It is undeniable that the world has become smaller. All of us from Canada to Congo have more exposure, contact and dealings with people from other cultures and countries. Within this global, intercultural web we often come across examples of companies, organisations or people who commit cultural faux pas with embarrassing and often costly results. The majority of these incidents come down to simple lack of cultural understanding and soon blow over. Very few stir any real debate and discourse about serious topics such as racism, ignorance or the need to nurture intercultural tolerance. This all changed, in the UK at least, with the "Celebrity Big Brother saga" that has dominated headlines in Britain for over a week.
For those blissfully ignorant of what Celebrity Big brother is then in a nutshell it is a reality TV show in which a group of "celebrities" live together, under constant surveillance from cameras, in a shared house. The public votes off celebrities until a winner triumphs. In this series the producers brought in a Bollywood actress by the name of Shilpa Shetty who has faced bullying and abuse by three other housemates, most notably the (former) tabloid darling Jade Goody.
Goody, along with her sidekicks, gradually fell out with Shetty which led to comments being made about her that have been interpreted as racist. These led to over 30,000 complaints to Oftel (the TV watchdog), the Chancellor Gordon Brown apologising for the behaviour on his tour of India, Carphone Warehouse pulling its multi-million pound sponsorship with Endemol (the creators of Big Brother), street protests in India, Channel 4 (the broadcasters) coming under huge pressure due to not acting sooner and of course massive amounts of column inches in newspapers as well as becoming the lead story on most domestic news programmes for days. It would be no exaggeration to say that the incident could be the news story of 2007 even though we are only in January.
Racism is a difficult topic, a multilayered topic and one that this article does not intend to cover. Whether or not the actions or comments of Goody and her accomplices were racist, as many uphold, is difficult to prove. However, what can be proved is that what led to the whole situation was ultimately down to intercultural communication issues. Intercultural communication looks at the different ways people from different cultures behave, think, speak, eat, etc. By understanding these differences intercultural trainers seek to help people working in teams to get work more effectively by ironing out differences caused by clashes of culture.
For those that work in the intercultural training field, the events that led to the tense situation in the Big Brother house are all too familiar. In multinational companies many of the same scenarios are played out on a daily basis when multicultural teams work together. People misunderstand and misjudge one another due to their intercultural differences. Communication breaks down completely and a paralysing wall is built between people that seemingly offers no way out. It is only once parties are able to re-trace their steps, analyse situations objectively and apply some intercultural know-how that they start to knock down this wall.
In order to illustrate the intercultural breakdown in the Big Brother house, let's look at two examples of how the Indian and English cultures clashed.
1) Communication Styles: A major factor in Shetty losing respect for Goody was due to the latter's communication style. Indians always make sure they protect both their own and others' face, honour and reputation when communicating. Therefore their tone will more often that not be soft, words are used diplomatically, people will never be criticized in public and expletives are a serious no-no. For Shetty to come face to face with someone that called her a liar in front of others, who swore constantly and spoke in an extremely aggressive manner was shocking to the system. She lost face and as a result Goody lost face in her eyes. Goody on the other hand, who is obviously used to a more expressive form of communication, interpreted Shetty's tendency to be tactful, non-confrontational and seemingly secretive as suggestive of her hiding something and not being genuine. Both felt little warmth to the other's character as a result.
2) Food: One of the comments made in relation to Shetty was in regards to her touching food with her hands. A housemate commented she did not approve of that as she did not know "where those hands have been"; the implication being she was dirty. Coming from a culture where food is primarily eaten with utensils can make the British rather sterile when it comes to food. In contrast much of the rest of the world is far more comfortable eating with their hands and as a result is probably rather more conscious of hygiene as a result. Again, this intercultural gap between the two sides meant one was offending the other without knowing.
As we can see in the above examples no-one is to blame. In both cases had each side been aware and open to the other's cultural norms there would probably have been no issue. However, as we know these issues did occur and as a result tensions arose. This is when people are then liable to slip into a "them and us" mentality when the person they have fallen out with no longer becomes a person but rather a member of a "foreign" group, in this case as commented by one of the housemates "the Indian".
As a result of this pariah status Shetty soon became on object of ridicule and seemingly racist jibes. Her accent was mocked (even though she spoke more clearly than the mockers), her countrymen were stereotyped as "skinny" due to being constantly sick (a remark made in response to Shetty undercooking some chicken) and was told to "f**k off home" (a term used within the British context to immigrants and foreigners). It was these scenes and remarks that caused outrage in among the public.
In terms of intercultural understanding however the whole episode has illustrated, in a very public way, how important intercultural communication is in today's world. What we witnessed on Celebrity Big Brother is more than likely taking place across the world in schools, offices and organisations where people from different cultures, faiths and nationalities come together. It provides an insight into the frustrations of immigrants; it illustrates the experiences of expatriates working in foreign environments; it paints a very vivid picture of what it must be like to work in a multicultural environment and it sums up why it is so crucial that today's citizens of the world must be interculturally-savvy.
© Kwintessential Ltd 2007
