I like the premise of this community and I believe it is a good remedy to US defaultism.
It bugs me in the Internet whenever someone is not from the US has to introduce “a thing” in their culture with a thin veil of shame. We never see Americans having to “explain” what Halloween or Thanksgiving is, even when they are knowingly facing a global audience.
So, very well done for starting this, and I would like to just contribute some brainstormed ideas.
A community like this could host long form ‘specials’ such as (an example) “Introduce others to a niche topic of your culture.”
Now what could that be:
- That could be a band/genre
- Some TV show with a cult following
- An influential pop culture figure that keeps off the spotlight
- A type of slang unique to your culture
- A set of weird or memorable customs
Additionally, people could contribute things like subtitles or translations, so others can discover media from each other’s countries that would never be available through mainstream streaming.
We never see Americans having to “explain” what Halloween or Thanksgiving is, even when they are knowingly facing a global audience.
Bit idea: whenever a Seppo mentions “Halloween” or “Thanksgiving” or “July 4th”, simply say, “What is that?”
Additionally, people could contribute things like subtitles or translations, so others can discover media from each other’s countries that would never be available through mainstream streaming.
This is a really good and important thing. More people should do subtitling. In fact, right now I’m writing a presentation about my efforts to translate Japanese anime into Norwegian.
We never see Americans having to “explain” what Halloween
ahem
Hallowe’en is Irish.
Fair enough. When you see it introduced in like, Eastern Europe, it is due to American cultural imperialism, not Irish. At least so I think.
It’s interesting how things get americanised then spread in a changed form
people might know the Arabian Nights tales (Sinbad, Aladdin, Ali Baba) from americanised versions, but they’re distinctively Arabian
Also
- zines,
- different newspapers
- satirical acts
- political leanings of public figures
- links between demographics and attitudes people take for granted
I could do this for Irish folklore.
I like your idea.
This is something Quebec suffers from within Canada. Canadian English culture is extremely close and influenced by American culture. Quebec, being francophone and being neither English Canadian nor European French is unique. But nobody cares. Nobody gives a shit about learning it. Learning the intricacies of its language, which is VERY different from France French. And it’s pop culture icons and music and literature and everything.
When they call for the preservation of their culture, they get criticized for being bothersome for being different in the monocultural English culture of North America and get told to fold over and give up.