absolutely intercultural 56 +++ Intercultural Management Institute +++ military diplomacy+++ personal space +++ virtual consuls +++ Diplopedia +++ Pangea Day +++

Danish Podcaster PrizeThis is the second and final extract from the annual Intercultural Management Institute conference held in March in Washington DC. Laura Hash was our on the spot reporter.

absolute war:
Even in war there is intercultural work to be done. R. Philip Deavel, Deputy General Counsel for Dispute Resolution, US Air Force tells of the intercultural skills needed when American tanks have destroyed a Korean farmer’s rice field or when the warring factions in Rwanda had to come to an accommodation.

absolutely personal:
Richard Harris, Professor, Faculty of Management, Chukyo University, Japan has a novel way of describing the proximity expected in some cultures. ‘People from the Middle East …say they love to feel the breath of the other person’. He also explains how distance is measured by the singing of songs by some Pacific cultures.

absolutely Kahn:
Dr Gary Weaver explains a cultural simulation involving a Mr Kahn of unknown origin. Kahn comes from a high context culture as defined by Edward Hall and we hear an extract of a role play in which low context meets high context with amusing results. Behind the fun lie some important intercultural principles.

absolutely diplomatic:
Darren Krape, New Media Advisor, describes how the new media are influencing diplomatic work. The first example is of virtual consuls and the second is of a Wikimedia type exercise within the state department called Diplopedia. Not surprisingly the open editing approach of building up intelligence in this way had some sceptism to overcome.

absolutely worldclass:
Don’t forget that May 10th is Pangea Day. People all over the world have been competing to make short films illustrating universal human values. The 24 best films will be shown over four hours at 18 GMT. Which do you like best? Did you hold an event or attend a Pangea event? Tell us about it by adding a comment here.

absolutely champion:
Absolutely Intercultural has been nominated for a Danish podcasting award because every other AI show is produced in Denmark. If we are to have a chance of winning then we need more nominations before we get to the voting stage! So if you like what you hear then send a mail to nominering@podcasterprisen.dk with the following details:
Name of the podcaster(s): Anne Fox

RSS feed of the podcast (if you know it): http://feeds.feedburner.com/absolutely-intercultural

URL of the podcast: http://www.absolutely-intercultural.com
Nominator’s name and email address (to take part in a prize draw of nominators
Reason for nomination: optional but you can explain why the podcaster deserves the nomination
Deadline for this first round is May 12th. If your Danish is good you can read more at:
http://www.podcasterprisen.dk/
The next show will be coming to you on 16 May from Dr. Laurent Borgmann  from RheinAhrCampus in Germany.

So long…stay tuned!

The host of this show is:  Anne Fox
Editor: Dr. Laurent Borgmann

absolutely intercultural 54 +++ Intercultural Management Institute +++ Intercultural Hugs and Handshakes +++ Fulbright Scholarships +++ Illegal Immigrants +++

We were very honoured to be asked to cover this year’s Intercultural Management Institute conference on the theme of intercultural relations. The Institute is part of the American University in Washington DC and holds an annual conference.

absolutely huggable Dr Gary Weaver explains how vice-president Nixon in 1957 was over-zealous in applying the intercultural advice his aides gave him to the effect that in Latin America you should hug people you meet. The sight of so many totalitarian rulers being hugged by Richard Nixon enraged many and made the case for the establishment of the Institute.

absolutely diplomatic Sherry Mueller, President of the National Council for International Visitors explained the concept of citizen diplomacy as something which happens ‘one handshake at a time’ and expresses her delight at seeing an old film of Elvis Presley as a GI arriving in Germany and being acutely aware of the effect of his actions on the image of the US.

absolutely educational Harriet Fulbright, President of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center describes the making of a DVD about William Fulbright’s life, best known for setting up the Fulbright scholarships enabling Americans to study abroad. The centre is also well known for its role in producing the Global Peace Index.

absolutely stereotypical Roger Rosenthal of the Migrant Legal Action Program surprised the audience by dispelling the stereotype of the typical illegal immigrant. What picture does the phrase illegal immigrant bring to your mind? Listen to find out if you are just carrying stereotypes in your head.

The show ends with some comments from delegates and speakers about how the conference felt to them.

Many thanks to Laura Hash for recording and editing and thanks to the IMI for inviting us along.

The next show will be coming to you on the 18 April from Dr. Laurent Borgmann in Germany.

So long…stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox
Editor: Peter Kron

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absolutely intercultural 30 +++ working in Japan +++ Haiti and the Dominican Republic +++ Hofstede in action +++

Working in Japan – Haiti and the Dominican Republic – Hofstede in action

Rush hour in JapanAbsolutely National
Yogesh Bang, an Indian software engineer, has worked on assignment in Japan several times. His advice to anybody thinking of working in Japan is to be prepared to lose out on sleep. He also noticed the effect of concensus decision-making, hierarchy and the status of women employees during his time there.

Absolutely Educational I
We have another report from Chris Saenger of the Intercultural Management Institute of Washington on their annual conference last March called ‘Does Culture Still Matter?’ This time he talks about their second keynote speaker Laurence Harrison who is not afraid to make controversial propositions as to why for example Haiti and the Dominican Republic perform so differently economically even though they share the same island.

Absolutely Educational II
Speaking from Iceland, David Stroud, a senior British civil servant, talks about why the Hofstede model is so useful in international negotiations.

The next show will be coming from Germany on May 18.

The Host of this show is: Anne Fox

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absolutely intercultural 28 +++ Does culture still matter? +++ Gypsy music in the Czech Republic+++

Just in time before the Easter holidays – Report from the conference “Does culture still matter” – Gypsy music in the Czech Republic

cimbalom

Absolutely yours: We get birthday congratulations and an idea for a new show.

Absolutely educational: Chris Saenger reports on some of sessions he attended at the ‘Does Culture Still Matter?’ conference hosted by the Intercultural Management Institute of Washington DC. First Chris recounts how an activity involving holding two water-filled cups of water can show you various aspects of how you react in an unknown situation. Later he tells us about how former US ambassador, Prudence Bushnell, adopted various strategies to enable a woman’s voice to be heard in patriarchal cultures.

Absolutely musical: On a recent trip to the east of the Czech Republic, the Rivus trio play traditional gypsy music in which the cimbalom or hammered dulcimer instrument (pictured) plays a leading role. This is not a music podcast but music can have an important role to play in culture.

The next show will be coming from Germany on April 20.

The Host of this show is: Anne Fox

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