Kwame Appiah will speak about the misconceptions of cultural differences at 4 p.m. todavTn^ ^
Uni versify 3 ^n,0n' ^PP18*1 ,s 8 Professor of Afro-American studies and philosophy at Harvard
Culture, conflict topics of talk
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By Chad Lorenz
Staff Reporter
Forcing people to adopt a common
culture does not solve the conflicts
between them, a Harvard professor
said.
“What divides them is not pro
found cultural differences,” said
Kwame Appiah, professor of Afro
American studies and philosophy at
Harvard University in Cambridge,
Mass.
What divides them, he said, are
diverse values and political beliefs.
Appiah will discuss the
misidentified problems and solutions
of cultural differences today at 4 p.m.
in the Nebraska Union in his speech,
“Against National Culture.”
Most people in the United States
already share a common culture,
Appiah said, unlike in Nigeria, India
and China, where cultures are truly
diverse.
Blacks and whites in the United
States, for example, generally eat the
same foods, speak the same language,
watch the same TV programs and
agree football is a great game, he said.
Conflicts between men and women
also arise, he said, but not because of
cultural differences.
Conflicts between people arise be
cause of differences in thinking,
Appiah said, and free thinking is the
basis for constitutional freedom.
If all people were raised thinking
the same way, despite their cultural
gaps, there would be no disputes be
tween them, he said.
Appiah’s own nuclear family com
bines at least three different cultures,
and his extended family brings to
gether many more.
“We all get along perfectly well
because we want to,” he said.
Integrating cultures, therefore, will
not settle friction between people be
cause those differences are not the
cause, Appiah said.
Trying to create a common culture
in the United States, he said, would be
a mass assault on freedom.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole’s
proposal to establish English as the
official language of the United States
was an example of the government
stepping into an area of culture that
society already has established, Appiah
said.
“People are not any less American
because they don’t speak the lan
guage,” he said.
Proposing laws against flag burn
ing was another unconstitutional ac
tion by government to shape culture,
Appiah said.
France has been an example of a
country that promotes one national
culture, he said.
The French government, through
the education system, is aimed at pre
serving “Frenchness,” Appiah said,
by regulating employment of teach
ers, setting curriculum and approving
French Vocabulary.
The solution to overcoming differ
ences is not in trying to correct other
people’s thinking, he said, but in lis
tening and understanding it.
If people want to end racism and
bigotry, they need to share experi
ences with people who think differ
ently, Appiah said, even if they don’t
agree with them.
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