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Afghan Troops Get a Lesson in American Cultural Ignorance

Afghan Troops Get a Lesson in American Cultural Ignorance | IELTS, ESP and CALL | Scoop.it
From www.washingtonpost.com - October 26, 2012 2:27 AM
Afghan troops are told that insulting behavior by Americans is an oversight, not a slight.

 

Cross-cultural interactions can be beautiful when immersed into a new cultural setting and the visitor learns to appreciate it.  Unfortunately, it can often lead to clumsy missteps that are born out of ignorance of a new guiding set of cultural norms.  Some missteps can lead to great laughter while others can be gravely insulting.  The United States military seeks to train U.S. soldiers about Afghan customs, but they are trying a new tactic as well to minimize these issues.  The U.S. military has prepared a cultural guide to teach the Afghan soldier that they work with about the curious customs that are part of social interaction in the United States but not considered offensive. 

 

Tags: culture, war, unit 3 culture, conflict.


Via Seth Dixon
Charles Matley's comment, October 1, 2012 11:31 AM
Shows that the United States could use a higher quality education.
Rich's comment, October 3, 2012 1:28 PM
We could have used an idea like this quite a long time ago. The cultural bridges have already been burnt to the ground.
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Invisible Children: Kony 2012

From vimeo.com - October 12, 2012 2:54 AM
KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

 

This needs to be included for many reasons.  1) The geopolitical problem of child soldiers and endemic warfare in Sub-Saharan Africa needs to be analyzed from a spatial and geographic perspective.  2) The social media aspects of this campaign highlight many of the traits of globalization and is a major online movement right now. 3) This would be a perfect opportunity to have a political activist moment in your class (seriously, who isn't opposed to mass murder?).  4) We can teach our classes that geographers are not just going to learn about all the crap that is wrong with our Earth...we are going to fix it and use our resources to improve the human condition. 

 

For a cultural analysis of the this video, see this NPR article. Yes the video is filled with oversimplifications and a poor cultural lens, but it has started a conversation and a conversation with students that I feel is worth having.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/03/08/148235430/while-controversial-kony-2012-has-put-focus-on-atrocities

 

The site mentioned in the video is:  http://www.invisiblechildren.com

 

For my cultural musings on the video, see the comments section. 


Via Seth Dixon
Seth Dixon's comment, March 9, 2012 10:31 AM
The video is full of "white man's burden" motifs and (admittedly) the cultural representations of Africans as helpless victims that American's as the sole agents of change is more than just annoying but reinforces bad stereotypes. So I'm deeply ambivalent about the video since it truly is a mixed bag. I was visiting I middle school this morning and students are telling the teachers that they want to learn about Uganda and understand the situation better. What I love about the video is that it has started a discussion where there previously was not (I’ve never heard this by middle school students in Rhode Island). True there were discussions elsewhere, but not between middle school students—and asking for MORE African content to be infused into the curriculum and the teacher obliged. The teacher was smart enough to know that the video is propaganda for an NGO (no bracelets or 'Action kits' here!), that was advocating particular military policies (which we both repudiated). The Political action as outlined in the video is lame. But that is the rub. The “everyone join us and the movement” component is hokey and condescending, but the “do something” and “be aware” portion is the true take home message for me. This video, in isolation isn’t enough...but I see it as a starting point, since all the college student is my class heard about it, what better portal for discussing the historical concept of 'white man's burden' (which would've been covered either way) with the relevant topic of the moment?
This literally gives educators the chance to educate as students are interested in learning. While there certainly are oversimplifications of the ethnic and geopolitical situation in the video with paternalistic overtones, I think it has enough merit to take the good with the bad. The single “bad man” narrative is also ridiculously problematic, since the economic and political landscape creates the environment that has allowed Joseph Kony to operate in that manner. All in all, I’m grateful that there is more awareness of the issue and am hoping to use it as a teaching moment to essentially correct the misconception that could be perpetuated with that type of discourse. While it is tough to isolate the good from the bad, the message from the messenger, these are the raw materials with which we must work, and I’m glad for these flawed materials to be on the table.
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A History of Conflicts

A History of Conflicts | IELTS, ESP and CALL | Scoop.it
From conflicthistory.com - October 12, 2012 1:49 AM
Browse the timeline of war and conflict across the globe.

 

This database of global wars and conflicts is searchable through space and time.  You can drag and click both the map and timeline to locate particular battles and wars, and then read more information about that conflict.  This resource would be a great one to show students and let them explore to find what they see as interesting.  This site is brimming with potential.     


Via Seth Dixon
olsen jay nelson's comment, August 16, 2012 7:46 AM
This is just what I've been looking for, believe it or not:-)
Sakis Koukouvis's comment, August 16, 2012 8:06 AM
Oh... You are lucky ;-)
Paul Rymsza's comment, August 22, 2012 2:15 PM
the potential of this site is amazing between the interactive learning system and the correlation between the timeline and location. If the human geography class is anything like this i can't wait for it!
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UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UN High Commissioner for Refugees | IELTS, ESP and CALL | Scoop.it
From www.unhcr.org.uk - October 26, 2012 2:13 AM
The key facts and figures about refugees, IDPs, asylum seekers and stateless people from UNHCR's annual Global Trends report.

 

Not all migation is voluntary.  Refugees and other non-voluntary migrants often are in their situation due to complex geographic factors beyond their control at the national scale. 

 

Tags: migration, population, development, conflict, statistics, war, unit 2 population.


Via Seth Dixon
Mr Ortloff's curator insight, January 22, 12:20 AM

Good source for stats on non-voluntary migrants.
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Hiroshima after the Atomic Bomb

Hiroshima after the Atomic Bomb | IELTS, ESP and CALL | Scoop.it
From www.360cities.net - October 12, 2012 2:31 AM
360° panoramic photography by Harbert F. Austin Jr.. Visit us to see more amazing panoramas from Japan and thousands of other places in the world.

 

The interactive panorama is eerily compelling...this is a haunting image. 


Via Seth Dixon
Matt Mallinson's comment, November 19, 2012 11:14 AM
I read a book once describing the lives of 5 survivors, the book is called "Hiroshima". It was very moving, the people talked about it like the world had ended, for them I guess it really did.
Crissy Borton's curator insight, December 11, 2012 11:16 PM

It looks like the world has ended. There is almost nothing left,
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The New World

The New World | IELTS, ESP and CALL | Scoop.it
From www.nytimes.com - October 12, 2012 12:55 AM
An interactive series of maps show possible new additions to the world’s list of independent nations.

 

This is great way to show examples of devolution and political instability.  Included are 11 potential scenarios where further fragmentation/disintegration might occur or even greater regional integration that would redraw the map.  These case studies include: Somalia, Korea, Azerbaijan, Belgium and the Arabian Gulf Union.

 

Tags: political, devolution, supranationalism, war, autonomy, unit 4 political.


Via Seth Dixon
Benjamin DeRita's comment, September 23, 2012 9:36 PM
Very interesting and informative piece, I found slide (10) especially intriguing with its discussion on the possibility of China claiming parts of Siberia.
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