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Multicultural Moments - a periodic newsletter with brief items of note on our multicultural lives (Newsletter #17.01.10).  See prior editions in our Archives.    

As the year 2010 draws to a close, a few multicultural highlights come to mind.  Many set the stage for the next decade:

►Numerous global companies have published success stories about how creating an inclusive and culturally knowledgeable environment in their workplaces has created multiple rewards.  Some recent examples:  Intel, McDonald's, Nippon, PepsiCo, IBM, Wal-Mart, Kraft, Macy's, and Corning (to name just a few), as well as "mom-and-pop" multinationals.

►With populations aging worldwide, companies are keeping their graying employees longer for their experience, education and skills.

►On the other hand, those younger folks who do get educated are finding opportunities for employment worldwide.  I have several colleagues and family members who live in one country and work in others simultaneously.

Cultural  Change Evolves from Collective Intelligence

Early in the year a study was published explaining why, after thousands of years, suddenly humans started to progress.  The proposed answer is:  collective intelligence, that is, the rate of cultural change of a population is determined by the amount of interaction between individuals.  Intelligence became collective and cumulative.  As merchants materialized, so did nations through interchange.  As Matt Ridley puts it (author of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves), "trade is to culture as sex is to biology.  Exchange makes cultural change collective and cumulative....When humans started swapping, they discovered divisions of labor, in which specialization led to mutually beneficial collective knowledge....It is the development and maintenance of larger social networks, rather than technological innovations, that distinguish modern humans from Neanderthals....Globalization and the Internet are bound to ensure furious economic progress in the coming century."

Reinforcing this theory is the advent of global social networking via the Internet, as exemplified by the website Facebook, with 500 million users worldwide, operating in 75 languages as of December 2010. 

It is only when we completely immerse ourselves in another culture that we truly understand our own..

Anthropology Teaching

The New World Order?

In our last edition I wrote about the new global tribes as defined by marketers in commerce.  Author, and Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, Joel Kotkin, ostensiby agrees that the unifying factor is affinity vs. geography, but goes on to define the new tribes as being tied more by race, ethnicity and religion.  These are his tribal definitions in his sequential order:

●New Hansa (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden)

●The Border Areas (Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, U.K.)

●Olive Republics (Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain)

●City-States (London, Paris, Singapore, Tel Aviv)

●North American Alliance (Canada, United States)

●Liberalistas (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru)

●Bolivarian Republics  (Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela)

●Stand-Alones (Brazil, France, Greater India, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland)

●Russian Empire (Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine)

●The Wild East (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan)

●Iranistan (Bahrain, Gaza Strip, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria)

●Greater Arabia (Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabie, United Arab Emirates, Yemen)

●The New Ottomans (Turkey, Turkemistan, Uzbekistan)

●South African Empire  (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe)

●Sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Kinshasa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudahy, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia)

●Maghrebian Belt (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia)

●Middle Kingdom (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan)

●The Rubber Belt (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam)

●The Lucky Countries (Australia, New Zealand)

For details on how he reaches this intriguing perspective see Kotkin's article in Newsweek, October 4, 2010 http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/26/the-new-world-order-a-map.html

"Rhythm is the international language, not melody...it equates to the heartbeat."

Dave Brubeck, Jazz Impresario

On a Personal Note...

Highlights for me this year have included:

▲Participating in the local chapter of SIETAR (Society for Intercultural Training, Education and Research) http://www.sietarchicago.org/.   Watch for my presentation in March 2011.

▲Also the Chicago Cross Cultural Group, coordinated by Meetup.com http://www.meetup.com/expat-167/.   For similar local groups in your area, check out Meetup.com and search on your interests.

▲Reading about the adventures of a former student of mine who has taken a one-year assignment as an English teacher in Abu Dhabi.  To follow her blog see:  http://terreholmes.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html  

We welcome your comments...real stories are always the best.
  Let us know what topics you would like to see covered.
  Forward this to others.

Blog Responses to our last newsletter  (for reference see:  http://starkeygrp.com/Newsletter/MM%2016%2002%2009.htm):

■"Received your newsletter and enjoyed reading it as usual.  I had forgotten about the Indian drums signifying a heart beat." CM

■"Enjoyed your wisdom as always.  Much needed in our global village! I especially enjoyed the "Cultural Nuggets" section!" JB

■"Judith, this is lovely!  Thanks for sharing!"  SC

■"Hi Judith.  I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks for the enewsletter.  It was just a year ago that we all gathered in Granada (Spain).  I am happy that I am included on your listserve and I enjoy reading the nuggets of cultural information you share.  Very informative, friendly and useful.  Keep up the great work and thanks for the continued include!" DS

■"FABULOUS newsletter Judith!  So proud to know you!" MO

■"Many thanks for your e-mail.  As usual, we were delighted to hear from you.  On one of our trips to Russia years ago the route home led us through Berlin and we remember going through Checkpoint Charlie.  The crossing guards had a contraption that they ran under the bus looking for bombs or contraband.  An exciting time indeed."  GW

■"Hi Judith.  A super job as usual.  I was not aware of your German experience, great job."  LW

■"Great Newsletter.  At first I thought what does this have to do with me, but as I read it I found it has a lot to do with me.  Thank you for such a great letter." WS

■"I'm in the heart of multicultural moments this week!  I'm attending a workshop at the NATO Underseas Research Centre in La Spezia, Italy.  It's beautiful here, and the meetings are intense.  Many VERY smart people from all over the world, so I'll try to come up with some good stories for you when I get home!" ML

■"Your e-mail reminded me of the first time I went to Europe in 1961, sent by the Air Force to Chaumont AFB, France, in connection with the second Berlin crisis.  From there I traveled to Paris about 18 times.  I remember in East Berlin they had a number of obelisks, at least 12." AK

■"Thank you for sharing your newsletter.  It puts a lot of questions into one's mind."MP

■"Your recent newsletter is a delight.  When I was in Burma I learned that in the Far East people never say "no," because it means admitting "I can't" or "I won't."  Later I learned that "yes" means "no" if the person incorporates "if". Wow!" JD

All best wishes for the coming year, and let us know your thoughts.  What would you like to see covered in our next edition.  Write jas@StarkeyGrp.com.

We continue to speak, train and consult on multicultural issues (see http://starkeygrp.com/Client/Clients.htm)  Contact us for help with your organization or for personal counseling.

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Judith A. Starkey, President
The Starkey Group, Inc.
3180 N. Lake Shore Drive, #17G
Chicago, Illinois 607657-4867 USA
Phone:  773 348 0421
Fax:  773 348 3683
E-Mail:  jas@StarkeyGrp.com or StarkeyGrp@aol.com
Website:  www.StarkeyGrp.com

We are pleased that we continue to get requests to excerpt all or portions of our newsletters.  For permission to reproduce this newsletter, contact jas@StarkeyGrp.com.

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Copyright © 2011 The Starkey Group, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.  Originally published 2010.