Cosmos Chapters 6 and 7

Chapter 6 Questions...
I believe that understanding is imperative when communicating with the "stranger." If you continue to communicate based on your preconceptions of their personality, they may not understand you and may begin to lose interest in what you have to say. After all, we tend to lose interest when someone's rambling on about a topic of which we have no clue about. For instance, if I started talking about how random and funny a Japanese cartoon was, you would probably tell me that you'd never heard of it and go talk to someone else about another television show that you had seen the night before. Also, with the great diversity of people within cultures, the chances of your assumptions being right is not very great.

Appiah suggests that a connection between all people is through a respect for difference and not through identity. He uses the example that art can have an effect on anyone of any nationality, and not just the people of the country in which it was made. I have talked to several people from different states and different countries since I arrived at UK. Despite our difference in nationalites, we hung out and so were able to ask each other questions about each other's countries. I expected to have language difficulties and value difficulties when talking to people from other countries.
I've befriended many girls in my sorority despite the fact that they are from different towns than me.
My roommate and I are also quite different, despite being friends. She sleeps in, has a job, and is very sociable. I sometimes wake up early, and like to listen to Japanese music, which she doesn't like as much as me. But she still puts up with me despite this fact.

Chapter Overviews:

Chapter 6: Imaginary Strangers
Before, I thought that the imaginary stranger was someone you hadn't met, someone maybe, from a different country. While this could be the case, it could also be someone you have met. The "imaginary stranger,"after all, is someone whom you suppose is one type of person, but may or may not be a part of the "statistical norm"(p.95). I guess this would correlate to the word, "Stereotype?" You will always be engaging in conversation with "particular strangers," whom you want to get to know, and who start out as "imaginary strangers."

Chapter 7:Cosmopolitan Contamination
Cultural Imperialism is when one country or culture tries to force its beliefs and behaviours on another country or culture. Appiah dismisses it because he claims that the other culture and individuals from the other culture choose what they take out of the cross-cultural experiences. Often this depends on the connections people make to connect the other culture to their own(such as Sipho thinking that he should be able to talk to his father after watching television. versus the Israeli Arabs that saw a show that confirmed the thought that abused women should return to their fathers)
The "Golden Rule of Cosmopolitanism"
"I am human:nothing human is alien to me."The statment "I am human" refers to our curiosity and our willingness to connect with other people and cultures. Also, I think the fact that we are human means that we can always find something to communicate with each other about.
"Cultural Purity is an oxymoron."
Cultural Purity is an oxymoron (two words that contradict each other) because each culture is very diverse within itself, as well as in the general picture. Just about every culture has been
"Contaminated" by foreign influence of some sort. However, I feel that the choices a culture(a group of people with a common understanding) make to adapt are not necessarily changes to the nature of that culture. On page 106, Appiah mentions "keeping authentic ways" but whom other than those in that culture can decide what they should do and which ways are "authentic?" The ex. he gives is the choice the Zao make to decide wether they should wear baseball caps or not. I believe this point is summed up on page 113, when Appiah says "The point is that people in each place make their own uses even of the most famous global commodities."

Chapter 8: Whose Culture Is It, Anyway?
People feel local connections to art found within their area (Cultural Patrimony.) However, any specific art piece, art from any area, can affect people from all over the world. With this thought, we must realize that art is meant to be not only taken care of, but shared.