intercultural communication case analysis

CASE STUDY

How are Eastern Europeans perceived by the

West?

Since the collapse of communism in 1989 in Eastern European countries (such as Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania,

Serbia, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, etc.), there have been heated debates in the public

spheres about issues such as how Eastern Europeans are perceived by the West. After the fall of the Roman

Empire, the Western European regions became more economically and politically powerful, whereas much of The Influence of Culture on Perception

Eastern Europe was subordinated to the rule of the imperial powers and relegated to inferior social positions.

As is often the case, the dominant population developed explanations in the form of stereotypesto explain and

justify the power imbalance and the subjugation of Eastern Europeans. Eastern Europe tends to be associated

with being backward, lazy, poor, or inferior. Findings from one survey revealed that respondents from Western

Europe associated their Eastern neighbours with attributes like greyness, coldness, alcohol, poverty, unhappi

ness, melancholy, sadness, crime, corruption, and chaos (Hall, 1991).

On the other hand, Eastern European countries see Western Europeans as heartless, efficiency-driven, and

soulless. In Slovenia, a popular saying illustrates their assumptions about the West: ‘In heaven, the police are

British, the cooks are French, the engineers are German, the administrators are Swiss, and the lovers are Italian’.

However, ‘in hell, the police are German, the cooks are British, the engineers are Italian, the administrators

are French, and the lovers are Swiss.’ This popular saying also reveals our commonly held stereotypes: Britons

are perceived as logical and systematic; French people are seen as having a delicious cuisine; the Germans are

often portrayed as efficient and hardworking; the Swiss are seen as well organized; and the Italians are believed

to be warm and emotional.

Maria Todorova (1997), a Bulgarian scholar, argues that Western Europeans have historically created the

image of Eastern Europe and the regions of the Balkans, including countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania,

Albania, Montenegro, and so forth, as the land of violence, primitiveness, bloodshed, and lawlessness. She

believes that such negative stereotypes of Eastern Europeans, specifically, of people from the Balkans, are

influenced by the media, popular culture, and especially literature. Those cultural products contribute to

creating an image of the Balkans as mystical but dangerous and traditional. Most mainstream cultural texts

tend to rely on stereotypes and clichés in their representations of ‘us’ (the civilized West) and ‘them’ (the

uncivilized East). For example, the famous novel Dracula, written by an English/Irish writer Bram Stoker in

1897, displays British perceptions and stereotypes of eastern Europeans, depicting them as uncivilized and

barbaric – a potential threat to the civilized British culture.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, 28 countries have emerged out of the eight

former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Different research projects in the last couple

of years indeed show that Eastern Europeans are still predominantly perceived by their Western counterparts

through stereotypes, such as laziness, backwardness, and violence. Despite the expansion of the European Union

towards eastern regions, including countries like Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania, Western European

perceptions of the new member states to the east tend to be monolithic and unchanged (Volčič, 2008).

Nevertheless, the newly emerged countries have been engaging in a range of public campaigns during the

past 18 years in order to change the negative perceptions or stereotypes that the West have about them into

positive ones. They want the West to perceive them as countries with democracy, political stability, and a strong

market economy. Many Eastern European countries now attempt to project themselves as cultural, artistic,

affordable, modern, sunny, and welcoming places. For example, public campaigns employ attractive slogans: in

Serbia, Serbia is the Guardian of Time; in Macedonia, Come to Macedonia and Your Heart Will Remain Here; in

Slovenia, On the Sunny Side of the Alps; in Croatia, Mediterranean as It Once Was; in Montenegro, The Pearl of

the Mediterranean; in Bosnia, The Old Europe.

Governments also utilizes mass media channels to change negative stereotypes about Eastern European

countries. In 2004, the Romanian government backed what was the country’s first long-term campaign to

change the image of Romania in the West. A comprehensive project, called Romania: Simply Surprising, was

developed to present Romania as a modern, multicultural, democratic country. TV channels were utilized to

advertise the four major Romanian ‘assets’: Bucharest, Transylvania, the churches of Bukovina, and Maramures,

as well as the Black Sea coast. Similarly, in Bulgaria, the mass media played a role in influencing perceptions

of Eastern Europe. For example, in 2007, a 45-second commercial with the slogan Open Doors to Open Hearts

appeared on CNN as part of the ‘changing perception’ campaign to promote Bulgaria as an attractive tourism

destination. It is hoped that public campaigns and media products can change negative perceptions and reduce

negative stereotypes about Eastern Europe. Introducing Intercultural Communication

References

Hall, Derek (ed) (1991) Tourism and Economic Development in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. London:

Belhaven.

Todorova, Maria (1997) Imagining the Balkans. New York: Oxford University Press.

Volčič, Zala (2008) ‘Former Yugoslavia on the World Wide Web