Posted Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 1:53 pm in Culture, Working Papers
“Eat ye, O people”: The role of food, religion and hospitality
in intercultural relations
Marie Gervais, PhD
Introduction
Multiculturalism has been criticized for what has commonly been called the 3D trivializations of diet, dance, and dress, considered to externalize culture to the “other” while upholding the dominant culture’s perception of reality (Gabriel, 2005; Bissoondath, 1994). It is important not to gloss over the obvious problems of trivializing culture through superficial and dismissive methods. At the same time, from my own complex experiences with accepting, offering, eating and cooking food in different cultural contexts, I contend that we have simply not explored the potential of food and hospitality in intercultural relationships. Food, eating, food behaviors, food social norms, and the act of hospitality, inherent in the offering and accepting of food are intimately connected to cultural identity and deeper cultural concepts (Scholliers, 2001; Lentz, 1999; Kanafani-Zahar, 1997; Fischler, 1988). Understanding the multiple roles of food and hospitality from both cultural and religious perspectives (Fieldhouse, 2005; Walbridge, 1996) can provide inroads into building shared cultural experience. Continue reading »
Posted Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 3:26 pm in Culture, Education
I just returned from a month of volunteer service in Haiti with my Haitian daughter-in-law and my son. We worked for both the Baha’i community in Haiti and for a local NGO called CAFT, which is dedicated to improving the quality of education in Haiti. Our services were in several areas, both urban and rural including and between Port au Prince and Jacmel/Lavallee. At all times we were accompanied by local Haitians whose projects we were supporting, and by a few expatriates from various countries who have been living in Haiti for over 30 years and consider it home. Between conversations in French, English and Creole and across the many people we met in all social classes, we received a pretty good cross-section of information and opinions, history, local humour and on-the-ground experience. During our stay we were not once in a hotel. We lived, slept, ate and did whatever the local people did in various areas so our experience was not in any way sugar-coated. Continue reading »
Posted Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 7:18 pm in Events, Leadership, Training
Great news! I have now passed all the requirements for the highest
level of certification with the Canadian Society for Training and
Development! This process involved a minimum of 10 years in the field
and a doctorate, a three hour knowledge exam,
a facilitation video that was judged by a panel of experts,
a written explanation to determine how the facilitation video met
all competency requirements, references, and a substantial fee…
My new designation is Marie Gervais, PhD, CSTD which is recognized
around the world by the international branches of Societies for Training
and Development. It means I can facilitate and design adult education
materials for any group anywhere in the world and be considered at the
top of my field. Whew, made it!
Posted Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 3:16 am in Culture, Education, Events
In Haiti, our children’s class on Sunday mornings in Linda’s tiny back yard is very popular here and we frequently have more children than we can take. The class is interesting and fun for the kids, they learn how to treat each other based on spiritual and moral principles and the adults and youth working with the children are kind and loving to them, which doesn’t happen very much to children here. Yesterday three children from the closest tent camp came with the children from the neighbourhood area. It is easy to see which children are from the tents because they are always dirty. The other children never say anything to them about how they look, but the tent camp children themselves are very conscious of their own clothes and frequently rub at stains as soon as they notice the other children don’t look the same as they do. Continue reading »
Posted Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 12:17 pm in Culture
Excellent article about indigenous schools in Uganda
Reference: Hanson, Holly Elizabeth. (2010). Indigenous adaptation: Uganda’s village schools, ca. 1880-1937. Comparative Education Review Vol 54 (2) 155-174.
Holly Hanson (2010) wrote an excellent article about the development of Ugandan indigenous schools and their widespread efficacy from 1880-1937. Ugandans who came into contact with both Muslims and Christians became enamored of learning to read and write and adapted literacy immediately into the culture. The article is a fascinating description of how from royalty to local people, Ugandan culture is a teaching culture. Once a person learns anything, it is automatic to teach it to someone else. Continue reading »
Posted Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at 1:09 pm in Culture
Things to love about Haiti
The people: The best part of Haiti is the wonderful people. Always welcoming, warm smiling and ready to help. And of the people of Haiti the most charming and lovely of all are the children. They fall in love with everyone, are sweet to their younger siblings, are respectful and obedient, full of energy and enthusiasm but always ready to settle without complaint if asked. They sing, drum and dance with joy and skill from a young age. I can teach a song in Haiti in two minutes that would take Canadians two weeks to learn. They will sit patiently for a long time and put effort into mastering any skills because they are so ready and willing to learn. Nobody has better dance moves than Haitians! Everything moves and everything is synchronized. Continue reading »
