foxman issued a statement: “We recognize that its use is not always anti-Semitic. However, our concern is that French athletes and entertainers have now made the quenelle into a faddish element, which has the potential to be mimicked by other young fans and athletes around the world” (quoted in Monroe, 2013, p. A9).
1 Clearly, cultural background greatly influences perception. Is this a simple example of perceptual interpretation?
2 What would you say in a press release to be issued by Parker and the team?
3 Is the quenelle so offensive as to justify banning it?
4 Do professional athletes and entertainers have social responsibility for their communication?
Case Study: Airport Security
People from nations and cultures around the globe pass through U.S. airports. In this case study, identify each of the steps of selection, organization, and interpretation. Identify the flawed assumptions.
In 2007, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA)