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Whither the United States in the world? This was the central focus of the international symposium, The Interplay of Cultures, commemorating the 2001 centennial of anthropologist-humanitarian Margaret Mead (1901-78). She has been described as the most influential 20th century social scientist after Freud. Held December 3-4, 2001 at the Library of Congress, and organized by the Smithsonian for Mead's Institute for Intercultural Studies, the symposium reflected the world shock of 9/11 a few months earlier. It explored the contributions of history and behavioral sciences to understand cultures of rivals, adversaries, present and future allies, and our selves.
Transnational terrorism dramatized the need for a critical new look at World War II concepts of national character. Views expressed in this "time capsule" document of 2001 are increasingly relevant. Globalization is rampant, but also inspires people to cling to earlier identities. Nationalism is not dead. Racism, greed, corruption, territoriality and religious absolutism endure. Mead believed war is learned behavior and could be unlearned.
With recent improvements in U.S. international relations, citizens need all the more to improve their cultural literacy. For starters, try Internet links with the Library of Congress Foreign Area Studies and Margaret Mead Archives. Various Smithsonian websites lead to cultures of the Americas, the Arctic, Africa and Asia/Pacific.
The Symposium
DAY TWO -- Tuesday, December 4, 2001
Implications of History and Culture or Diplomacy, National Security, and Peace-Making (View the entire Panel )
"Simple peoples and civilized peoples, mild peoples and violent peoples, will all go to war if they have the invention, just as those people who have the custom of dueling will have duels...Warfare...is just an invention, older and more widespread that the jury system, but none the less an invention." --Margaret Mead, "Warfare is Only an Invention --Not a Biological Necessity," Asia, 1940
Chaired by: Tim White, journalist, executive television and film producer
- Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute, strategic demographer and political economist
- Jerrold M. Post, Psychiatrist Founder and Director, Center for Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, CIA; political psychologist, George Washington University; specialist in political violence and terrorism
- Judith Kipper, Director, Middle East Forum, Council on Foreign Relations; Co-Director, Middle East Studies Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, consultant, ABC News
Discussion (10 minutes)
How Do the Media, Popular Culture, and Literature Reflect National Character, Stereotypes, and Perceptions? ( View the entire Panel)
"The Chinese tendency to think in terms of analogy to the family system applies also to their way of thinking about international relations...Family imagery is confined to children's books, similar thinking appears in newspaper references...and film." -- John Hast Weaklund, "Chinese Family Images in International Relations," and "An Analysis of Seven Cantonese Films" in Margaret Mead and Rhoda Metraux, ed., The Study of Culture at a Distance (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2000)
Chaired by: Tim White, journalist, executive television and film producer
- Stephen Hess, Political Scientist, The Brookings Institution, author, International News & Foreign Correspondents
- Edgardo C. Krebs, Anthropologist, Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution, occasional contributor to La Nacion, Buenos Aires, and Times Literary Supplement
- Mary-Jane Deeb, Arab World Area Specialist, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress
- Barbara Mossberg, President Emeritus, Goddard College, Senior Consultant, American Council on Education, Center for Institutional and International Initiatives
Discussion (10 minutes)
IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY: KEEPING CITIZENS CURIOUS ABOUT THE WORLD. (View the entire Panel )
"The American encounter with the world...has been marked by profound ambivalence. More than any great nation in modern history, the United States has been uninterested in foreign affairs. Its parochialism and isolationism are matters of fact and historical record...Yet...the great events of the century are marked by Washington's involvement, for better or worse." -- James F. Hoge, Jr. and Fareed Zakaria in The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World: Essays from 75 years of AForeign Affairs (New York: Basic Books, 1997)
Chaired by: Gail Leftwich, President, Federation of State Humanities Councils
- Allan E. Goodman, President, Institute of International Education
- Robert Henderson, Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars
- Georges Kutukdjian, UNESCO
- Craig Kielburger, Founder and Chairman, Free the Kids
Discussion (10 minutes)
Whither the U.S. In the World? (View the entire Panel )
"The control of foreign relations by modern democracies creates a new and pressing demand for popular education in international affairs...they demand to know what is going on and have an opportunity to express their opinions at all stages of diplomatic proceedings." --Elihu Root, September 1922, quoted in James Hoge, Jr., and Fareed Zakaria, ed. The American Encounter
Chaired by: Prosser Gifford, Director, Office of Scholarly Programs, Library of Congress
- William Watts, President, Potomac Associates, former Senior Staff Member, National Security Council under Henry Kissinger
Discussion (10 minutes)