Foto: © Anke Illing
Samstag, 28. Mai 2011
yms: Certificates
urmila, 14:52h
I experienced the young media summit as pretty much non-hierarchical. The participants were heterogenous in their views, rather homogenous in their class background and (at least to me) no obvious and stable hierarchies among us were there (although situative hierarchies existed naturally). The immediate organisers provided the framework and had the task of disciplining us thus, but again it was my impression that they did so non-hierachically. Thus I quite liked the atmosphere.
But at the closing dinner this non-hierarchical atmosphere was broken. We were not only handed out certificates, which certified that we had successfully completed the summit (could we have failed?).
But this was also staged in a totally hierarchical way. The three immediate organisers, their boss from Germany and a representative of the German embassy stood in the center of the room, each of our names was called out, we were supposed to go to them, get the certificate and a hand shake from all of them. There are several aspects to this staging. First of all, it implies that this certificate has an importance, it really does not have (it does not certify anything valuable - our participation is certified already sufficiently through the blog). Secondly it implies, that they can certify us something, thus establishing a clear hierarchy between us.
Worst of all, however, was the explanation, which I got later, when I complained about it. One of the Germans explained to me, that the Arabs like this, it is important for them and thus we did it. This argument I know from an organisation, which I used to work for and which was also engaged in working with the global South. Also then I often heard that the 'Others' (in Asia or wherever in the global South) like certificates, formalities, etc. and thus we do things like this. That is so very paternalistic, Orientalist, racist and a collectivisation of the majority of the world population. Why sbould all of 'them' like something we can benevolently bestow on them?
The Arab participant next to me disliked the gesture just as much as me. Told me that she had never experienced anything comparable and did not understand the point of it. But she was more polite than I was and did not complain. The next day she told me that she had talked to another Arab participant and she had said, she had not cared about the ceremony but participated out of politeness. The participant I talked to assumed the German organisers were doing the whole ceremony for the funders and to legitimise themselves.
From my experience I believe that they really believe that 'the Arabs' like getting certificates and thus we are back to (degrading) German perspectives on the Arab world.
But at the closing dinner this non-hierarchical atmosphere was broken. We were not only handed out certificates, which certified that we had successfully completed the summit (could we have failed?).
But this was also staged in a totally hierarchical way. The three immediate organisers, their boss from Germany and a representative of the German embassy stood in the center of the room, each of our names was called out, we were supposed to go to them, get the certificate and a hand shake from all of them. There are several aspects to this staging. First of all, it implies that this certificate has an importance, it really does not have (it does not certify anything valuable - our participation is certified already sufficiently through the blog). Secondly it implies, that they can certify us something, thus establishing a clear hierarchy between us.
Worst of all, however, was the explanation, which I got later, when I complained about it. One of the Germans explained to me, that the Arabs like this, it is important for them and thus we did it. This argument I know from an organisation, which I used to work for and which was also engaged in working with the global South. Also then I often heard that the 'Others' (in Asia or wherever in the global South) like certificates, formalities, etc. and thus we do things like this. That is so very paternalistic, Orientalist, racist and a collectivisation of the majority of the world population. Why sbould all of 'them' like something we can benevolently bestow on them?
The Arab participant next to me disliked the gesture just as much as me. Told me that she had never experienced anything comparable and did not understand the point of it. But she was more polite than I was and did not complain. The next day she told me that she had talked to another Arab participant and she had said, she had not cared about the ceremony but participated out of politeness. The participant I talked to assumed the German organisers were doing the whole ceremony for the funders and to legitimise themselves.
From my experience I believe that they really believe that 'the Arabs' like getting certificates and thus we are back to (degrading) German perspectives on the Arab world.
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