Chelsea Wright

Dr. Mattson

WRTG 4320

13 December 2018

World of Distinction Essay

It would be folly for any one individual to claim they have achieved a complete empathy

for a culture to which they do not belong. That being said, I feel the Worlds of Distinction

activities in which our class participated gave us a unique insight into the customs of various

non-western cultures. While it would be impossible to learn everything one needs to know about

a culture in a 75 minute class, these activities gave us insights into these cultures and prepared

us for a diverse workplace. The Worlds of Distinction provided us with awareness and better

understanding as to how non-western cultures view certain situations. This awareness will serve

us in the workplace by allowing us to be more empathetic to other cultures and consider how

decisions will impact Non-Westerners.

Too often, Westerners view Non-Western cultures as something other or different from

the norm. We do not always realize that because a tradition or custom is normal to us does not

mean that it is normal or even acceptable globally. Ideas, such as gender, education, and

corporate social responsibility (CSR), are taken for granted as being concrete in Western

society. In the white, eurocentric way of thinking, this ideas rarely do change, but when we view

all peoples on a global scale we realize there are a whole host of other beliefs and traditions

that deserve to be honored just as much. In an interview with Edmundo Resendez, Barry

Thatcher spoke on multilingual writers and borderlands and how each affect the workplace. He

stated that borderlands are places that occur when two or more cultures occupy an area but

remain separate rather than blending together. When ways of thinking, in this case western and

eurocentric ideals, remain unchallenged, it can create issues in global communication. When

the two cultures in the area refuse to integrate or learn about one another it causes a rift in the
economy, the government, and the society as a whole. This problem, Thatcher postulated, is

one that can be solved with the addition of multilingual people into the equation. It is all too easy

for two cultures to remain hostile to each other when they also cannot understand each other.

Multilingual people are able to bridge this gap and create lines of communication and

understanding when previously there were none. This not only improves cultural empathy and

the economy, but it gives each culture access to resources and ideas they had not previously

had. The video of the Barry Thatcher interview touched base on this the most, but it was a

sentiment that was echoed in nearly every Worlds of Distinction activity. Language is a central

part of culture. To lose a language is to lose a huge aspect of the culture. Gaining the ability to

speak multiple languages allows you to bridge the gap between cultures and leads you further

down the path towards achieving cultural empathy.

I have experienced being the multilingual bridge between cultures on a much smaller

scale. The maternal side of my family are all caucasian and speak only English. Those on the

paternal side of my family speak mostly Chamorro, some Tagalog, and some Spanish.

Chamorro is spoken by fewer than 70,000 people worldwide and, as such, doesn’t come up

much professionally or conversationally outside of my family (Simmons and Fennig ). As the

multilingual person who could speak and/or understand all the languages spoken, it has largely

been my job to smooth through misunderstandings and ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.

I’m sure that as our area becomes more and more diverse this will become an even more

necessary skill to have in the workplace. While my cultural background made me more

predisposed to being culturally empathetic, there are others who had the same experience with

languages and cultures that will be more relevant to our geographic location. I was lucky to have

not faced much discrimination because Chamorro culture is commonplace on the West Coast

where I grew up. In fact, more Chamorro people live on the West Coast of the mainland than in

Guam itself. Even though the culture is heavily integrated in the area I grew up, there was still a

lot of explaining to do when honoring particular traditions. For example, the Chamorro people
have complex death rituals that continue for years after the deceased has been put to rest.

Every year on the anniversary of my grandmother’s death I, as her only grandchild, am to wear

red to keep her soul from getting stuck in Purgatory. Explaining this kind of tradition to someone

whose culture has nothing similar to compare it to can be very tedious. The Worlds of

Distinction activities brought into perspective how others might not have had these experiences.

I feel the activities went a long way in showing everyone that things don’t work the same way

everywhere as they do in the American South. Those lessons helped me expand my knowledge

of non-western cultures and I’m sure they helped everyone on their way to achieving cultural

empathy.

The Worlds of Distinction activity that I found to be the most interesting was on The

Women’s Kingdom in China. I thought it was incredibly interesting that this community has

survived outside of the rest of civilization for so long. As a Chamorro woman I was particularly

interested in the matriarchal aspects of the society. Before the Spanish acquisition of Guam,

Chamorro society was also matriarchal. Some traces of that matriarchy remain today but with

the introduction of catholicism and eurocentric ideas many traditions fell by the wayside. It is for

this reason I found it so fascinating that the matriarchal society of the Musou is still thriving

today. This culture was important to learn about not because the likelihood of running into a

Musou person is so high but because it is important to understand that western ideas about

gender roles and marriage are not the same throughout the rest of the world. Western

civilization was shaped heavily by the influence of Christianity and those Christian ideals bled

over into our views on marriage and gender. Though things are now becoming more equal,

women have always been presented with fewer opportunities than men in the western world.

The Musou tradition of ‘walking marriage’ (marriage which has no formal ceremony or legal

baring) seems almost heretical to western ears (Zhou). Our tradition of monogamous, legal

marriage under the leadership of the husband and with the submission of the wife is so

pervasive throughout western culture it is difficult for us to fathom anything else. This video
brought to mind an experience about which my mother once told me. When we first moved to

Arkansas, she and several other co-workers had been asked to attend a work summit out of

state. My mother immediately responded in the affirmative that she could go; however, her boss

refused to accept her answer until she had gone home to get her husband's permission to be

out of town. This is indicative of our society and how we expect women to submit to their

husbands and to be available to take care of the home and children. The question asked by my

mother's boss was in poor taste regardless, but if it had been asked of a Musou women it goes

from tactless to downright offensive. Her boss took western culture for granted in that situation

and had he been more culturally empathetic the uncomfortable conversation and offensive

undertones could have been avoided. Situations like this are the reason lessons such as our

Worlds of Distinction activities are so necessary. They open the minds of students to the beliefs

of people from other culture. This gives way to a cultural empathy within them that will help them

when working with people of other cultures.

Cultural empathy, or lack thereof, has perhaps the greatest effect on corporate social

responsibility (CSR). CSR is a form of self-regulation that businesses instill on themselves to

ensure they are socially responsible in regards to the people and environments surrounding

their plants. There have been countless incidents in which governments or corporations have

tested products that have wreaked havoc on the locals. These incidents come about due to a

lack of cultural empathy and often times have dire results. The problem with CSR is that some

things that are socially acceptable in one culture are not in another. For example, Singapore

contains a host of underpaid and often abused maids from other countries. These girls are often

brought there illegally by companies that profit off of them. These companies recruit young girls

and provide them with documentation so that they can become maids in Singapore. Once the

girls begin working the company will garner a large portion of their wages. If the girls are placed

in hostile or otherwise unsafe working environments they often feel pressured to stay because

they will owe the company money whether or not they stay at the job (Aljazeera). This is
something that in western culture we would consider unethical and abhorrent but remains

commonplace there. These companies are not practicing CSR as they are harming the

individuals that work for them. The socially responsible thing for this companies to do would be

to only employ girls who could legally work in Singapore and ensuring that they are all placed in

safe work environments. If a girl is being abused or is unsafe these companies should have

channels in place to assist in removing her and absolving any additional fees. These things do

not happen because the companies do not have any empathy for the young women of which

they are taking advantage. CSR can also be on a much bigger scale, there have been

companies that caused death and lasting illnesses for entire cities of people. Both of these

types of situations could be avoided if the people in charge of these companies and

corporations were more empathetic about different cultures and classes.

In conclusion, I feel these Worlds of Distinction activities were incredibly helpful in

providing our class with insight to the world beyond western culture and beyond the culture of

the American south. It is impossible to be fully understanding or empathetic with a culture to

which you do not belong, but these lessons were truly a good start. They helped me to consider

how my deliverables would be perceived by a person of a different culture and as such I believe

it has made me better. Although I already had some background in non-western cultures, this

class has taught me that there is still so much left to learn even about my own culture. My

experiences coming from a culture that many perceive to be dying has given me a lot to think

about in this class. If people had been more culturally empathetic, if they had not been so

focused on colonization and assimilation then maybe things would be a lot different for

Chamorro people and their traditions. The Worlds of Distinction activities have opened my eyes

to worlds I never thought I would experience and granted me insight that will prove to be

unendingly helpful as I enter the workforce.

 Works Cited

Aljazeera, 101 EAST, 29 Sept. 2016, youtu.be/xQbd2XZGyXg.

Resendez, Edmundo, and Barry Thatcher. “Writing Across Borders.” Youtube, KRWG News, 11

Nov. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlcvVC7Mris. Accessed 13 Dec. 2018.

Simmons, Gary F, and Charles D Fennig. “Guam.” Ethnologue, Dallas, Texas: SIL

International., www.ethnologue.com/country/GU/languages.

Zhou, Xiaoli. “The Women’s Kingdom” YouTube, PBS Frontline, 26 Dec. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ublvgSLpe7A&feature=youtu.be.