One Week Left

The semester is almost over (well I call it a semester but it isnt
called that here). I have taught four classes since July to juniors
and seniors.

I think the biggest frustration I had was that my teaching materials
were all from an American or western perspective. It would have been
nice to have an intercultural communication textbook that was tailored
to my audience. Come to think of it, it would have been nice to have
a textbook. Even better, textbooks for my students.

The best part was being able to communicate ideas to my students. The
notion of ethnocentrism was really a hit among the students and I
could see them using it in their conversations and class discussions.
It is the kind of word that can be empowering. We talked a lot about
tourism. My students were pro-tourism because it brings money but on
some level anti-tourism because it harms culture. We talked about
that a lot. My understanding of tourism is totally changed, and I
hope they gained something from our discussions as well. I always
pictured myself as a single tourist--one person traveling. I never
considered what the steady stream of people like me can do to a
community. It isnt bad impact, necessarly; but it can be. My
students live in a tourist destination.

One of the most unusual things that happened was when a goat walked
through the classroom. Both doors were open, as they always are for a
breeze, and a goat walked right through the classroom and out the
opposite door. The day that goats in heat were outside the classroom
was less humorous. Goats make some crazy noises. Like screaming
people.

It was also awkward at times when students would ask me to define
words that dont normally come up in a classroom--like the f-word.
They were confused because they hear it in films in so many contexts.
It is a word with a million meanings and contexts. I said it was too
difficult to teach and that it wasnt a word you needed in business. I
also said, to give you a sense of this word--I would absolutely never
say it in front of my mother. I think they got it at that point. I
said it was the "worst" word to say in English. But then a few weeks
later someone asked me about the n-word. I had to eat my words, in
the wrong context I think the n-word could be the worst word to say in
English. Personally.

One day a student had read an article about Hurricane Katrina. In the
article it said something like, "most americans equate poverty with
lack of effort" meaning that in the US we blame poor people for being
poor. The article talked about how after Hurricane Katrina many
people had to rethink their position on poverty because so many people
were put into bad circumstances which were clearly and obviously
beyond their control. The student asked me what this meant and I
explained that he understood correctly--in the US we often blame the
poor for being poor. He said, "Im sorry, I just dont understand. How
can you blame a poor person for being poor?" It is a good question.
I explained to him how our concept of individualism and our belief in
equality make it difficult for us to view poverty as something one
cannot control. We know that people do not wake up one morning and
say to themselves, "I really want to be poor, that sounds like a lot
of fun. Worrying about paying my rent and feeding my children--bring
it on!" But we also believe that anything is possible if you work
hard enough (whether or not that is true, we believe it). So do we
blame the poor for being poor? Yes, I think we do. But we dont blame
the poor children, just the poor adults. He thought I was insane
trying to explain this. In Madagascar, if you are rich or poor, it is
because of your fate--which is directly linked to your ancestors and
to God.

I definitely think that I succeeded in giving the students the
vocabulary to describe their intercultural experiences and to describe
their culture. We learned about all the ways in which cultures differ
(values, communication, power, history, etc). This is really useful
because we often think people are rude or strange when really they are
just obeying the rules of their own culture. It was fun to share with
them stories about my Malagasy culture shock, "Really, are you going
to serve me more rice!" They liked to hear what it was like from the
outside looking in. I also had students talk about Malagasy culture
nonstop. I think this is useful in a lot of ways--partly because
culture can be invisible if you dont think about it. This is less
true in a country where you have such strong influences from tourists
and Western media--but it is still true. I also liked having the
students express their culture because they are afraid it is being
lost due to outside influences. We had a lot of conversations about
that which I think was useful.

For the last week of classes I will do a review of what we have
learned, possibly make tortilla chips and salsa for the class (if I am
not too lazy) and screen The Great Debators. I will also be sure to
give a little thank you speech and say something like, "Thanks for
sharing Malagasy culture with me even though I am a vahaza!"