The Cultural Lens: A Storytelling Seminar

“We’re a group of masters and PhDs here – all educated people. We think we just know it. Often, we really don’t!”

Last evening I went to a seminar on College Teaching. The seminar was intended to address the nuances of teaching a culturally diverse population. Dr. Marisa Suhm, the Assistant Director of the Department of Multicultural Services at Texas A&M, was the speaker. As she began, she said that she would base her talk mostly on stories. Looking back now, I find a few of her stories simply unforgettable. Readers, I want to share them with you today. As you read them, I want you to think how our brain can make conclusions which are not just wrong, but horribly wrong, and how much we need to re-wire the brain when exposed to different cultures.

 “My first overseas assignment,” Dr. Suhm said, “was to teach English Literature to a group of students in Micronesia. In case you’re wondering where Micronesia is, it’s a group of Pacific islands, to the north of Australia. It’s so far that if you go any farther, you are essentially coming back!

So, the first piece of literature I taught was Shakespeare’s Hamlet. If you recall, Hamlet’s studying when he receives the news of his father’s death. As he comes back, he sees a marriage ceremony going on – his mother marrying his uncle. He’s shocked! Is this real? Why’s his mother not mourning her husband’s death? How come they’re celebrating? How come she’s marrying her brother-in-law?

I got up to this point, and said to the class, “Everyone with me?” They eyed the ceiling as their eyeballs rolled sideways.
         “Does anyone have questions?” I gestured with my hand to tell them to raise theirs, should they have questions. A pin-drop silence followed. I had never seen this in US. Had it been the law school in US, students should have been yelling by now!

I thought I’d give it another try with a different teaching method. In the next lecture, I enacted the scene – with all sorts of drama – instead of just narrating it.

“Everyone with me?” Once again, all the eyeballs rolled.

“Questions? Please raise your hand!” I saw the silence repeating itself.

Frustrated, I saw the dean. What he said made me stunned. In that island, people look up and roll their eyeballs to say ‘yes’. Raising the hand is considered rude. Further, as there are frequent wars between the communities, when a woman’s husband dies, she is married off to the second brother for protection. So, while I was asking those big questions that Hamlet had, the students must have been thinking, “What’s the big deal? Why’s she so vocal about it?” Guess what could have happened had I not gone to the dean on time! The students would see him after a few days and say, “What the hell, she’s teaching the same Hamlet all semester!” My eyes opened that day!” Dr. Suhm moved on to the next slide.

A little later, we were asked to observe a role-play. It was about a man and a woman entering a dining hall and eating together. The man entered with the shoes on, the chin up, keeping a straight posture, eyeing the surroundings. The woman stayed a couple of steps behind, walking barefooted, looking down. There were two chairs; the man sat with his back against one and his feet on the other. The woman sat on the floor. She then stood up, took a bottle of drink, filled two glasses, and gave one glass to the man. He drank a little and made a gesture by hand, at which she started drinking. She stood up again, took a bowl of food, filled two plates, and gave him one. He ate a little and gestured at her to start eating. All the while, the man never removed his shoes or left any of the chairs, and the woman sat on the floor.

As the play ended, Dr. Suhm asked us a few questions to make sure that the observations were the same for all of us. She then told us to brainstorm the kind of culture that the actors represented. The attributes we came up with were unequal, patriarchal, male-dominated, chauvinistic, and some more. We all agreed that, in that culture, women are treated as inferior and servants. They have to walk without shoes and behind men, sit below men, serve men, and are not allowed eat or drink without men’s approval. Men, on the other hand, are leaders, have all the rights, and have things done for them by women.

“So, ladies here, would you like to be part of such culture?”

“NO! We want to be treated as equals. We want to be able to exercise our own freedom and make our own choices.” This was the overall response from women.

“Gentlemen, please be honest; would you like to be part of such culture?”

A guy said ‘no’ instantly. When asked why, he said that there’s no challenge for men, for everything is done for them anyway.

“Well, we all can have our own interpretations”, Dr. Suhm continued, “but here’s the true story. In this culture, people worship earth as God. Women are powerful enough to touch God; men are not. Women are powerful enough to look at God; men are not. So the woman can walk barefooted and look at the floor, but the man must have his shoes on and chin up, so he does not see the floor. While eating, the man cannot let his dirty body parts – butt and feet – touch the ground, so he must have them on chairs. The woman need not do so, so she can sit on the floor. Because of frequent wars, the man’s job is to protect the woman. This is why he leads her and scans the surroundings for potential intruders. She offers him drink and food to examine if there’s poison; then only she eats. You see, all our conclusions are wrong!”

We all were speechless.

“We’re a group of masters and PhDs here – all educated people. We think we just know it. Often, we really don’t!” She said, “This was an example made to trick your brain. Without being conscious, we see things through our own cultural lens or cultural filter. We try to make sense of events as if they were part of our culture. The reality might be something beyond our imagination. Remember this when you teach students belonging to different cultures. Make no assumptions!”