Making Culture Tangible www.afs.org.za

Making Culture Tangible Culture is a system for making meaning of things, and as a result, we all wear cultural lenses or filters when we interpret a situation. “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” -- French Cuban writer Anais Nin The goal of working across cultures is to recognise our own lenses or cultural filter we are wearing and learn to put on the lenses of someone from a different cultural background. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ-qFNrrt0E

What is culture? Music Food Clothing Language Literature Architecture Notion of time Body language Communication styles Social etiquette Concept of beauty Concept of justice Decision making patterns Conflict resolution Notion of modesty Roles Concept of cleanliness

The Iceberg as a Cultural Model When we think of culture, we often tend to think of the tip of the iceberg elements (food, dress, flag, etc.), but the majority of culture is hidden, such as cultural values and beliefs. The deeper the element of a culture’s iceberg you experience, the harder it is to adapt. The goal of learning about cultures is to probe the depths of the iceberg to seek to understand what drives the behaviour of other people.

The Onion as a Cultural Model People are shaped by many layers of culture – national culture, regional culture, organisational or school culture, and other types of culture (i.e. gender, religion, family, etc.) When we think of or see only one layer of an individual (i.e. a French person), we are not seeing that person for the complex individual that he or she is.

The Tree as a Cultural Model Culture, like a tree, has deep roots, and it is important to understand the historical contexts of cultures. Likewise, there are different variations (branches of the tree) in a culture, but they come from the same roots.. Think of all those here, who are from the same country, but are so very different! Cultures also change and grow. They are not monolithic and static.

Fish in Water as a Cultural Model - Like water to a fish, the influence of our own culture is often invisible to us. - It is not until we become a fish out of water that we may realise that our dependency on our own cultural environments or be able to see clearly what the water was that we lived in. - Often the first step in working across cultures is to discover your own ocean and understand your own cultural influences.

The “ORPLE" See difference, respect it, embrace and USE it! Put it on the table for discussion! It can be a huge creative asset! Do not bury it, navigate around it, minimize it, or pretend it's not there. That is a huge loss of opportunity, and often comes back to "bite" us when we least expect.