Dear David–
Can you provide a reference to Nisbett, R's book about culture of honor,
please?
Thanks,
Eugene
> -----Original Message-----
> From: david.preiss@yale.edu [mailto:david.preiss@yale.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 12:37 PM
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: Culture of honour
>
>
> There is a book of R. Nissbett about culture of honor and that studies
> southern USA and that may be quite close to what you are looking. I do
> not know the book in detail so I cannot express further opinions about
> it.
>
>
> Quoting Peter Smagorinsky <smago@coe.uga.edu>:
>
> > I did not mean to sound offended, but wanted simply to ward off
> > overgeneralizations on a large and varied region.
> >
> > First, people do not agree on what is included in the American South.
> > When
> > I lived in Oklahoma, some considered it Midwestern, others Southern,
> > others
> > Southwestern (and that orientation might depend on which part of the
> > state
> > you lived in--the part bordering Arkansas, the part bordering New
> > Mexico,
> > the part bordering Kansas). To some Maryland is in the South, to
> > others
> > not. Many people in Georgia think that my home state of Virginia is
> > in the
> > North. And many people in southern Virginia do not believe the
> > Washington
> > DC metropolitan area (where I grew up) to be part of the South. So if
> >
> > you're going to talk about the region, you need to consider that it's
> >
> > ill-defined to begin with.
> >
> > Second, many perceptions of the region are based on the dominant
> > culture,
> > when many other cultures exist. In the South most obviously this
> > would
> > refer to African American culture, which itself includes a number of
> > social
> > class distinctions. Metro Atlanta, for instance, has a robust
> > governing
> > and entrepreneurial African American social class that is not present
> > in
> > other parts of Georgia where the legacies of slavery and segregation
> > are
> > still present and affect economic opportunities for African
> > Americans. More recently, the large Latino/a immigration has brought
> > new
> > cultures to the region--I emphasize the plural because of the variety
> > of
> > nationalities represented (see, e.g., the large Cuban population in
> > Miami
> > and burgeoning Mexican population in Georgia).
> >
> > They say that the South isn't as Southern as it used to be. A lot of
> >
> > Northerners have relocated to the South because of the temperate
> > climate
> > and business opportunities. It's still got an unfortunate base of
> > racist
> > White residents (see the inflammatory debates about the Confederate
> > flag),
> > both those blatantly hostile and those who discriminate more subtly.
> > But
> > I've lived in a number of parts of the US and have found racism
> > everywhere. This is not to excuse Southern racists, only to point
> > out that
> > they're hardly unique and perhaps more indignant given that not long
> > ago
> > their prejudices were written into law and they feel that they've
> > lost
> > their entitlement. In most of the state-wide elections we've had
> > since I
> > moved here, the candidates who've played the race card have lost.
> >
> > As for a Southern code of honor, I just don't know. I think it's
> > like a
> > lot of other legacies (e.g., the Southern tradition of civility,
> > which was
> > extended only to other Whites), it's part of a heritage that may or
> > may not
> > have actually been practiced, and is referred to these days primarily
> > in
> > terms of its loss. But like a lot of other Golden Age concepts, it
> > may
> > never have existed as strongly as memory suggests.
> >
> > Well, hardly a chat analysis, and likely an impressionistic ramble,
> > but my
> > 2 cents' worth, and worth every penny.
> >
> > best,Peter
> >
> >
> >
> > At 04:44 PM 1/6/2004 +0100, you wrote:
> > >Sorry Peter,
> > >
> > >I did not want to offend you or other Southern in any way. I guess
> > it was
> > >the same generalization as talking about Mediterranean, Arabic,
> > Islamic
> > >culture of honour. And that is one of my problems to be able to
> > locate it
> > >clear and distinct, but still it exist floating around and showing
> > its face
> > >here and there. So Peter, since you are born, raised and live in
> > South and
> > >work with CHAT what is your reflections on the subject? Can you give
> > me a
> > >tread to start with?
> > >
> > >Yours curious
> > >
> > >Hans
> > >
> > >Den 04-01-06 16.19, skrev "Peter Smagorinsky" <smago@coe.uga.edu>:
> > >
> > > > Hans wrote: (I heard that some say that the culture of honour in
> > the South
> > > > of USA should be somewhat equal to the Arabic?)
> > > >
> > > > I have lived more than half of my life in the American South and
> > would say
> > > > that, while such a strain of belief might exist, it does not
> > characterize
> > > > the whole region. The South is a large and diverse place, in
> > spite of what
> > > > you see depicted in the media, which prefers Deliverance-style
> > backwoods
> > > > caricature (note that almost any character in a movie or TV show
> > with a
> > > > Southern accent is an idiot).
> > > >
> > > > Peter (native of Virginia, current resident of Georgia)
> > > >
> > > > At 03:41 PM 1/6/2004 +0100, you wrote:
> > > >> Hi,
> > > >>
> > > >> I am just starting to do an assignment about young people, who
> > are
> > > attracted
> > > >> to their own sex, how they are exposed to violence in the family
> > due
> > > to the
> > > >> culture of honour. And how the social service and police deals
> > with it. It
> > > >> is not about what you call the coming-out process and problems
> > around it.
> > > >> More that the violence towards girls in some family, even
> > killing,
> > > have put
> > > >> a focus that there also could be the same problem for young
> > people who are
> > > >> attracted to their own sex, living in such families.
> > > >>
> > > >> In Sweden we have had the last years two killing of daughter by
> > their
> > > >> fathers in the name of family honour, since the daughters had
> > Swedish
> > > >> boyfriends instead of the man to marry that the parents have
> > chosen from
> > > >> their own culture. In both cases the families have come from
> > rural Middle
> > > >> East culture. (I heard that some say that the culture of honour
> > in the
> > > South
> > > >> of USA should be somewhat equal to the Arabic?) That made people
> > in Sweden
> > > >> focus on patriarchal family system threatening or conducting
> > violence on
> > > >> their children in the name of cultural honour. Culture of
> > honour, in the
> > > >> violent form, seems to be connected to ³shame-culture², where
> > the public
> > > >> esteem is the greatest good and to be ill spoken of the greatest
> > evil. In
> > > >> the name of this honour-code mostly fathers and brothers use
> > threats of
> > > >> violence, violence and in extreme cases killing to rule over
> > their
> > > >> daughters/sisters. In Sweden we think that the same condition
> > exist for
> > > >> young people who are attracted to their own sex. The Government
> > therefore
> > > >> have supported funds for this report.
> > > >>
> > > >> But since I want to base the report on culturalhistorical
> > activitytheory I
> > > >> want to ask following.
> > > >>
> > > >> I want to know if someone has done some researched in this area?
> > Since I
> > > >> want to lift the question away from just Middle East/Arabic
> > culture I need
> > > >> to focus more about what is building up a culture and in this
> > case the
> > > >> culture of honour, and especially the culture that cherish
> > honour more
> > > than
> > > >> life. And here I have not yet come across a good definition
> > about culture
> > > >> out of CHAT. Do you know a good operational one? I have not yet
> > found
> > > >> something using CHAT to explain family violence - in this case
> > towards
> > > sons
> > > >> and daughters because of their sexuality.
> > > >>
> > > >> I have found some good thoughts in Lave and Wenger about the
> > learning
> > > >> process which could be used to describe why the culture of
> > honour still
> > > >> exist in families, even though they live in a country that do
> > not
> > > allow that
> > > >> kind of law.
> > > >>
> > > >> Could anybody help me?
> > > >>
> > > >> Yours
> > > >>
> > > >> Hans Knutagård
> > > >> Sweden
> > > >
> >
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