[Assam] Cambridge prof: Naga social anthropolgy - reverse anthro

[umesh sharma]

Cultural/Social capital is not only useful in diplomacy but even in business or getting or keeping a job - esp if you are either an expatriate (working in foreign lands) or working for foreign bosses from alien cultures.

Some netters must have seen websites or internet groups of people discussing the cultural or bureacratic mores about doing business in India or China or Nigeria. Now the reverse is happening. A friend of mine from India is coming to  the US for a few weeks induction training after which he will be a senior executive of their India operations.  

Over  the phone on weekends -- for hours on end sometimes - he is a close childhood friend - we have discussed how American proefssionalism is different from India ones. How to dress, how much time commitment to expect during the day or over the weekend - the role of after-hours socialising and dos and don'ts. 

That is one aspect of social anthropolgy - same thing goes for Indian students coming from remote areas to study in USA - and like me had never used a can opener - and learned after six months in US (my Delhi/Mumbai based roommates had used it a lot in India). Same for dishwasher, clothes dryer, laptops etc.

umesh


umesh sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com> wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOIMJKMrTcY
here a Cambridge Univ professor tells us what Social/Cultural Antropolgy is about . As a educator it is quite useful - nay critical - to my job success. Ofcourse, any traveller, migrant/immigrant must be a social anthropologist - to survive .  

However, as the learned professor observes - on an academic level - that has mostly been anthropologists going from rich countries to "third world" or poor countries and tribal areas to immerse in their culture (like he did while visiting a remote villlage in Nepal's foothills of Mt Annapurna and later in Nagaland -- to become a musical instrument on whom the culture plays. The anthropologist gets played while analyzing the culture playing it.

isn't it high time Indian anthropologists retured the favor by immersing themsleves in western/ far-eastern socities and learning their cultures - not as outsiders but from within - the way the locals view their culture. I'm sure  AssamNet has a few who can enlighten us with their cultural experiences across the globe - in remote as well as ultra-modern world..

any takers?

umesh


Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)




www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/



http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/        

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Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)




www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/



http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
       
---------------------------------
 Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox.