Assignment

104 CHAPTER FOUR

•

SIDE TRIPS

I. The following excerpt is taken from John Lee Anderson's article "The Assassins" (2002). See if you can identify the clash of two different cultural positions (particularly in terms of mores and values) in the interaction he describes.

( " I )fl

( I )jl

,i"

I met Bismillah Khan [the Northern Alliance commander] again in late May, at his base in Kabul. He shared it with a Swedish contingent of the l.S.A.F. [International Security Force in Afghanistan]. He has an office on the rooftop of a building that has a rose garden and a lawn and a huge, sixties-style swimming pool. The Swedes were giving a Taste of Sweden barbecue when I arrived, and Bismillah Khan and his men were lined up with paper plates and plastic utensils to get their food. They were obviously ill at ease, and not a little offended, since at an Afghan feast a guest sits and is served.

Some of the Afghans didn't know how to eat with forks and knives, and those who did helped them. They whispered about what was on their plites: barbecue beef, chicken, potatoes, and bamboo shoots. They didn't know what bamboo was, and most of them didn't touch il. They had never eaten potatoes with the skins on. A few of the men cracked jokes in Dari about the meat, which they thought might be dog, or pork. Others said that it wasn't halal, that is, that a butcher had not uttered MGod is great" when the animal's throat was cut.

At the end of the meal, the Swedish chef, a burly soldier, announced that he wanted

to wish one of the other soldiers a happy birthday, and, as was the custom in Sweden, he would present him with a gilt. This was all translated to the Afghans, who were puzzled, since they don't celebrate birthdays. The chef unwrapped a bottle of whiskey and handed it to the soldier. "And now," the chef said, "our friend must share his gift. as is the custom in Afghanistan, with everyone here. It will take, I estimate, five minutes." And he laughed at his joke.

Two of Bismillah Khan's aides ran over to the Swede's translator and pointed out that this was a big mistake. Fridoun, my translat0r. muttered, "Don't they learn anything at all about Afghan culture before they come?"' The whiskey bottle was removed, and Bis­ millah Khan, who had politely eaten everything on his plate during dinner, rose and thanked his hosts and shook the officers' hands.

2. Shortly after the tragic events of 9/11, President Bush called his battle against Arab ter­ rorists "a crusade." The White House had to apologize for that remark because, in the Middle East, that word is seen quite differently. See ii you can identify the clash of two different cultural positions (particularly in terms of attitudes). You might find helpful an article in the New York Daily News by Helen Kennedy (2001).

3. At the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women that took place in Beijing in 1995, del­ egates from many different cultures discussed the proposed "Platform for Action'-the document to be taken back home as a guideline for improving women's status. The del­ egates spent hours discussing single words and phrases. For instance, the phrase ·sexual rights" had many interpretations, from the right to say "No' to sex within marriage to freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Intercultural communication during such debates, in spite of a large number of translators and interpreters, was chal­ lenging, to say the least. Yet the conference was definitely a success. How can this event be analyzed in terms of positionality and engagement?

I ,I