Zeitoun s friend adnan phones and inquires about a place for he and his pregnant wife abeer to stay in louisiana. Building on such examples, the contributors examine the role of tolerance in practical encounters between state officials and immigrants, and between members of longstanding. Zeitoun gives adnan kathys number and suggests baton rouge. An appreciation of cultural diversity goes handinhand with a just and equitable society. In order to set some goals related to building relationships between cultures, resolving differences, or building a diverse coalition, it helps to have a vision of the kind of cultural community you hope for. Haiyan et al building and leading a learning culture among teachers 5 by guest on april 17, 2016 ema. Three cultural differences that he encountered were getting rejected from clients because of his name, accused of being a terrorist, and his religious beliefs. Although zeitoun was written for a largely liberal audience, eggers must deal sensitively with zeitoun s deep religious faith and occasional cultural conservatism, neither glossing over the devoutness nor alienating nonreligious readers. Its a funny, sometimes disturbing, tender, and controversial book about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs and a bitter clash of cultures. Our leadership principles empower us to be owners and innovators while maintaining our customer centricity.
Kathy is an american from a large family and still in touch with her siblings and mother. Zeitoun and over 8 million other books are available for amazon kindle. Why its important to understand cultural difference in. Recipes and stories from the palestinian kitchen hardcover 12 july. Understanding a different culture cultural identity. Information and suggestions for teachers who want to incorporate the book or references to zeitoun in their classes zeitoun by dave eggers is an amazing true story about the lead up to and aftermath of hurricane katrina and one mans attempt to help others amidst the terrifying and bizarre events that followed the disaster. Military conquests, persecution and economic hardship have all contributed to waves of immigration. Johns book teaches readers about the social and economic difficulties of adapting to a new culture and the challenges facing a town with a new and disparate population. For zeitoun, being a muslim made him no different than any other person, except for some cultural differences. This book about extreme parenting raises questions about how families interact, what the role of parents should be, and cultural differences that shape family dynamics. Videoi am returning this week from a trip to india. Positive, integrated, nontemperance cultures tend to favour more open drinking environments, while negative, ambivalent, temperance cultures. What are some great books about culture differencesshocks. He thinks of the people who could not see him as a neighbor, as a countryman, as a human.
Race and cultural diversity in american life and history. Dave eggers born march 12, 1970 is an american writer, editor, and publisher. Popular cross cultural books meet your next favorite book. Great book about celebrating and accepting differences. We discussed class and race in america, the cultural landscape of cities, and ways that disasters within the. Multiculturalism, the view that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of minority groups, deserve acknowledgment of their differences within a dominant political culture. For example, research has shown that when students cultures are understood and appreciated by teachers, the students do better in school. Back when night fell for, on average, half of each 24 hours, people slept in phases.
Here we see a possible source of this character trait in zeitouns father mahmoud, who managed to survive a ship bombing against all odds. Zeitoun was called taliban and al qaeda and put in an outdoor prison. I also wanted to try nonfiction as opposed to fiction, and a modern text as opposed to a classic one. In 2002, they wrote a fivepart newspaper series called washing away that foretold it all, from the breaching of levees to the stranding of lowincome residents with no viable transportation out. What ive taken away from my time spent in this very far away magical land is the importance of travel. This module introduces the concept of race, and begins to address the use of the concept in the united states. The religious discrimination portrayed in the novel provokes sympathy for its.
It also explores both fears and opportunities raised by the realities of racial and ethnic diversity. Opinion to dream in different cultures the new york times. Understanding cultural differencesactivities wikieducator. Zeitoun book washington county cooperative library. Downloaded from as collectivism and respect for hierarchy child, 1994. Despite their cultural and religious differences and the difficulty of adaptation, the fugees came together to play soccer more information. Describe a personal experience in which differences in cultural values contributed to an interesting perspective. What events in the story show the differences andor similarities. Zeitoun was a victim of hurricane katrina and also a victim of corruption, racism, racial profiling, and distortion by the media, falsely incarceration and in a way a victim of society due to the fact that the government did not handle. The zeitoun foundation is an organization ostensibly intended as grantor for postkatrina rebuilding initiatives. The age of communications has made the world smaller than ever before, but cultural differences remain.
That radically different world engulfs him when a combined force of national guardsmen and local police storm his property, arrest him, his tenant. It turns out that he is far from the caring and admirable person portrayed in the book. The plot of the story how zeitoun stays behind during the hurricane and then helping people in the chaos of the aftermath, but then accused as a terrorist. Both books are thorough, clear and powerful in their indictments. The term is used to refer to both individuals and groups, and in the latter case it can refer to either immigrant diasporas or native residents that come to be culturally dominated by another society.
That may be one part of him but theres another side that is far different. How did the events of 911 cause zeitoun to experience. A second artifact to show growth in my perception of the diversity of the human experience is the second part of the summer homework, stemmed from the book zeitoun. Learning about different cultures can be a great way of developing an understanding of cultural diversity.
Again, as a father zeitoun is shown to be loving in a way different from what one. Zeitoun saw himself as someone trying to help after the. Fronted by a lush lawn and palm trees, the union passenger terminal had opened in 1954, an art decostyle building once aspiring to grandness but since overtaken by a certain grey municipal malaise. Although the book takes place largely in new orleans, eggers uses the protagonists. For any book you end up using, check out teaching tolerance for resources. Very often during my workshops and lectures, i get people asking me afterward where they can read more on the subject of intercultural differences and where they can find good books about cultural differences. I immediately took an interest because of my interest in wrongful incarceration, because i had edited a book called, surviving justice.
Understanding cultural differences echoes and elaborates on edward t. Culture affects many facets of peoples lives, ranging from individual decisions to interpersonal interactions and shaping a societys worldview. These shared commonalities unite these individuals. One of the stories in the book was about the zeitoun family. But mcquaid and schleifstein have a special claim to authority on the matter. Students feel more accepted, they feel part of the school community, they work harder to achieve, and they are more. This obsession with eight hours of continuous sleep is largely a creation of the electrified age. Essentially, it is a set of learned behaviors and patterns that a certain group of people develop. Many things affect how a family member acts from culture to birth order to. Social and cultural aspects of drinking introduction. Book clubs as a tool for community building and language.
Real times spoke to cultural expert fons trompenaars to find out what role technology and communications can play in helping us overcome cultural differences particularly in multinational companies mnc. Zeitouns stubbornness is a trait that will come up again and again throughout the book, both in its positive and negative ramifications. Cross cultural differences in the physical nature of public drinkingplaces reflect different attitudes towards alcohol. Expanding the path for black leaders of the future. Endorsed by geert hofstede, the mostquoted author in the cross cultural field, this is the only book that explains the relationship between national culture and national differences in crucially important phenomena, such as speed of economic growth, murder rates, and educational achievement. This utterly updated 2nd edition journal trend textual content material for the introduction to cultural anthropology course presents scholarly content material materials in a beautiful design which will captivate your school college students. The book zeitoun by dave egger is a biography about a muslim man abdulrahman zeitoun and kathy living in new orleans during hurricane katrina.
Cultural issues in mergers and acquisitions leading through transition. Judging cultural differences as good or bad can lead to inappropriate, offensive, racist, sexist, ethnocentric attitudes and behaviours, but recognizing differences does. Zeitoun is a gripping and amazing story that highlights so much about the tragedy of katrina, post911 life for arabs and muslims, and the beautiful nature of american multi cultural society. The diversity of the human experience steven k tang. Were willing to take risks innovating requires failing. Books about cultural differences and multicultural books. Zeitoun study guide contains a biography of dave eggers, literature essays, quiz. All author proceeds from this book go to the zeitoun foundation, reads the beginning of. He is married to writer vendela vida with whom he has two children.
One thing that i found particularly interesting was the way participants responded to. Understanding cultural differences the values in a cross cultural context article pdf available january 2008 with 5,784 reads how we measure reads. Culture is the most recent addition to the massortment. Talk to someone from a different cultural background.
The most insightful cultural observers often are outsiders, because cultural givens are not implicit to them. Zeitoun painting contractors, kathy said, trying to sound alert. In a nonjudgmental and factual manner, the book recounts failed expectations and lack of accountability by fema and the department of homeland. Media coverage of the events of 911 and those deemed responsible garnered a wave of xenophobia and prejudice against peoples of middle eastern descent in the u. In the assignment we were asked what stood out to us in the assigned reading, what questions we had, what ideas from the book we believed could create good class discussion, and a. Cultural assimilation is the process by which a person or a groups language andor culture come to resemble those of another group. Global project management critical change initiatives. Cultural evolution, also called sociocultural evolution, the development of one or more cultures from simpler to more complex forms. He wrote the bestselling memoir a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. It is a valuable guide for business executives from the three countries and a model of cross cultural analysis. Zeitoun is an inspiring, tragic and powerful book that will endure decades from now about how america failed at helping new orleans and the residents of the city during and after hurricane katrina. Zeitoun the man has not fared well since the book s release in 2009 he faces charges of stalking his exwife, but zeitoun the book remains earnest and precise. Americas wrongfully convicted and exonerated the first book in the voice of witness series.
Abdulrahman zeitoun zaytoon was born in syria, and although many of his family members still live there, it remains a very close family. Camp greyhound is the massive temporary prison complex that housed zeitoun and his three acquaintances, before they were transferred to a state prison. It is both a response to the fact of cultural pluralism and a way of compensating cultural groups for. In order to move between the pages of a website we should create. How does culture influence literature and how does. Dave eggers won the american book award for zeitoun, and. Animal farm lord of the flies the russian revolution consisted of a number of individuals with distinct personalities in an event that changed history. The front cover of this book attracted me and it did end up being one of the best books i have read on cultural differences. He is awakened by the sound of water rushing past his. In the aftermath of hurricane katrina he paddled from house to house in a. The amazing true story of zeitoun us news the guardian.
The government has always had to consider religious, cultural, and biological differences in the population when writing laws to promote health, safety and prosperity for all citizens. To successfully compete in todays global landscape, business leaders need to have an understanding of the cultural nuances of the different regions in which their business operates. Sameer rahim finds strength and hope in the story of zeitoun by dave. American indian history, culture and values through storytelling. How does culture influence literature and how does literature influence culture. Dec 09, 2012 for zeitoun, being a muslim made him no different than any other person, except for some cultural differences. Some nights he thinks of the faces, the people who arrested him, who jailed him, who shuttled him between cages like an animal, who transported him like luggage. The complex is built in only a couple of days, immediately after the storm. Do a spot of research online or through books, and study some of the history and traditions of other cultures. Eggers is also the founder of mcsweeneys, a literary journal, a cofounder of the literacy project 826 valencia and the human rights nonprofit voice of witness, and the.
Zeitounwears this research lightly, and for a book detailing an. Yousef munayyer, policy analyst, americanarab antidiscrimination committee. Dave eggers, national book award finalist, refuses to. Citizen was a victim of hurricane strain and also a victim of corruption, racism, racial profiling, and distortion by the media, falsely incarceration and in a way a victim of society due to the fact that the government did not handle the hurricane situation well. Most european countries have multiracial societies owing both to historical and geographical factors. Currently three major groups within our society are struggling against social oppression to retain or gain their human rights and civil liberties.
Teachers, what great books would you add to this list. This book considers intercultural understanding and coaction, partly by means of general insights into the concept of culture and the dimensions which bring about cultural differences, and partly as a methodology to analyze a certain culture whether ones own or others. David eggerss zeitoun represents one such confrontation, for both the reader and the family on which it centres. Pdf building and leading a learning culture among teachers. Hall and mildred reedhall, understanding cultural differences boston.
What is the best book one must read to understand cultural. Cultural differences books meet your next favorite book. Zeitoun had picked up and dropped off friends and relatives at the station a handful of times over the years. As you think about diversity, it may be helpful to envision the kind of cultural community you want to build. Working as a contractor isnt easy work but zeitoun loved it. The amazing true story of zeitoun hurricane katrina the guardian. Willow being an american girl who went to egypt to pursue her work in arabic literature ended up falling in love with an e. Engaging cultural differences explores how liberal democracies respond socially and legally to differences in the cultural and religious practices of their minority groups. Perseus publishingwhen hurricane katrina struck new orleans, abdulrahman zeitoun, a prosperous syrian. In contrast to virtual projects, the term global projects was first coined by zeitoun to specify a subset of virtual projects that involves people and locations in more than one nation, dealing with a variety of cultural differences, backgrounds, political systems, languages, and time zones adapted from zeitoun, 1998, p. Pdf understanding cultural differences the values in a.
Cultural assimilation project gutenberg selfpublishing. Abdulrahman zeitoun is the reallife hero of dave eggerss new book. The subject may be viewed as a unilinear phenomenon that describes the evolution of human behaviour as a whole, or it may be viewed as a multilinear phenomenon, in which case it describes the evolution of individual cultures or societies or of given parts of a. He attempts to navigate this thorny dynamic by explaining islam and monotheism more generally in secular.
Zeitoun by dave eggers details the reallife experiences of abdulrahman. Germans, french and americans contributes to this effort by explaining the cultural context in which corporations in germany, france and the u. Zeitouns deep religious faith and occasional cultural conservatism, neither. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Kathy and zeitoun come from very different backgrounds and religions. The most compelling pop culture to come out of katrina wired.
There are two kinds of vocabulary words in this book. It was an elderly client, a woman living alone in a garden district mansion, asking if zeitoun s crew could come over and board. Halls classic studies in intercultural relations, the silent language and the hidden dimension. I remember reading what is the what as an act of defiance against the culture at the strand, where all the book snobs i was working with were. Eggers 72 this deconstruction of islam, and especially to the different kind of people that practice islam. Set aside a special day where you ask a few employees or coworkers to share aspects of his or her culture or a clients culture with everyone.
539 953 872 290 171 467 617 922 683 76 1485 1164 544 997 595 461 160 1074 1549 650 1281 1418 518 1335 994 1497 1007 331 427 1495 323 850 8 1270 1497 372 174 932 1178 1265 324 344