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2006
351
Gnutzmann Küster SchrammBroken Orientalism
121
2006
Guido Rings
This study stars from the assumption that intercultural training with literary texts should have a clearly defined position in foreign language teaching and learning, and that this could facilitate the deconstruction of orientalist perspectives in contemporary political and media discourse. However, the marginalisation of intercultural objectives, methodology and methods in curricula, teacher training and course books that themselves reveal orientalist features demonstrate a long-lasting practical negligence in an area that has been at the forefront of foreign language research in the last two decades. In the short and medium term, this enormous gap between theory and practice could partially be addressed by replacing inadequate sections in course books with literary work, using texts such as The Persian Dinner that have been successfully brought into a foreign language environment at Higher Education level in Cambridge. However, intercultural training in other subject areas than foreign languages will have to support this temporary solution until substantially revised curricula and teacher training programmes start guiding authors and publishers to develop more adequate teaching and learning material.
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Guido RINGS * Broken Orientalism Using Literary Texts for lntercultural Training Abstract. This study starts from the assumption that intercultural training with literary texts should have a clearly defined position in foreign language teaching and leaming, and that this could facilitate the deconstruction of orientalist perspectives in contemporary political and media discourse. However, the marginalisation of intercultural objectives, methodology and methods in curricula, teacher training and course books that themselves reveal orientalist features demonstrate a long-lasting practical negligence in an anla that has been at the forefront of foreign language research in the last two decades. In the short and medium term, this enormous gap between theory and practice could partially be addressed by replacing inadequate sections in course books with literary work, using texts such as The Persian Dinner that have been successfully brought into a foreign language environment at Higher Education level in Cambridge. However, intercultural training in othet subject areas than foreign languages will have to support this temporary solution until substantially revised curricula and teacher training programmes start guiding authors and publishers to develop more adequate teaching and leaming material. 1. Methodological remarks Since the second half of the 1970s 'communicative competence' remains a guiding principle for the teaching and learning of modern foreign languages. In addition, there seems to be a consensus that such competence demands not only cultural but also substantial cross-cultural and intercultural knowledge and skills that could be achieved via interactive learning strategies. In the context of an increasing use of mass media, international tourism, EU expansion and an accelerated "Internationalisierung persönlicher Erfahrungsräume" 1, intercultural communication skills 2 have become a key topic for the methodology of foreign language teaching and learning (see SARTER 2006: 101) and, more broadly, a major educational issue (see GüGOLD 1999: 67). This study will go Korrespondenzadresse: PD Dr. Guido RINGS, Anglia Ruskin University, Bast Road, CAMBRIDGE CBl lPT, Great Britain. E-mail: guido.rings@anglia.ac.uk Arbeitsbereiche: Intercultural Studies, European Literature and Film. 1 RADDATZ (1996: 242), translatable as "internationalisation of spaces of personal experience". All translations into English are mine. 2 "Intercultural communication" can be defined as "interpersonale Interaktion" ('interpersonal interaction') between members of different groups that distinguish themselves as regards their archives ofknowledge as weil as verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal forms oftheir symbolic action (BOLTEN 1993: 18, 24). These differences in knowledge and language are a result of their belonging to dissimilar life experiences governed by a combination ofindividual and social images ofthe Seif, the Other and meta-images (20). JFLuL 35 (2006) Broken Orientalism. Using Literary Texts for Intercultural Training 137 beyond that and regard intercultural communication skills in an increasingly global world as a necessary tool for successful living and working together. Fundamental to such intercultural competence are attempts to understand the Self and the Other, and a fruitful starting point for such a process comes from texts which express "die fremde Kultur in ihrer symbolischen Repräsentation" 3, i.e. in "such words and images as people use in their accounts of human action descriptions, reflections, and explanations that give testimony to local understandings of 'the self" (ROSALD0 1980: 29). Literary texts have a very rich potential for symbolic representations of cultures. In this sense, the cultural anthropologist Clifford GEERTZ defines literature as a "symbolisch dichte [...] Geschichte, die man einander über sich selbst erzählt" and gives it a status comparable to that of rituals and popular festivals. 4 SCHLIEBEN-LANGE maintains that literary texts offer "Elemente zur Konstitution von kulturellen Identitäten und zu deren Konfrontation" and regards them as "Modelle zur Entschärfung, Umdeutung, Aufhebung der Konflikte". 5 They have the capacity to re-construct emotional and cognitive equivalents of experiences in such a precise and dense form that they manage to stimulate the imagination and make these virtual experiences understandable. lt is not a coincidence that Fox has stressed the importance ofliterary texts as media for virtual cultural studies and an increase in intercultural awareness, which leads him to an inductive methodology: "Such an upside down educational model will begin by creating experience, then engaging emotion, as a means of discovering and embedding cognitive principles in the active learner" (2003: 99). 6 This method seems even more important if one considers the fact that intercultural encounters are more influenced by subjective images of the Self and the Other than by real life experience: Interkulturalitäät findet im Bereich der symbolischen Repräsentation von Kulturen statt, wo sie konventionellen kulturellen Erwartungshaltungen, wenn nicht gar interkulturellen Stereotypen ausgesetzt ist (BACHMANN-MEDICK 1987: 68). 7 BACHMANN-MEDICK (1987: 69), "the other culture is expressed in its symbolic representation" (my translation). 4 Clifford GEER TZ (1983: 252), a "symbolically dense [ ...... ] story that people teil themselves about themselves" (my translation). 5 SCHLIEBEN-LANGE (1997: 2, 16), "elements for the construction of cultural identities and for their confrontation", "models for a reduction, reinterpretation and settlement of conflicts" (see also MECKLENBURG 1990: 96). 6 This does not imply the kind of preference for affective aspects in intercultural foreign language teaching criticised by SARTER (2006: 101 ), but it stresses the need for an enhanced consideration of and linkage between cognition and affection in intercultural training. In contrast to Sarter, this study starts from the observation that both aspects have been marginalised so far (not only the cognitive part) and it does not subscribe to her assumption that affective features have usually "disadvantaged" and/ or "damaged" the teaching of language skills. If anything, it has been the teaching of intercultural skills that has suffered within environments focussing on vocabulary acquisition and grarnmar knowledge. 7 "Interculturality takes place in the area of symbolic representations of cultures within which it is subject to conventional cultural expectations, if not intercultural stereotypes" (my translation). lFlLulL 35 (2006) 138 Guido Rings Considering the quite substantial gap of intercultural experience of most school pupils and young students, an exploration of cultural encounters in literary texts ought to have a strong position in modern foreign language teaching and leaming. lt should by no means replace cultural explorations based on empirical evidence, but it deserves a clearly defined position next to them, in order to improve intercultural training in the foreign language classroom. 8 However, a closer look at curricula, teacher training and current course books for secondary, further and higher education quickly reveals that this is not the case. SARTER convincingly stresses that intercultural aspects are frequently only visible in the general leaming aims of school curricula and that they lack precision and methodological underpinning. In practice, this means that teachers tend to rely on themselves, their imagination, experience and capacity to transfer this into adequate leaming strategies (2006: 100). Teaching and leaming for the intemationally well-established and widely recognised 'Certificate of Proficiency in English' (CPE) seem to confirm such intercultural deficits in foreign language curricula, both inside and outside of the school environment. Considering that the preparations for this certificate are supposed to be at the cutting edge of contemporary foreign language methodology, it is surprising that neither cross-cultural nor intercultural competence seem to be of any relevance in this context, as current coursebooks and examination guidelines confirm. 9 All this becomes even more problematic if one takes into account the current standards for teacher training, where there is suggestive evidence of a severe lack of intercultural training as well: Für die Ausbildung als Lehrkraft für eine andere Sprache ist es eher Zufall und Glück, wenn die Notwendigkeiten der späteren Berufspraxis, kulturspezifisch ausgerichtete interkulturelle Kompetenz für eine Sprache, einen Sprachraum zu vermitteln, systematisch angegangen, vermittelt und erworben werden (SARTER 2006: 100). 10 Adequate course books would certainly help such teachers to compensate for deficiencies in both their school curricula and teacher training. However, previous experiences with course books for German as a Foreign Language teaching reveal that interculturallyoriented and structured texts are the rare exception rather than the rule. In the teaching of business languages, there seems to be on average a greater awareness of the need for A very interesting empirical project for school children seems to be the Cultural Awareness Project presented by JONES within which Turkish and English pupils select, exchange and comparatively discuss recurrent topics as regards the portrayal of their own culture in the print media, including texts and photos (1995: 27 ff). Such a project could differentiate and widen the more subjective but possibly in an affective and cognitive way symbolically denser and richer cultural exploration via literary texts, and vice versa. 9 See the ESOL guidelines from Cambridge University within which there is no mention of such concepts although the importance of opening up to a different high culture seems to be acknowledged. At least it is stressed that the successful candidates' level of competence gives them access to [...... ] areas of culture such as drama, fihn and literature (2006). 10 "Within the training of foreign language teachers it is more coincidence and luck if the needs for their professional praxis, meaning the ability to teach culture specific oriented intercultural competence for a language, are systematically approached, taught and leamed" (my translation). lFLuL 35 (2006) Broken Orientalism. Using Literary Texts for Intercultural Training 139 intercultural training since failure in business communication might have direct economic implications for a company, and even delays in communication might not be acceptable as the 'time is money' attitude suggests. Unfortunately, the extremely scarce use of literary texts in current business language course books excludes them from our analysis, although such marginalisation is certainly notjustifiable on the basis ofthe observations made above, which also include business cultures. A first exploration of general-purpose language course books confirms the assumption of a broad spectrum of teaching material that does not offer much more than rudimentary approaches to the enhancement of intercultural competence. The problem here is less the inclusion of literary texts that readers tend to see widely integrated, in particular from Intermediate level 11 , but rather the lack of intercultural encounters in those texts and/ or the deficiencies in exercises linked to them (see Unterwegs by BAHLMANN [et al.] 2003, Deutschkurs Düsseldorfby GöTZINGER 2002), and this relates to a general lack of awareness for the potential of such encounters. Quite characteristic in that respect is the early introduction of an international German as a Foreign Language course in Deutsch Aktiv (1986--93) in which Polish, Italians, Canadians and Spaniards present themselves without any differences as regards gestures, facial expressions or levels of politeness and formality. Slightly more elaborated but still similar is the presentation of native Germans, Austrians and German-speaking Swiss next to former migrants such as Bilge AKYAL and Akemi WALDHÄUSL in the subsequent course book by the same publisher, Moment Mal 1 (1998-2000 by MÜLLER [et al.]). Akyal's Turkish-German and Waldhäusl's Japanese-German background are indicated but differences in everyday behaviour such as shopping, eating and leisure activities remain unexplored. Only much later, in chapter 24 of Moment Mal 2, 'strangers' become ofmajor interest again, and then the strong focus on hybrids even makes possible links to Homi Bhabha's Third Space theory. In addition, there are attempts to explore concepts like 'home' and 'strangeness' in chapter 32 of Moment Mal 3. However, that focus comes rather late and it remains isolated as just another topic in very few advanced chapters while leisure activities, eating customs and professional life are repeatedly dealt with but usually concentrated on German natives only. All this does not directly correspond to the notion of a multicultural society in contemporary Europe nor does it address the difficulties of essentialist conceptualisations of culture already visible in international eating customs and film and music interests. Also, German as a Foreign Language teaching material is only one ofthe numerous examples oflong-lasting monocultural patterns easily detectable in other foreign language course books, including French (The French Experience by BOUGARD! BOURDAIS 2003, Le Nouvel Espaces by CAPELLE/ GIDON 1995), Spanish (Nuevo Ele by BüROBIO CARRERA 2004, lntercambio 1 11 There is overall less integration ofliterature on Foundation level (see Deutsch Plus by TENBERG/ AINSLIE 2005) which cannot simply be justified by the learners' lack oflanguage skills, in particular if one considers the amount of short poems placed in some course books of that level. From Intermediate level, the reader finds more literature which correlates with the failure of the 'pattern drill' methodology in the 1970s and early 1980s. Contemporary communicative approaches tend to re-discover the cultural potential of literary texts that were once very intensively used for grammar-translation purposes. lFLuL 35 (2006) 140 Guido Rings byMIQUEL/ SANS 1996, Rcipido by MIQUELISANS 2002), Italian (Italianissimo 1 and 2 by DE R6ME 1994) and English as a Foreign Language (First Certijicate Goldby Ac.KLAM/ BURGESS 1998). 2. Persistence of orientalist perspectives The need for a more systematic literary enhancement of current intercultural training in foreign languages is stressed by the persistence of orientalist perspectives outside and inside ofthe teaching environment. Since 'September 11 ', the Iraq War, 'Guantanamo', the conflict about Danish caricatures of Muhammad and the ongoing discussions about Iran's nuclear programme, 'Orientalism' has become a hot topic again, and this study builds on SAID's classic definition of the concept as a fictional image of the Orient produced in the Occident that brings it closer to fictional texts and that implies a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, the West, 'us') and the strange (the Orient, the East, 'them'). [... ) When one uses categories like Oriental and W estem as both the starting and the end points of analysis, research, public policy [ ... J the result is usually to polarise the distinction the Oriental becomes more Oriental, the Westemer more Western and to limit the human encounter between different cultures, traditions and societies (1978: 45 f). lt is worth stressing in this context that Said's work Orientalism (1978) has been regarded as a founding document for postcolonial studies because of its detailed exploration ofEurocentric perspectives from Europe's colonial past to the postcolonial present (see V ARELA! DHAWAN 2005: 29 ff). Political speeches by Bush and Berlusconi as well as the various photos and the information contained in travel catalogues are just examples of the wide range of texts that prolong a colonial discourse for which the framing of the Self and the Other in binary constructs is very characteristic. 12 BLAUT writes about the key construct of a progressive Europe as "maker ofhistory" versus an oriental Other that stagnates in "strange traditions" and is therefore in need of patriarchal guidance provided by occidental representatives: Europe etemally advances, progresses, modemises. The rest of the world advances more sluggishly, or stagnates: it is a "traditional society". Therefore, the world has a permanent geographical centre and permanent periphery: an Inside and an Outside. Inside leads, Outside lags. Inside innovates, Outside imitates (1993: 1). This reinforces the assumption ofWestem superiority within which differences between the other cultures are reduced or negated in the image of one single inferior Other 13 , while 12 See George Bush's use of the term 'crusade' to summarise the war against Islamic terrorism after the 11 th September, or Silvio Berlusconi's statements about the superiority of Western civilisation as regards Islam (in: EI Pafs 28.9.2001 by YARNOZ). For colonial topics in travel catalogues see ÜSSIG (1993). 13 F ANON has highlighted such a strategy with regard to the European colonization of Africa: "For the colonist, the Negro was neither an Angolan nor a Nigerian, for he simply spoke of 'the Negro'. For colonialism, lFLuL 35 (2006) Broken Orientalism. Using Literary Texts for Intercultural Training 141 the need for occidental leadership tends to be m.ade more explicit in images of a relationship between parents and children 1 4, and/ or between men and women. NANDY confirms the latter when describing colonialism as "congruent with existing Westem sexual stereotypes", in particular with the "political and socio-economic dominance of men and masculinity over woman and femininity" (1983: 4). In recent decades, BHABHA and SPIVAK have worked on a differentiation ofSaid's concept ofOrientalism. Ofparticular concem for Bhabha was the all-embracing instrumentality of orientalist perspectives in Said's work that he successfully managed to address with the introduction ofpsychoanalytic theory and the development of a more ambivalent concept1 5, while SPIV AK confronted Said with the possibilities of developing other subaltern forms of knowledge. However, there is little opposition to Said's key hypotheses of a fictional framing and inventing of the oriental Other by socio-political as well as academic discourse in contemporary Europe, which leads YOUNG to his rather provocative summary of all three scholars forming a "Holy Trinity ofcolonial discourse analysis" (1995: 163). Because it is considered a potential obstacle to intercultural communication, such revival of colonial perspectives ought to be of major importance for foreign language teaching, in particular if one takes into account the intensive trade and business relations, increasing tourism and fast growing migration between East and West. After all, the latter has led to very significant Islamic, Hindi or Buddhist diasporas in Westem Europe, be it Algerian in France, Moroccan in Spain, Indian and Pakistani in Britain or Turkish in Germany. 16 Taking into account the intercultural deficiencies outlined in section one, it is not surprising that contemporary course books reveal little interest in a critical reflection of neo-colonialist perspectives. However, the fact that these perspectives are often uncritically maintained or even enhanced is still quite disappointing. A good example is the rough summary ofDaniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe in chapter 13 of Moment Mal 1 (MÜLLER [et al.] 2000) in which the text highlights the cannibal myth while the images stress Robinson as considerably taller and stronger than his native servant Friday. 17 This confirms the construct ofEuropean superiority over a barbarian and/ or defenceless Other much more than Defoe's novel ofthe 18 th century did. In comparison, the link between a half-naked exotic beauty and the paradisical background waiting tobe 'discovered' by the European tourist in the last chapter of Nuevo Eie (BOROBIO CARRERA 2004) is quite this vast continent was the hannt of savages, a conntry riddled with superstitions and fanaticism" (1963: 170). 14 See BLAUT: "Non-Europeans [... ] were seen [... ] as more or less childlike [who] could be brought to adulthood, to rationality, to modemity, through a set ofleaming experiences, mainly colonial" (1993: 96). 15 See also YOUNG: "Colonial discourse [...] operated not only as an instrumental construction ofknowledge but also according to the ambivalent protocols of fantasy and desire" (1995: 161). 16 In France, Spain and Britain, there is an obvious link to the colonial past that might have facilitated Eastem migration but at the same time has contributed to an orientalist framing of the migrants, their families and other visitors from those regions. In a less colonialist Germany, the link could be associated to the example for modern nation-building set by European colonization. 17 See ROBINSON with hat and gnn as opposed to the half naked servant (in: MÜLLER [et al.] 2000: 93, "Lehrbuch"). Instead of taking a critical stance to such portrayal, the work book demands a role play in which the non-verbal commnnication between superior European and inferior native has tobe irnitated (p. 138). lFLuL 35 (2006) 142 Guido Rings harmless. This Spanish as a Foreign Language course book follows here pattems set by Spanish school books 18, despite recent research on Spanish Orientalism (see T0FIN0- QUESADA 2003). 3. Broken Orientalism in The Persian Dinner 3.1 Selecting the text In the context of intercultural deficiencies and continuing neo-colonial tendencies in course books, teachers with a genuine interest in intercultural training via literature will in the context oftight school curriculahave to find a replacement for, rather than an amendment to, some oftheir course book material. For our topic there is a wide range of so called postcolonial literature available, and the New Historical Novel from Spain and Latin America is certainly a good starting point for a critical exploration of (neo-) colonial discourse in Spanish as a Foreign Language teaching. 19 However, short stories are often easier to integrate into dense timetables, and ifthey have a contemporary focus the relevance for school children and younger students might be easier to define, which brings us closer to the genre in question. Following own observations in six advanced language seminars of German as a Foreign Language in Cambridge, Das persische Abendessen (1995, from now on referred to as The Persian Dinner) by Austrian writer Barbara Frischmuth seems to be a highly recommendable text for intercultural training inside and outside a foreign language context, including business communication. 18 See here Conocimiento del medio by PASTOR [et al.] (2001), a course book designed for 11 to 12 year old pupils. The section "Las consecuencias del descubrimiento" ('The consequences of the discovery") deals exclusively with positive results of the so called discovery (e.g.: •"La religi6n cat6lica y la lengua espafiola se extendieron por America" / "The Catholic religion and the Spanish language spread all over America" (my translation), p. 136), while the destruction of indigenous cultures and the 'enslavement' and killing of natives appears to be the consequence of a natural cause: "Desgraciadamente, estas civilizaciones desaparecieron poco tiempo despues de la conquista" / "Unfortunately, these civilisations disappeared shortly after the conquest" (p. 137). The uncritical usage of the term 'discovery' to describe the colonization of populated territory that Columbus imagined tobe part ofthe Orient (see RINGS 2005: 93 f) seems tobe a standard feature ofEurocentric practice in most course books today (see also CISNEROSFRAILE [et al. 's] book with a focus on superior Spanish military power; 1995: 132). Despite this, PEREZ HERRERO and GARCiA-AREVALO CALERO stress that there seems to be some development towards a more critical image of conquest and colonization in the minds of Spanish school children after the celebrations of 500 years of 'discovery' in 1992 (1994: n.p./ section 5). 19 See RINGS (2005: 26ff.) for a definition of terms such as 'postcolonial' literature and 'New Historical Novel' as weil as for interpretations of such novels. The bestseller EI origen perdido (2003) by Matilde ASENSI seems to be an easily accessible novel for school children and students alike. In addition, Fox offers an interesting overview about literature for intercultural training although most ofhis examples are not contemporary (the focus is on narrative up to the first half ofthe 20th century; 2003: 108ff.). Furthertexts could be taken from the literature of migrants with particular reference to novels such as Saliha SCHEINHARDT' s Lebensstürme (2000) or Feridun ZAIMOGLU's Kanak Sprak (1996), Assia DJEBARS L 'Amour, lafantasia (1985) and Rachid NINI's Diario de un ilegal (2002). Worth stressing also are films of the second or third generation, either as amendments to literary explorations or simply as topics in their own right (see for example Kurz und schmerzlos and Im Juli ofthe Turkish-German director Fatih Akin). lFJLuL 35 (2006) Broken Orientalism. Using Literary Texts for Intercultural Training 143 Following the idea of her first novel Das Verschwinden des Schattens in der Sonne (1973; 'The disappearance ofthe shadow in the sun'), the author draws here on intercultural experiences from her studies of Iranian language and culture to elaborate on contrastive and interactive topics that facilitate the exchange of cultural perspectives. The Persian Dinner deals with a rather informal social encounter between the female Austrian first person narrator and the male Iranian protagonist Isfahani in international Vienna. At the beginning ofthe 1980s, the Khomeini regime forced the protagonist out of his Position as Professor of Theatre Studies in Teheran, and he had been living as a political refugee in Vienna ever since. However, his 'home' now comprised works from ancient Persian literature like 'Laila und Madjnun' that provided the basis for his favourite theatre plays, works that he wants to bring to the attention of an occidental audience by means oftranslation. The first person narrator helps him with these translations butdespite her background in lranian Cultural Studies she maintains an occidental perspective that could be characterised by terms such as 'Beobachterstatus, Reingezogenwerden, schlechtes Gewissen, Zeitknappheit, Sprachvergessen, Angezogenwerden durch Exotismus' . 20 Universal topics like strangeness, love and/ or literature as well as the clash of mentalities provide a cause for recalling 'essentials' of own or assimilated cultural identities (ibid.). However, in contrast to the direct portrayal ofboth cultures in ASENSI's EI origen perdido and many other texts, the relative marginalisation of the occidental perspective in The Persian Dinner forces the reader to actively fill gaps in the outlined encounter. This leaves room for active analysis on the part of the reader and avoids the supposedly final interpretation by the author ofthe text. A particularly dense description is available in the face to face conversation immediately after the party (p. 72 f), which could easily be used on its own to approach both cultural traits and interactive behaviour in an informal business environment. 3.2 Textanalysis Our teaching experiences with the excerpt from the short story derive from an advanced German as a Foreign Language seminar with 18 participants, including one Spanish and 14 British students in the final year of their BA degree in Modem Languages as well as three exchange students from France. All BA degree students can build on a Year Abroad experience 21 but none of them has been systematically introduced into the basics of intercultural communication during his/ her foreign language studies at school or university. The Persian Dinner had been prepared for a series of six lessons out of which the first was devoted to an introduction to the topic including the collection and discussion of 20 RUPP (1996: 160), "observer status, drawn into it, bad consciousness, lack of time, oblivion of language, attracted by the exotic" (my translation). 21 A majority has spent one semester at a German university and another semester at a HE institution linked to their second target language (French, Spanish or Italian), one worked as an assistant teacher ofEnglish. The stay abroad experiences ofFrench exchange students is usually less but one of these three students (Laporte) has spent two years as an assistant translator at a major business concem. lFLulL 35 (2006) 144 Guido Rings previously known traits of oriental and occidental cultures, one focussed on text comprehension (the excerpt was read in class), three on text interpretation and one on a final discussion ofEast-West encounters emiched by the viewing and discussion ofthe short documentary film I love both countries that features Arabs living in the German city of Bonn. The evaluation of the seminar minutes and of the written comments on The Persian Dinner reveals the students' early distance from the literary text that seems to be derived from their traditional socio-cultural and linguistic approach to text interpretation. In this approach, Frischmuth' s short story is categorised as a mirror of the special situation of a political refugee forced to leave 'seine Heimat' ('home') because of the arrival of an Islamic-fundamentalist regime. The students regarded the protagonist's culture as highly different and drew parallels to Arab women that follow fundamentalist codes ofbehaviour when dressing up for a walk through London's Hyde Park. Despite a small glossary and introductory comments by the teacher, the text remains 'schwierig zu verstehen' ('difficult to understand') for most students, and some stress the need for a higher degree of familiarity with the other culture as a basis for text comprehension. Apparently, the focus on 'fremden Begriffen' ('alien terms') such as 'dervish' and 'mullah' as well as the consideration of many other unknown cultural traits in the glossary and introductory comments contributed more to the experience of difference and strangeness than originally anticipated. 22 However, this early distance did not translate into a rejection ofthe other culture and/ or the literary text but rather into an increased interest in the challenge perceived. Consequently, students engaged in lively discussions about the meaning of the pomegranate as a symbol for friendship and understanding in a culture with a high context communicative style 23 , and as a metaphorical bridge between East and West. Different notions of 'Freundschaft' ('friendship') in a more collectivist (Iran) and a more individualist society (Austria) were brought into the debate, and for empirical evidence the lecturer could refer to Hofstede's dimensions where individualism/ collectivism for both countries had been measured. 24 lsfahani' s respect for his female partner in this conversation was associated with different concepts of gender roles and power distance which brought up two more ofHofstede's dimensions. 25 There was also an acknowledge- 22 A comparable distance was visible when working on Alejo CARPENTIER's El arpa y la sombra (1985) in an intercultural studies environment. In this case the dense intertextual play satirizing different cultural perspectives was not easily understandable. All this is less ofa problem with Asensi's novel that carefully guides the reader from a Western-industrial horizon to a completely different indigenous one. However, the difficulty remains here more in the achievement of a critical distance at a later stage, after all the quijotesque features of the first person narrator are slightly hidden. 23 As opposed to Austria and most other Western European nations thatare governed by a rather low context communicative style following attitudes such as 'Say what you mean' and 'Getto the point'; see GtJDYKUNST/ TING-TOOMEY (1988: 38 f) and GUDYKUNST (1998: 54). 24 The Individualism Index (IDV) in HOFSTEDE's study is for Iran around 40 while Austria scores 55, and most other Western European nations even more (Gerrnany 65, France 70, Italy 75, Great Britain 87; see 2001: 294). 25 Iran scores far higher on Power Distance than Austria (58 as opposed to 11 ), and there is on average far less lFLuL 35 (2006) Broken Orientalism. Using Literary Texts for Intercultural Training 145 ment of different notions of time with regard to the first person narrator's collllllents about the need of doing things 'rechtzeitig' ('in good time', p. 73). While the protagonist's link to ancient Persian literature was often regarded as 'übertrieben' ('exaggerated'), students did not see this as a characteristic of Iranian culture but rather as expression of an 'innere Flucht' ('inner escape') of a political refugee forced tb live in a different culture. On the other hand, the strong link to cultural heritage was discussed as a characteristic of a more 'bewahrende' ('preserving') oriental culture in relative opposition to a probably more 'dynamische' ('dynamic') but at the same time 'rastlose' ('restless') occidental culture, with potential advantages and disadvantages on both sides. 26 Once again, parallels to Hofstede's research could be drawn, in this case to his fifth dimension, Long-Term Orientation (LTO), where East Asian countries score considerably higher than the overall more short-term oriented Western European countries (2001: 351 t). In the written interpretation by students, FRISCHMUTH's short story did not remain a text for experts but rather, as a French exchange student (Laporte) pointed out, "ein Mittel für jemanden, der die persische Kultur und Literatur nicht kennt, eine andere Kultur und Literatur zu entdecken". 27 In this context an interest in understanding the Self via the Other played a significant role, as an English student (Smith) pointed out: After observation of the differences, "kann man die eigene Identität besser erkennen" ('you can see your own identity much clearer'). Another French exchange student (Leroy) sUllllllarised the link for a better understanding ofboth cultures: Der Text erfordert einige Kenntnisse der persischen Kultur oder zwingt den unwissenden Leser, sich in [dieser] Kultur schlau zu machen. In dieser Hinsicht ist dieser Text nicht nur expressiv, sondern auch informativ und hilfreich, weil er zur Entdeckung einer anderen Kultur beiträgt. Er öffnet den Geist des Lesers. Gleichzeitig zwingt die Schriftstellerin uns, sich Fragen über unsere eigene Kultur bzw. Identität zu stellen: wer sind wir eigentlich? 28 competitive behaviour, measured in a masculinity index (43: 78), while more emphasis is placed on issues such as quality oflife and personal relationships, which are categorized as more 'feminine'; see HOFSTEDE 2001: 302. However, the Hofstede scale does not explain the major differences made in the education and day-to-day treatment of girls and boys in Iran. Overall, gender roles seem to be here more clearly defined than in Austria and, in particular, boys seem to enjoy greater freedom in their personal development than girls. 26 Unfortunate_ly, such distance to both cultures could not be achieved when using LOETSCHER's story 'Die Entdeckung der Schweiz' ('The discovery of Switzerland', in: Der Immune 1988) in a comparable German as a Foreign Language fmal year environment. The reason for this might be found in the very caricaturesque focus on the Self, while the Other remained rather marginalised. As in their exposure to Carpentier' s EI arpa y la sombra, students tended to follow the literary text in marginalising the other culture, partially as a defence mechanism towards their own culture, and partially because of the difficulty to critically fill gaps in knowledge and experience within an unfamiliar background. 27 "a means to explore a different culture and literature for somebody who does not know a Jot about Persian culture" (my translation). 28 "Tue text requires some knowledge about Persian culture or it forces the unknowledgeable reader to explore [that] culture. In this respect, the text is not only expressive but also informative and helpful, because it contributes to the exploration of a different culture. lt opens the mind of the reader. At the same time, the author forces us to ask questions about our own culture and identity: who are we? " (my translation). lFLulL 35 (2006) 146 Guido Rings The fifth lesson starts with the lecturer's presentation of such key statements from the students' written interpretation which leads students to draw detailed parallels to own experiences abroad. More than in the written comments, students now start identifying themselves with Isfahani's role although none had ever gone into political exile or had directly known a refugee. However, most students had extensive stays abroad and some experienced quite substantial identity conflicts, in particular those who remained in a working environment. This led to a partial self-identification with Isfahani as 'Mensch in der Fremde' ('a human being abroad'), although other students regarded integration and adaptation as a personal 'Pflicht' ('duty') for strangers. lt was they who regarded Isfahani's 'Flucht' ('escape') into an 'extrem harmonisierte' ('extremely harmonised') and, as such, quite 'künstliche' ('artificial') ancient Persian culture as 'wirklichkeitsfremd' ('out of touch with reality'). At this point the notion of subjectivity and ambiguity of intercultural encounters were more explicitly brought into the debate, but students did no go too deeply into this and agreed instead on a need to distinguish between different forms of staying abroad, 29 which led to two main statements: 1. Isfahani's story reveals an "Identitätskonflikt eines politischen Flüchtlings, der Heimat, Berufund Jugendliebe durch den islamischen Fundamentalismus verloren hat". 30 This is a special situation which explains an 'inner escape' that cannot be fully understood on the basis of student year abroad experiences. 2. Despite these special circumstances, Isfahani remains a 'Fremder' ('stranger') and, in this respect, there is considerable common ground for the students to draw parallels to their own experiences of 'Fremdheit' ('strangeness') that reveal a critical reflection of the Self in order to better understand the Other. 4. Conclusion The parallels found between the protagonist's and the students' experiences demonstrate "Relativierung der eigenkulturellen Perspektive [und deren] Erweiterung durch fremdkulturelle Erfahrungen" as a result ofa dialogue with that other culture (RUPP 1996: 159). 31 At the same time they break with the binary structures and hierarchical modes of cultural categorisation characteristic of oriental perspectives. In The Persian Dinner, this is facilitated by a female and relatively passive representation of the Self (via the narrator), 29 The students' jump in argumentation from subjective experience to a more 'objective' differentiation of a stay abroad might indicate that the degree of acknowledged subjectivity remains questionable. lt is also unclear whether the notion of the literary text as being embedded in the culture as well as being critical of the culture has been fully understood. The lecturer had introduced the latter in the first session with reference to GEERTZ' definition ofliterary texts as 'Meta-Kommentare' ('meta-comments', 1983: 252) and had planned for this tobe discussed under the header of subjectivity and ambiguity. 30 "an identity conflict of a political refugee who has lost his home, job and first love due to the arrival of Islamic fundamentalism" (Andersen; my translation). 31 "a differentiation of own cultural perspectives [and] their widening through other cultural experiences" (my translation). lFLuL 35 (2006) Broken Orientalism. Using Literary Texts for Intercultural Training 147 which increase the difficulties for a patriarchal framing of the Other. The students' relinquishment of hierarchies when representing the other culture seems at first glance rather surprising since the protagonist's presentation as political refugee escaping an Islamic-fundamentalist regime by his exile in Vienna allows for a confirmation of the traditional dichotomy of a superior civilised Europe versus an inferior barbarian Orient. However, lsfahani's emphasis on lran's impressive cultural heritage and his strong link to that ancient culture gives little room for the development and/ or maintenance of such neo-colonialist perspectives. In this sense, assuming critical reading or critical guidance through the text, the reconstruction of colonialist views could only lead to their deconstruction, and that makes The Persian Dinner a very good choice for enriching intercultural training in a foreign language environment. However, given the enormous gaps in this area, the replacement of some course book sections by literary work with such texts cannot be much more than one step in the right direction. Intercultural work in other subject areas than languages will have to support this rather temporary solution until revised curricula and teacher training start guiding authors and publishers to develop new teaching and leaming material. Such support will usually be based on empirical studies but it could certainly also come from literary work in History, Sociology and related disciplines when drawing on recent research in literary anthropology and on texts such as The Persian Dinner. 32 References Primary Sources ASENSI, Matilde (2003): El origen perdido. Barcelona: Planeta. CARPENTIER, Alejo (1985[1979]): El arpa y la sombra. La Habana: Letras Cubanas. FRISCHMUTH, Barbara (1973): Das Verschwinden des Schattens in der Sonne. Stuttgart: Reclam. FRISCHMUTH, Barbara (1995): "Das persische Abendessen". In: Neue Deutsche Literatur 45, 504, 59-72. LOETSCHER, Hugo (1988[1985]): Der Immune. Zürich: Diogenes. Secondary Sources ACKLAM, Richard/ BURGESS, Sally (1998): First Certificate Gold. Harlow: Longman. BACHMANN-MEDICK, Doris (1987): "Verstehen und Mißverstehen zwischen den Kulturen. Interpretation im Schnittpunkt von Literaturwissenschaft und Kulturanthropologie". In: Jahrbuch DaF 13, 65-77. BAHLMANN, Clemens [et al.] (2003): Unterwegs. Berlin: Langenscheidt. BLAUT, James M. (1993): The Coloniser's Model of the World: Geographical Diffitsionism andEurocentric History. New York: The Guilford Press. 32 In this context it is worth stressing that the text does not elaborate on the political or religious discourse in contemporary Iran, which separates the story from day-to-day events in and around the country and increases its potential use for intercultural training inside and outside a foreign languages enviromnent, without excluding the possibilities for political and religious discussions in the seminar or class room. lFLuL 35 (2006) 148 Guido Rings BOLTEN, Jürgen (1993): "Im Spiel der Lebenswelten. Zur theoretischen Grundlegung interkulturellen Kommunikationstrainings". In: BUNGARTEN, Theo (ed.): Interkulturelle Unternehmenskommunikation. Vol. 12. Tostedt, 14-26. BOROBIO CARRERA, Virgilio (2004): Nuevo Eie. Inicial - Avanzado. Madrid: Ediciones SM. BOUGARD, Marie Therese/ BOURDAIS, Daniele (2003): The French Experience. London: BBC. Cambridge University (2006): Handbook ESOL examinations. 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