Culture and Language Learning Newsletter, August 1, 1973 ...€¦ · Arab maqam scales, the Indian raga, and the ancient tuning pipes of China are thus as fami-liar to professional

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NEWSLETTEREAST-WEST CENTER 2-2 Culture Learning Institute August 1, 1973

Music as an aspect of cultural identityBy William P. Maim*

Whenever there are delegatesfrom various nations at a musicconference it is common practicefor the opening speaker to at-tempt to establish goodwill andunderstanding with some apho-rism about music as an interna-tional language. It is indeed alovely idea, but there is one ratherunfortunate problem in such a

*Dr. Maim, Professor of Music at the

University of Michigan, is a noted ethno-

musicologist and has been a Senior Fel-low with the Institute since January1973.

statement: it is not true. Musicdoes seem to be a universal need,an essential element in every cul-ture. However, the actual soundsof the musics of the world con-sist of a large number of equallylogical but different closed sys-tems. These different systems arelogical in the sense that all theelements which are the character-istic parts of a given musicalevent are set in an order and ahierarchy determined by the mu-sical culture to which the eventbelongs. The systems are closedin the sense that the elements ofthe music and their arrangements

Identity and family structurein Hong Kong

By Bo Na Mona Lo

p

The following is a position pa-per presented by one of the

participants in CLI's Second Sum-mer Program in East-West Inter-cultural Studies. Bo Na MonaLo, from Hong Kong, is currentlyassistant lecturer in sociology,Hong Kong Baptist College.Each of the 15 participants

presented short position paperson the problems of identity asrelated to family structure, theschool experience, career choice,technology, and human rights.The papers, some of which are

very personal in nature, reflectthe participants' own thinking,experience, background, and cul-tural point of view.

Charles Rycroft, in A criticaldictionary of psychoanalysis, de-fines identity as a "sense of one'scontinuous being as an entity dis-tinguishable from all others."'According to Erikson, the termidentity "connotes both a persist-ent sharing of some kind ofessential character with others."2Adam Curie in his Mystics andmilitants also talks about a kindof "belonging identity" and an"awareness identity."3 The for-mer probably means a sense ofbelonging to a certain social cate-gory; and the latter, a sort of selfor personal identity. From the a-bove, it seems to me that they allreiterate that man needs to be-

(Continued on page 5)

in one culture may be radicallydifferent from the often unusablein another tradition. Think of aMozart piano sonata played by aChinese opera orchestra or a Ja-vanese gamelan compositon ren-dered by a string quartet.

(Continued on page 2)

CLI FELLOW RUTH S. FINNEY pre-pares a display of New Guinea chil-dren's drawings for an exhibition en-titled "They Will Live Together-OrNot." Dr. Flnney has been conductingresearch Into race relations in NewGuinea, in addition to studying theeffects of different motivational

styles on certain types of culture

learning. The exhibit was part of the

three-day "Cultures In Contact" sem-inar held in early April, 1973.

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CULTURE AND LANGUAGE

LEARNING

Music as an aspect ...

(Continued from page 1)

Cultural perspectiveThe presence of many equally

logical but different systems inthe musical world means also thatthe method one uses to analyseor "understand" a given musicmay prove inappropriate in an-other. Thus, example, all the won-drous means used in the westto explain a Beethoven symphonywill tell us nothing about themusic of Japanese gagaku courtorchestra. By the same token, ifone looks at an Indian gat interms of western sonata-allegrofrom analysis, it is chaos while,similarly, if one applies the ana-lytical system of Japanese nohdrama to Bach cantatas, they toowill make no sense. It is a matterof cultural perspective. This beingthe case, one can see that re-gional musics by their very struc-ture can be reflections of a cul-ture's identity.

If we place a given musicalevent in its social setting the con-nection between music and cul-tural identity becomes even morepowerful. The school fight song ina football context or the popularsong that was in fashion at thetime one first fell in love arecapable of evoking strong per-sonal emotions throughout one'slife from high school to the re-tirement home. Such memoriesusually involve as well the phy-sical location and the cultural,social setting of the originalevent. Thus a specific moment ofcultural history may be identifiedand retained through the oral tra-dition of music as strongly andsometimes more emotionallythan it can through the very dif-ferent kind of magic of the print-ed word.

Music in cultureThe musical aspects of more

general regional or nationalevents have similar potentials forlong range effects through recallor the reinforcement of repeatedperformances. It is this phenome-non which is one of the moti-vating factors in the creation of,for example, Protestant hymns,

polemical songs, and singingcommercials. Thus through a va-riety of musical experiencesyoung Christians first could learnand remember that Jesus lovedthem and later that God was amighty fortress while in their col-lege days they might know thatwe shall overcome as well as beaware of which cigarette tastesgood like it should. However,since music is not an internation-al language, all these messagesmight be totally lost on a car-rier of a different culture. Suchan ego-deflating lesson must belearned by anyone who venturesinto the field of ethnomusicology,the study of music in culture.

Bored with BachIt is, of course, true that man,

like the other brighter animals,can be taught to respond 'cor-rectly" to various previously for-eign stimuli like music. In hisnatural cultural habitat, however,his tastes may be very different.The late Richard Waterman, anoted ethnomusicologist, told ofa field trip among the aboriginalsof Australia in which he playedtape recordings of various formsof western music in order togauge the natives' reactions.Their responses to all exampleswere the same. Whether the mu-sic was Bach, Stravinsky, marchmusic, or jazz the listeners re-mained impassive and either puz-zled or bored. By accident Water-man happened to end his tapewith an example recorded earlierfrom another tribe on the othercoast of Australia. At that pointthere was sudden action and ani-mated conversation for the abori-ginals had never heard such"weird" music. Poor Bach and therest of the western greats did noteven rate inclusion in the "weird"category because, by aboriginalstandards, they simply werenoise, not music in the sense oftheir musical logic. This is not theresult of their "primitive" musicaltaste. It is merely the incompa-tibility of their great sensitivity

to their own forms of sophisti-cated music with the require-ments of similar sensitivities inwestern music.

The western music loving read-er understandably may feel upsetat this point for the objects ofhis personal adoration may seemto have been maligned. It is notso. Bach remains beautiful in hisown cultural context whethersomeone from outside likes himor not. The same is true of aChinese opera aria. The object ofour discussion so far has beenprimarily to clarify the meaningof the first lesson for the day:music is not an international lan-guage. That being so, we are lednaturally to the second lessonwhich is that music is one of themore powerful and easily recog-nizable aspects of culturalidentity.

Let us return to the aboriginalwho considered Bach to be non-music. It is important to remem-ber that his judgement was notprimitive. It was totally accurateand sensitive in the terms of hisown musical culture. Within thatculture there will be, no doubt,pieces equally treasured by a cul-

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Nineteen attend

literature seminar

Nineteen well-known figuresin the field of literature fromtwelve countries will gather atthe East-West Center, August5-11, 1973, for CLI'S "Consult-ants' Seminar in Sociolitera-ture." The participants, includ-

ing writers such as JamesHous-ton, USA, Ken Akiyama, Japan,small Hussein, Malaysia, andMrs. Kamala Markandaya Tay-lor, India, will discuss suchaspects of socioliterature associal criticism, alternative fu-tures, and cross-cultural under-

standing.

Details of the workshop willbe reported in the next issue ofthe Newsletter. 0

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2 Culture and Language Learning Newsletter

tural carrier though they may notmake sense to someone who doesnot understand that particularmusical language. If one wishesto study further in such a foreignmusical tongue it may be pos-sible eventually to classify somepieces sociologically under theunfortunately foggy terms of folksongs, popular songs, and art mu-sic. Actually these terms usuallydo not exist as such in most worldmusic cultures. Nevertheless onecan apply them for the sake ofcomparative studies if the criteriaused are primarily socio-histori-cal.

Transistor eraFor example, there may be

songs known to many differenttribes in Australia in different

versions over several generationswhich, like the American "BillyBoy," could be called folk songs.At the same time one can find atune, set in the latest musicalfad of Australia's Arnhemlandand dealing with topical events,which can be called an indige-nous popular song. In the tran-sistor era one can, of course, addthe ersatz international or re-gional popular sounds which playimportant roles in mass commu-nications in terms of radio timeallocations. Finally, there alwaysseem to be in any culture some"special" pieces which are usual-ly performed against the higheststandards of excellence held byinformed native listeners. Suchmusic may not be part of every-one's taste in that culture but sen-

CLI launches two new publications

The Culture Learning Institute is launching two new publicationsseries during 1973-74. The CLI Monograph Series will be publishedby the University Press of Hawaii. The series will reflect the multi-disciplinary character of the Institute, covering topics which aredirectly related to the Institute's four themes, cultural identity, cul-tures in contact, language in culture, and thought and expression inculture learning. The principal contributors will be staff and seniorfellows of CLI, but the series will publish the work of others if theirwork is in an area particularly relevant to CLI'S activities. The aver-age length of each monograph will be between 100 and 120 pages.More information on the titles slated for 1973-74 will be forthcomingin the next issue of the Newsletter. Dr. Mark Lester is chairman of theeditorial board.

Topics in Cultural Learning will be a yearly publication directedtoward the general reader, and will contain papers examining issuesclosely related to the Institute's four research areas. Dr. Richard Bris-lin is editor. The contents of Volume One are as follows:

Gregory Trifonovitch: "On cross-cultural orientationtechniques"Mark Lester: 'Transformational grammar and cognitive psycho-

linguistics"Richard Brislin: "Issues central to the study of the individual,

learning, and culture"John Walsh: "Thoughts about 'thought and expression' in culture

learning"Stephen Bochner: "The mediating man and cultural diversity"Verner C. Bickley: "Cultural aspects of language imposition in

Malaya, Singapore, and Indonesia"James Ritchie: "Teaching the social sciences: innovation in

small systems"Masanori Higa: "Sociolinguistic aspects of word borrowing"

Single copies of Topics in Culture Learning may be obtained by.nterested organizations and individuals by writing to the Director,rCulture Learning Institute, 1777 East-West Road, East-West Center,Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. 0

sitive culture carriers at least re-spect those who perform it andthe listeners who judge it. Onemight call this art music, andapply the term just as well toa sacred song sung quietly ina secret place of the Australiandesert as to three days of Wag-nerian operatic inundations at thefestival theatre in Bayreuth, Ger-many.

Theoretical basisArt musics often maintain some

form of conscious music theory.This is well known in the caseof Euro-American traditionswhere in recent decades therehave been cases in which thetheoretical explanation of certainpieces were more important thantheir sound. The theoretical un-derpinnings of art music in theNear East, India, and China areequally as detailed as that of thewestern classical tradition. TheArab maqam scales, the Indianraga, and the ancient tuningpipes of China are thus as fami-liar to professional music theo-rists as the writings of Pythago-rus or Rameau. However, allthese traditions fall within theGutenberg galaxy of the printedword. When one moves on withone's ears and mind to the oraltraditions of, for example, NewGuinea or the gong ensembles ofBorneo, the concept of theoryseems very remote indeed. Atfirst study one seems to find onlymythology or "superstition." Atcloser examination, however,some tales are found to be ef-ficient explanations of musicalchoices set in terms that can beunderstood and recalled by peo-ple of the tradition. How manymusical or sociological theoriesof the west can be said to func-tion that well?

One can retort that such anoral theory is not capable of be-ing applied to extensive musicalanalysis. This is generally true.Nevertheless, it should be point-ed out in addition that musicswithin the confines of their na-tive habitats often cannot be sep-arated from their culture contextsfor purely musical study. Indeed,in many cultures there is no word


Culture and Language Learning Newsletter 3

Music as an aspect...(Continued from page 3)

for music per se in their spokenlanguages. The word for musicand for poetry or praying may beone, and music may only be de-fined by the name for the cul-tural event in which it is used.In such situations it may not beterribly vital to know the precisetunings of an instrument or theuse of an anhemitonic pentatonicscale (the black notes on the

piano).

Good for what?

Of course one can ask furtherwhether all this native music is

"good" music? Perhaps the mostefficient reply is, "Good forwhat?"

Curt Sachs, a famous earlydevotee to ethnomusicologicalstudies, presented in the lastchapter of his last book perhapsone of the most telling intel-lectual final gifts. The chapterin The wellsprings of music' isentitled "Progress?" In it hepoints out that by diligent train-ing we can teach a universitystudent to "hear" and "appre-ciate" a Beethoven symphonymuch as he learns to "under-stand" other foreign languages.The "uneducated" Eskimo, bycontrast, will instantly under-stand which of some twentywords meaning snow was usedas one of the few words appear-ing in a long, generally nonsensesyllabled three-tone chant whichoccupied a time period nearly aslong as a symphonic movement.Of equal or greater importance,he will understand and appre-ciate why that form of the wordsnow was chosen and thus willunderstand the very depth ofthe musical event far beyond thereach of most experts on sonata-allegro form in the west. As ourmusic became more complicat-ed, says Sachs, it became lessdirectly meaningful to the car-riers of the cultural context inwhich it was composed and, per-haps, less so to inheritors ofthat general tradition.

'Curt Sachs, The wellsprings of music.The Hague: Nijhoff, 1962.

Can I cross over?

The reader may at this pointdespairt for it would seem that,since music is not an internation-al language, it really is a fruit-less task for one to even attemptto cross the bridge into some-one else's musical land. However,music's lack of a universal tonguedoes not mean that one cannotlearn to converse in several dia-lects with success. One can neverfind the "deepest point" whichwill involve all the childhoodmemories that return at eachhearing within one's own musicalworld plus whatever Jungianarchetypes may lurk about in thewings. Nonetheless one can un-derstand enough of such distantmusical languages that it is pos-sible at least to respect the validi-ty and reason for being ofsome musical tradition vastly dif-ferent from anything he everheard before. This is culturalunderstanding at its best. Noone is required to "like" everyaspect of every part of the worldeven in the United Nations. Whatis mandatory in the educatedman is a sense of awe andof respect for the multitudinousvariety of manners in which worldcultures handle their individualsolutions to common humanneeds. In the case of music itsso-called non-essential role is be-lied by its strong position in localactivities and economics.

It is sometimes said that mu-sicians in most societies are con-sidered to be bums. In one Congotribe, for example, musicianswere known to be drunkards anddefault debtors yet tribe memberswould always give them moneyfor without a good musician, a tri-bal or family event would simplynot come off. Perhaps the sup-pression of musicians is directlyrelated to the degree to whichsuch persons have the ability tomove us emotionally and thustemporarily control us. Such po-tential control is dangerous andmust be contained. In western ci-vilization such potentials are lit-tle maintained except in the mosthighly functional musics such aspopular music. As the field of in-ternational studies in the artsgrows we begin to see in the case

of music one of the most power-ful symbols of what can be calledcultural identity. One of the goalsof the East-West Center is to helpvarious researchers of the worldappreciate the potential power ofmusic as a means of understand-ing distant peoples and perhapsthrough such comprehension tocome to a sincere appreciation ofmore of the sonic riches thatawait the sensitive and flexiblemusical ear.

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ALUMNI NEWS

Jane Mastro who successfullycompleted her CLI grant (8/24/71-5/21/73) obtained her Mas-ter's degree in Political Science.She was awarded an assistantshipwith the U.H. Political ScienceDepartment in the Fall, 1973, towork toward her Ph.D. degree.

Richard Franke who com-pleted his Master's degree inAsian Studies under CLI sponsor-ship during the period 6/4/71-5/21/73 received an assistantshipin September, 1973, at the Thun-derbird Graduate School of Inter-national Management in Glen-dale, Arizona, where he willpursue a second M.A. degree-inBusiness Administration.

Jeffrey Siegel completed hisEWC grant and was awarded aMaster's degree in English as aSecond Language. His grantcovered the period 8/24/71-5/21/73. He was the first-placewinner of the University of Ha-waii Library Pacific ResearchAward. His paper was entitled"The Indian Speech Communityin Fiji." He was awarded, for thesecond time, an AIlS (AmericanInstitute of Indian Studies) schol-arship in India beginning Sep-tember, 1973.

Gordon Zane was awarded ascholarship to work toward hisPh.D. in History at the Universityof Michigan this Fall, 1973. Hesuccessfully completed his M.A.studies in History under CLI spon-sorship during the period August24, 1971-February 9, 1973. 0

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New CLI staff appointments

Mr. Kenzi Mad, originally fromPalau, Trust Territory of the Pacific,has been appointed Associate Pro-gram Officer for professional devel-opment programs. Before joining theInstitute in February, 1973, he wasInstructor-Supervisor at the Com-munity College of Micronesia, P0-

nape.He hasconsiderable experiencein elementary education and in ele-

mentary school administration.Dr. Karen Watson is joining the

Institute as a full-time researchassociate this August, having pre-viously held appointments inCalifornia State University at Hay-ward, and Merritt College, Oakland,as a cultural anthropologist. Asidefrom anthropology, she has specialinterests in sociolinguistics andethnosemantics, oral literature, andmythology. She is conducting re-search in the cultural identity andlanguage in culture areas. 0

Karen Watson

Identity and family structure.(Continued from page 1)

long and at the same time behimself; or although man has hisown distinct, unique characteris-tics, he shares with his referencegroups many essential charac-teristics. With a healthy sense ofidentity, man is happy, satisfiedand functions better as a humanbeing.

Scope of the paperIn this paper, I shall briefly

look at how the family structurepromotes or inhibits the indivi-dual's "belonging-identity" and"awareness-identity." For exam-ple, in the family, has he got asense of belonging? To what ex-tent does the family offer him theenvironment for nurturing hisown sense of self-identity? As98 percent of the population inHong Kong are Chinese and 80percent of the population live inurban areas, the focus of mypaper then will be on the urbanChinese in Hong Kong only.

Author's theoretical orientation

My theoretical orientation is so-ciological; and my approach isbasically structural-functional, si-tuational and interactional com-

bined. With such a viewpoint inmind, I feel that it is necessaryto provide some background in-formation on Hong Kong, in orderto help us better understand thevarious problems of identity.

Hong Kong todayHong Kong, a British crown col-

ony since 1842, is situated at thesoutheast coast of China. Thetotal land area is less than 400square miles, of which only 20percent is arable and developedfor its population of 4,103,500(1972 estimate). In this smallspace, people are packed in num-bers ranging from 1,800 to over3,000 an acre. In 1945, the pop-ulation was only 650,000; andthis rapid increase is mainly aconsequence of the large influxesof refugees from China.Hong Kong is rapidly becoming

a manufacturing and commercialcenter within Asia. The economicsystem is a classic example oflaissez-faire and free enterprise.In spite of economic prosperity,according to the 1971 Census,the median monthly householdincome was still about HK$600.As to the cost of living, HongKong is fast becoming one of

the most expensive cities in theworld. Minimum wage and pen-sion plans, except for civil ser-vants and employees of largecompanies, are non-existent.Signs of poverty can still be seen.Missionaries have been very ac-tive in providing basic welfareservices and the government nowis assuming an increasingly re-sponsible role.

Transitional societyAccording to the 1971 Census,

20.5 percent of the people arereported to have had no school-ing at all; and 53 percent, someprimary education. However,since September, 1971, free pri-mary education has been intro-duced. Though 80 percent of thepopulation does not speak anyEnglish, a western type of educa-tion is emphasized and sought af-ter. Ethnically and culturally,Hong Kong is still Chinese. Never-theless, Hong Kong is definitelyfeeling the impact of westerniza-tion, industrialization and urbani-zation. In short, Hong Kong nowis a transitional society, and assuch has its special implicationsfor identity.The generalizations I am going

to make on the various problems



Identity...(Continued from page 5)

of identity are based on onelarge-scale survey, a number ofsmall independent studies, somegovernment annual reports, someof my own preliminary analyseson student essays and surveys,and personal observations. There-fore, some of my statements maybe questionable and need furtherscientific validation.

Identity and family structure

First I shall talk about the iden-tifying characteristics of theChinese family structure in HongKong. Then, I shall look at therelationship between belonging-identity and the family structure.Finally, I shall give one or twocomments on the relationship be-tween awareness-identity or thedevelopment of personal identityand the situation in which the fa-mily finds itself.

The structure of the Chinesefamily in Hong Kong is closer tothe American model than is eitherthe traditional Chinese model orthe Communist Chinese model.Theoretically, there is a freerchoice of mate among the young-er generation, though arrangedintroductions by friends and rel-atives are not uncommon. Ac-cording to Mitchell's large-scalestudy, Urban Family Study," 44percent of the sample has beenarranged introductions and only15 percent met at work or atschool.4 The average age ofmarriage for males is 29.5 and forfemales, 24. (This is higher thanfor America and the other Asiancountries.) Since October, 1971,monogamous marriage has beenlegally enforced. Depending oneconomic and housingconditions,more families are becoming neo-local and autonomous. In thesame survey, Mitchell reportsthat 69 percent of the familiesare two-generational, with only22 percent three-generationalfamilies. The percentage of ex-tended families is still rather highby comparison with that of Amer-ica's 5.5 percent.6 In Hong Kong,the husband's mother is the mostfrequently found other relative

in the extended household; andafter this, comes the mother ofthe married daughter, about 36percent of Mitchell's sample. (Liv-ing with a married daughter wasrare in traditional Chinese fami-lies.)

Family sizeAs to the size of the family,

Hong reports that the averagenumber of children per familywas about five.7 As the youngerpeople become more educated,more westernized and more re-sponsive to family planning, it isexpected that family size mightbe much smaller in the future.Data from the family planningassociation and a recent surveyof college students indicate thatthe now preferred number ofchildren is two or three.8 The sizeof the Hong Kong household isvery similar to the traditionalhousehold, as the majority of thepeople could not afford having alarger household. The largehousehold with 20 to 30 peoplewas only typical of the gentry,a few percent of the wholepopulation.

Husband-wife relationshipF.M. Wong's study of working-

class married women suggeststhat among the lower incomefamilies, when the wife is em-ployed full-time, there is moremutual collaboration betweenhusband and wife.9 Hong findsthat in Hong Kong we appear tohave a higher percentage of auto-nomous decision-making couplesthan elsewhere. Seventy-four per-cent of the couples of his studyare said to show the autonomouspattern, whereas only 10 percentare of the syncratic pattern. De-spite the gradual democratizationof the husband-wife relationship,the male is still relatively domi-nant.Regarding the parent-child re-

lationship, the elders are stillvery much in control, and thisdoes not vary with social classdifferences. Parents are muchmore protective than restrictive.For children of the lower incomegroup, living in high densityhousing (with an actual spaceof about 18-24 square feet peradult equivalent), parental super-vision is said to be lower. Mitchellalso concludes that on the whole


PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

1974-75

Professional development projects planned for 1974-75include the following:

CULTURAL IDENTITY:Pacific Cultural Centers ProgramMuseum Management ProjectEthnomusicology ProjectArchive Management Project

Third Summer Program in East-West Intercultural Studies

July 1, 1974-Dec. 31, 1974

July 1, 1974-Dec. 31, 1974

July 1, 1974-Dec. 31, 1974

Aug. 5, 1974-Aug. 26, 1974

CULTURES IN CONTACT:Cultural Aspects of

Educational Leadership

LANGUAGE IN CULTURE:Project for Administratorsof ESOL Programs

Project for Trainers ofESOL Teachers

Language Developmentand Bilingual EducationProject

Jan. 10, 1974-June 10, 1974Jan. 10, 1975-June 10. 1975

Aug. 1, 1974-Nov. 30, 1974

Sept. 1, 1974-May 31, 1975

Sept. 1, 1974-May 31, 1975

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husband-wife and parent-childrelationships tend to be pooreramong the lower income group.'°The aged's advice is still often

sought after, though it is notnecessarily followed. Despitecomplaints and evidence to showthat the kinship relationships areloosening, there are still daugh-ters who would postpone mar-riage in order to support the fam-ily. Salaff considered this oneof the major factors for latemarriage in Hong Kong." Whe-ther married or unmarried, chil-dren will contribute money totheir parents. In a survey of youngworkers by Chaney, 40 percentare said to turn over all andanother 40 percent half of theirsalary to their parents.12

The Hong Kong family is stillfairly stable, but signs of dis-organization are emerging. Inthe last 20 years, divorce hasgone up 20 times. We still havea very low divorce rate, onedivorce in every 93 registeredmarriages, in comparison withthe one in three in America.13However, since the new divorcelaw came into effect in July1972, the divorce rate has dou-bled.

Changes from the traditionalFrom the above description,

one can see that the Hong Kongfamily is certainly very differentfrom the traditional Chinesefamily. Taking the traditionalChinese model as a baseline, onemay ask what actually has chang-ed in the Chinese family? Thechanges are more in terms ofthe change of focus from thefather-son relationship to the hus-band-wife relationship; in termsof the enhancement of the statusof youth and women; in terms ofthe loosening of kinship ties; andin terms of the reduction offamily functions to those of mere-ly affectional and socialization ofthe young alone.14

Belonging-Identity and thefamily structure

The family structure in HongKong appears to support Shive-ly's findings that Hong Kongpeople are becoming individual-istic; they have also become

"doers," tending towards univer-salistic-achievement in value ori-entation,15 though still retaininga sprinkling of Confucianism. IfHong Kong were to become in-dividualistic, one expects thenthat familism as a distinct char-acteristic of the Chinese familywould gradually disappear. Forthe time being at least, the senseof belonging to the family isstill very strong. Why? Perhapspeople are still rather conser-vative in this respect or perhapsthey can find no other more sat-isfying haven of identity. It isonly in the family where they canfind trust and security. They cer-tainly cannot identify themselveswith the political community;most people still feel that theyhave no sense of belonging toHong Kong whatsoever. Peopleare proud of Hong Kong's econo-mic achievements, but they feelthat if they have a chance theywill leave Hong Kong; their onlyattachment to Hong Kong is theirfamily.16

Some social scientists hypothe-size that in the past the familywas the main source of identi-fication and now people seem tofind their identity in joining asso-ciations. This does not seem toapply to Hong Kong. Possibly,it is because joining associationsis still not widely popular andsuch participation is often identi-fied with either the elite or stu-dents. This all means that thefamily remains as the major orsole source of identity for themajority.

Generation gapOf course, there are always

certain categories of people whofail to have a belonging-identitywith the family and herein lieour major identity problems. AGerman social scientist, in hiscontent analysis of contemporarynovels and other publications,suggests that one of the mostpopular themes is the problem ofgeneration gap.11 Caught in themixed value systems of east andwest, and coupled with the nor-mal conflicts of the maturationprocess, our youngsters find itdoubly hard to resolve their iden-tity crises which lead to identity

formation. If they identify withthe school's western value sys-tem, they come into conflict withthe parents; and on the otherhand, if they identify with theparents, they come into conflictwith the schools and their peers.Perhaps this explains to a certainextent why more and more youngpeople become alienated fromhome and school. Identity con-fusion is expected.Some young people, especially

children of lower income groups,resolve their conflicts by identify-ing with their school or peers,and reject the family. Othersidentify with neither the familynor the school. Both the parentsand the school in Hong Kongplace academic achievement asthe priority over all other achieve-ments. If a child does not do wellat school, his self-image is seri-ously impaired; there is littleother chance to attain recogni-tion. Perhaps his poor school per-formance is related to the prob-lems of interpersonal relation-ships and his family situation.Nevertheless, when he returnshome with a bad school record,consciously and unconsciouslyhe is regarded by his parents andsiblings as a second-class citizen,a failure. Despite the good in-tentions of many parents, HongKong offers very little opportu-nity for helping the child toregain his sense of self-respector to develop his other poten-tials. Most likely he will be putinto a less prestigious school;and if he fails to succeed there,he will go further down. Manysuch school drop-outs are forcedto search for their own personal-and belonging-identity amongpeers who are like himself; to-gether they find a new sense ofrecognition elsewhere, and anti-social behaviour seems to betheirnew haven. As juvenile delin-quency and drug addiction ratesare rising at an alarming rate inHong Kong, I venture to hypo-thesize that addiction and delin-quency do have a close associa-tion with identity problems.

Sex roles and identityAdult men and women in their

sex roles as husband and wife



Identity...(Continued from page 7)

seem to have identity problems,too. With the enhancement of thestatus of women and more youngwomen become more and morewesternized, they expect onestandard of morality concerningsex. Some even believe in freelove and the unnecessity of mar-riage. Many men, while payinglip service to this equality, ex-hibit a double standard of mo-rality in practice. Many marriagesare broken up when the husbanddiscovers that the wife has hadpremarital coitus. Both boys andgirls want to be "with it" andexperiment in the new sex norm;

to marriage,the boys turn conservative. Thisis particularly hard for our girlswho are confused as to what sexnorms to identify with. For thetime being at least, unless thegirls identify with the traditionalnorms, it is expected that identityproblems in this respect will re-main one of the contributing fac-tors to divorce. One in every fiveof the 15-29 age group is re-ported to be either a prostituteor bar girl.18 In fact, the twoterms, bar girls and prostitutes,are used interchangeably. Whatabout their identity problems ifthey ever want to marry Chinesemales?

Senior citizens and identityFinally, there is the question of

the aged and identity problems.The family used to betheirsourceof social security and they hadfew identity probIeni. Now inHong Kong, government subsi-dized housing only caters to thenuclear family; and out of neces-sity, or the choice of their chil-dren, or their own choice, theyhave to live by themselves or inthe homes for the aged. Ofcourse, some do not even havea family in Hong Kong. All thismeans that old people now showevidence that their sense of be-longing to the family is beingeroded. Psychiatrists are alarmedby the increasing rate of seniledepressives and suicides, whichwere formerly never part of theChinese community.19 Here, Iwould again hypothesize thatthere might be a relationship be-

tween aged suicides, senile de-pressives and identity problems.

Awareness IdentityNow let's examine the diffi-

culties encountered in developinga sense of personal identity. Tofind one's identity presupposesa number of things. It means astable and secure home environ-ment for physical, emotional, so-cial and intellectual growth. Inturn, this also means the socialenvironment in which the familyfinds itself should facilitate andenable the family to carry out itssocialization functions adequate-ly. In Hong Kong, especially a-mong the lower income group,such con.ditions.are denied manyyoung people. Westill have tracesof a poverty culture, despite thebig surpluses in our treasury.As most parents have an immi-grant background, they are moretradition-directed and very oftenthey have little or no educationwhatsoever, not to say an Eng-lish education. With such aneducational background, thismeans also low status jobs, lowincome, poor housing conditions,and little security. Even with thebest of good will, such familiesare simply not equipped to so-cialize their children as parti-cipating members of society andit is hard for them to appre-ciate the kind of identity crisesconfronted by the adolescentchildren in this modernized,urbanized and industrializedsociety.For example, the parents have

never dated before. How can weexpect them to share with thechildren their experiences? Giv-en that the parents are still notequipped to socialize and preparetheir children to play their futurerole in society or reinforce whatthey have acquired at school,education planning and curricu-lum revision then should see thatpreparation for living should beincluded. In such families, howbig is the scope for the develop-ment of one's potentials or asense of personal identity? Iwould say very little. When peo-ple have difficulty finding theirpersonal identity, it follows thatthey might have difficulty infinding a belonging-identity as

well; and for these reasons, theyare certainty more vulnerable toidentity-related problems as well.To conclude, for a place like

Hong Kong, with the uncertaintyof its political future, with littleor no sense of belonging to HongKong, with two different valuesystems existing side by side,with a rapid expanding economy,with rapid social change, and theanomie associated with a transi-tional society, the family struc-ture then is of great significanceto identity problems.

Footnotes

'Charles Rycroft, A critical dictionaryofpsychoanalysis.NewYork: Basic Books,1968, P. 68.

2Erik Erikson, 'The Problem of EgoIdentity" in Identity nd,anx,ety, NewYork, Free Press, 1960, p. 100.3Adam Curie, Mystics and militants.

Tavistock Publications, 1972.4R.M. Mitchell, "Urban Family Study."

Hong Kong: The Chinese University ofHong Kong, mimeographed, 1969.5My own compilation, using statistics

from population census.6Lawrence Hong, "Functionality of the

Chinese Family in Hong Kong." HongKong: United College, mimeographed,1969.7Hong, op. cit.8Mitchell, op. cit.; "Annual Report of

the Family Planning Association," HongKong: 1971; and student survey at HongKong Baptist College, 1970.9F.M. Wong, "Maternal Employment

and Family Task-Power DifferentiationAmong Lower Income Chinese Families."Hong Kong: The Chinese University ofHong Kong, mimeographed, 1972.'°Mitchell, op. cit."Janet Salaff, preliminary paper de-livered at a colloquium of the Instituteof Asian and Slavonic Research at theUniversity of British Columbia, March16, 1972.'2David Chaney, "A Survey of Young

Workers." Mimejgraphed,. 19.69........'3My own compilation, using statisticsfrom the Annual Departmental Reportsof the Registrar-General. Hong Kong:1952-1972.14My own analysis of about 200 studentessays on changes occurred in their ownfamilies in the last 20 years. March, 1973.15Aliza and Stan Shively, "Value Chang-es during a Period of Modernization-The Case of Hong Kong." Hong Kong:Chinese University of Hong Kong, mi-meographed, 1972.'6This is based on my own preliminary

analysis of 200 student essays, in prepa-ration for the Second Summer Programin East-West Intercultural Studies, East-West Center, July 1973.'7My analysis of 200 essays on family

structure in Hong Kong appears to con-firm his findings on generation gap asa frequently expressed problem."The Star Final. Hong Kong: April28, 1973."My interviews with psychiatrists. 0

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CLI hosts 25 educators in Second EW Summer Program

'Twenty-five educators and edu-

cational administrators gatheredtogether for a three-week seminarand workshop being held at theEast-West Center, July 1-21,1973. The theme of this year'sSummer Program in East-WestIntercultural Studies was "Cul-tural Identity Problems." The par-ticipants, from eleven Asian andPacific nations as well as theUnited States, held in-depth

workshops in the following fiveareas:

1. Identity and Family Structure

2. Identity and Career Choice

3. Identity and the School Ex-perience

4. Identity, Technology, and theCity

5. Identity and Human Rights

Morning sessions were chairedby members of the EWC staffas well as guest participants andcovered such topics as "Religion,Identity, and Social Change"(Umar Kayam) and "Identifyingwith the International Commu-nity" (Verner Bickley). Dr. JohnWalsh, CLI research associate,was coordinator of the program.

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ISecond EW Summer Program par-

ticipant Alone Jech, leads a sensitiv-ity training session under the CLImonkey pod tree. The kinesthetic ex-

parlance, as well as the picnic earlierIn the afternoon, were among theInformal activities taking place dur-lng the three-week Summer Program.

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Program ParticipantsAmerican Samoa: Trust Territory:Lealofi Uiagalelei Paul R. Gallen

Fiji:Chutomu Nimwes

Esiteri N. Kamikamica United States:

Gilbert and Ellice Is.: John N. ChapmanNakibae Tabokae John DiBenedetto

Kong Kong:Alena M. Jech

Bo Na Mona Lo Ralph P. LaraTarry Lindquist

Japan: Larry OnodaJoichi Hashimura Mary Salvaterra1-liromi Sawabe Edmund W. SamuelKorea: Yosfliko SamuelKi-Duk Kim Joseph P. Seller

Malaysia: James L. Swanson

Mohamed bin Mohd Nor Frances M. Yasas

Nlue: Western Samoa:

Phyllis Rex Till Peseta

Philippines:Paris R. Tayko

LECTURERS/STAFF PARTICIPANTS

Lyn Anzai Kenzi MadAssociate Program Officer Associate Program OfficerCulture Learning Institute Culture Learning Institute

Verner C. Bickley William P. MaimDirector Senior FellowCulture Learning Institute Culture Learning Institute

Richard Brislin Larry SmithResearch Associate Research AssociateCulture Learning Institute Culture Learning Institute

William Feltz Gregory TrifonovitchResource Materials Specialist Senior Program OfficerCulture Learning Institute Culture Learning Institute

Ruth Finney Jing-Hsu TsengFormer Senior Fellow PsychiatristCulture Learning Institute Honolulu, Hawaii

Umar Kayam Wen-Shing TsengSenior Fellow Associate Professor of PsychiatryOpen Grants University of HawaiiEast-West Center H. Van BurenEverett Kleinjans Senior Program OfficerChancellor Culture Learning InstituteEast-West Center John WalshMark Lester Research AssociateResearch Associate Culture Learning InstituteCulture Learning Institute 0


Eighty degreestudents at CLI

During the 1973-74 academicyear, CLI will have 80 degree-seeking students. Of this total, 54are continuing students and 26are scheduled to arrive at theCenter to begin their grants latein August, 1973. The studentsrepresent 15 Asian and Pacificcountries plus the United Statesand are enrolled in 25 depart-ments at the University of Hawaii.

In addition to pursuing theirdegree studies, the students willwork simultaneously with CLIresearch-staff members on thefour CLI research programs. Thetall Dig- t5reakdowh shoWs themulticultural, multi-disciplinarycomposition of each researcharea.

GRADUATE STUDENTS 1973-74By CLI Research Area (Tentative)

I. CULTURAL IDENTITYAHMAD, RASHID Political Science

(Ph.D.) PakistanCHOBOT, NEAL Philosophy (Ph.D.)USA

CHOU, SUSAN History (M.A.)Philippines

CUNNINGHAM, KEITH AmericanStudies (M.A.) USA

DE LOS SANTOS, EDNA SecondaryEducation (MEd.) Philippines

DUNCAN, JOHN History (M.A.)USA

GUNNARSON, JOHN History (M.A.)USA

HURD, JANE Pacific Islands Studies(M.A.) USA

KESOLEI, KATHARINE Anthropology(B.A.) Trust Tern

LARSON,BETTY Asian Studies (M.A.)USA

MINICHIELLO, SHARON History(Ph.D.) USA

NATIVIDAD, CLEMENCIA AsianStudies (MA.) Philippines

NELSON, CLAUDE Asian Studies(M.A.) USA

NEVES, BUZZ Pacific Islands Studies(M.A.) USA

SEELER,JOAN Music (M.A.) USASOUMWEI, IGNASIO Arts & Sciences

(B.A.) Trust Terr.

If. CULTURES IN CONTACTALl, MINA Anthropology (M.A.)

PakistanBENNETT, JUDITH History (MA.)

AustraliaDEDEL, XENIA Educational Adminis-

tration (M.Ed.) PhilippinesDUBUQUE, GERALD History (MA.)USA

GRANDSTAFF, TERRY Anthropology(Ph.D.) USA

HAMNETT, MICHAEL Anthropology(Ph.D.) USA

HWANG, KWANG-KUO Psychology(Ph.D.) Rep. of China

IMAMURA, MARl Anthropology(M.A.) USA

IWATA, OSAMU Psychology (MA.)Japan

KATATA, JUN Anthropology (M.A.)Japan

KONGPRASIRTPONG, SOMSRIPsychology (M.A.) Thailand

MACKEY, ROGER Psychology (M.A.)New Zealand

MARTIN, MARYLAND Social Work(M.S.W.) USA

MCDONALD, PATRICIA Psychology(M.A.) USA

MCLEOD, BEVERLY Anthropology(MA.) USA

REARDON, GERALD History (Ph.D.)USA

SAADAT, KAUKAB Psychology (M.A.)Pakistan

SHAMEAM, ARIFA Philosophy (M.A.)Pakistan

SIA, ARCHIBALD EducationalPsychology (MEd.) Philippines

SIRIVIVATNANON, ANKANAAmerican Studies (M.A.) Philippines

TANAKA, JUNKO Psychology (M.A.)Japan

TSOI, LISA Clinical Psychology (Ph.D.)Hong Kong

III. LANGUAGE IN CULTUREASKMAN, VICTOR Chinese Language

(M.A.) USACHAN, CHRISTINA English as aSecond Language (M.A.) Singapore

CHAN,SUSANLinguistics (Ph.D.) USACUNNINGHAM, PATRICIA English asa Second Language (M.A.) USA

HAHN, KYUNG-JA Linguistics (Ph.D.)Korea

IKRANAGARA, KAY Linguistics(Ph.D.) USA

KANEDA, MICHIKAZU Linguistics(Ph.D.) Japan

KUNTZMAN,LINDA Linguistics (M.A.)USA

KUROIWA, KENNETH Linguistics(Ph.D.) USA

LAU, LAWRENCE English as a SecondLanguage (M.A.) USA

LI, DAVID English as a SecondLanguage (M.A.) Rep. of China

LUKE, SUSAN Japanese Literature(M.A.) USA

NEOVAKUL, CHALINTORN Linguis-tics (M.A.) Thailand

NG, KIOK ENG Arts and Sciences(B.A.) Singapore

NORDBROCK, ANITA Linguistics(Ph.D.) USA

SATO, NOBUO Linguistics (M.A.)Japan

SEMAPAKDI, PORNTIP English as aSecond Language (MA.) Thailand

SHIELDS, JAMESJapanese Literature(M.A.) USA

SHIMOJI, GENKI Linguistics (M.A.)Japan

SHIOIRI, KIYOSHI Linguistics (Ph.D.)Japan

SUGURO, YUZURU English as aSecond Language (M.A.) Japan

SULISTYO, IVON English as aSecond Language (M.A.) Indonesia

TANAPATCHAIYAPONG, PAGAWANLinguistics (M.A.) Thailand

TETAGA, JEREMIAH English as aSecond Language (M.A.) Papua-NewGuinea

TODA, SALI Japanese Language(M.A.) USA

TONOIKE, SHIGEOLinguistics (Ph.D.)Japan

YAMADA, FUMIKO Linguistics (M.A.)Japan

IV. THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION INCULTURE LEARNING

BAINES,GREGORYSociology (Ph.D.)USA

CHANDA, ASOKE English Literature(MA.) India

DAMROW, RICHARD ChineseLiterature (MA.) USA

HSIA, DOROTHY English Literatuf-e(M.A.) Rep. of China

JAMAL, SYED AHMAD Art (M.F.A.)Malaysia

JOHNSON, DAVIDDramaand Theatre(Ph.D.) USA

KAO, TIEN-EN English Literature(M.A.) Rep. of China

LEE, YOUNG-OAK American Studies(Ph.D.) Korea

RIEPER, BYRON Philosophy (MA.)USA

ROBERT, BRUCE History (M.A.)USA

SAGI, STEVEN History (Ph.D.) USASARWAR, GHULAM Dramaand

Theatre (Ph.D.) MalaysiaSUTTON, R.ANDERSON Music (M.A.)USA

VEOHONGSE, NOPAMAS Dramaand Theatre (M.A.) Thailand

YU, ARTHUR American Studies(Ph.D.) Rep. of China

YUTHAVONG, ONCHUMA Drama andTheatre (MA.) Thailand

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Sebeok gives seminar

Thomas A. Sebeok, CLI sen-ior fellow, presented a seminarJune 12 on "Semiotics-a mode ofextending man's perception ofthe world." In attendance wereprofessors from the University ofHawaii departments of linguisticsand English as a Second Lan-guage. CLI grantees interested inlanguage were also present.

Dr. Sebeok, whose interestsinclude animal as well as humancommunication, is currentlychairman of the Research Centerfor the Language Sciences, Indi-ana University, and secretary-treasurer of the Linguistic Societyof America. He will be with CLIthrough August 31, 1973. 0

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A Malaysian folk-drama premiere in English

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The East-West Culture Learn-ing Institute and the Universityof Hawaii Department of Dramaand Theatre are cooperating inthe production on July 12-15 ofThe Spell of the Giantess," anEnglish adaptation of a well-known play from the ma'yongtheatrical tradition of Kelantan,Malaysia.The play and the entire dramat-

ic genre were first brought towestern attention by Tansri DatoHaji Mubin Sheppard, former di-rector of the Malaysian NationalMuseum. Such drama was firstnoted in the Moslem courtsof Malaysia some two hundredyears ago and has survived inthe twentieth century as oc-casional village theatre. In 1968the basic repertoire of a Kelanta-nese troupe was recorded andpreserved on video tape by Dr.William P. MaIm, professor ofmusic at the University of Michi-gan and presently a senior fellowat CLI.

In ma'yong, all parts exceptthe comedians and the musicians

Actresses and musiciansare poised to begin an elab-

orate dance in a theatre-in-the-round setting for the

English-language world pre-miere of a Malaysian dance-drama, "The Spell of theGiantess."

are played by women. A tradi-tional play normally requiresthree to five days to completeand is performed in local dialect,thus limiting the extent to whichsuch works can be performed inother parts of Malaysia orthrough other media such astelevision. It was Chulam Sarwar,head of the drama departmentat the University of Penang andCLI grantee pursuing a Ph.D. inthe UH Department of Drama andTheatre, who took on the taskof reshaping the ma'yong tradi-tion in terms of modern needs,while retaining its characteristicfeatures. For this purpose he stu-died, along with Dr. Maim, theeight hours of video tape of"Raja Tankai Hati" (the nameof the hero of the play) from the1968 Kelantan production. Hethen translated the text and re-duced the length of the play toa one night production.Meanwhile Dr. Maim dealt with

the problem of using the dis-tinctive music of ma'yong in thecontext of an English language

production. The vocal and choralstyle of ma'yong could not bemastered by western performersin the limited period of rehear-sal time available, but four tal-ented and musically versatileUniversity students, includingthree EWC grantees, have tack-led the challenge of the instru-mental ensemble, consisting oftwo drums, gongs, and rebab(a bowed lute). Judith Van Zile,who teaches dance ethnology atUH, has in turn skillfully re-created the movements as re-corded on the video tapes.This production of ma'yong

does not presume to be "authen-tic" in every respect; however,performances of ma'yong in Ke-lantan are probably equally dif-ferent from those of the courtsin previous generations. The goalof the performers and directorshas been to create a play whichis viable for a western audienceand also indicative of the specialcharms to be found in the vil-lage forms of the original Malay-sian tradition.

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THE EAST-WEST CENTER is anational education institution estab-

lished in Hawaii by the United States

Congress in 1960. Formally known as"The Center for Cultural and Tech-

nical Interchange Between East andWest," the federally-funded Center is

administered in cooperation with the

University of Hawaii. Its mandated

goal is "to promote better relationsbetween the United States and the

nations of Asia and the Pacific

through cooperative study, training,and research."

Each year about 2,000 men and

women from the United States and

some 40 countries and territories ofAsia and the Pacific area work and

study together with a multi-national

East-West Center staff in programs

dealing with problems of mutualEast-West concern. They include stu-dents, mainly at the post-graduatelevel; Senior Fellows and Fellowswith expertise in research and/or

practical experience in governmentand business administration; profes-sional study and training participantsin non-degree programs at the teach-

ing and management levels; and

authorities in various fields meetingin international conferences and

seminars.A fundamental aim of all East-

West Center programs is to foster

understanding and mutual respect

among people from differing cultures

working together in seeking solutionsto common problems. The Centerdraws on the resources of U.S. main-land universities, and Asian/Pacificeducational and governmental insti-tutions as well as organizations in themulticultural State of Hawaii.

Participants are supported by

Dr. Masanori Higaresumes post in ESL

Masanori Higa, one of thefirst staff members with theCulture Learning Institute, is

returning to his position of Pro-fessor of English as a Second

Language at the University ofHawaii. Dr. Higa's impact onthe development of CLI's pro-

gram of research has been

great, particularly in the fieldsof sociolinguistics and psycho-linguistics.Recently Dr. Higa was

awarded a research grant bythe U.S. Office of Education viathe Social Science ResearchCouncil to conduct researchthis summer throughout theState of Hawaii on the sociolin-

guistic and psycholinguisticaspects of Japanese spoken inHawaii.

0

federal scholarships and grants,sup-

plemented in some fields by contribu-

tions from Asian/Pacific govern-ments and private foundations.

Center programs are conducted

by the East-West Communication In-stitute, the East-West Culture Learn-

ing Institute, the East-West FoodInstitute, the East-West PopulationInstitute, and the East-West Technol-

ogy and Development Institute. OpenGrants are awarded to provide scopefor educational and research innova-

tion, including a new program inhumanities and the arts. 0

Student begins cross-cultural psychology study

Miss Junko Tanaka, M.A.candidate in the University of Ha-waii department of psychologyarid CLI grantee from Osaka,

Japan, has planned a particularlyexciting field study beginningAugust 1 which will bring her incontact with a number of the

major figures in the field of psy-chology. As a result of her partici-pation in last January's "InterfaceBetween Culture and Learning"conference here at the East-WestCenter, shewasableto make con-tact with numerous resource per-sons who are willing to assist herin her project, which will be across-cultural study of depres-sion. Her longest period ofresidence will be at PennsylvaniaState University, where she willwork with Dr. Juris Draguns,professor of psychology. In addi-tion, she will discuss her projectwith and gather data from morethan twenty scholars and psycho-logists during her six-month stayon the mainland.

CLI staff members Dr. Rich-ard Brislin, Mr. H. Van Buren, andMrs. Lyn Anzai have assisted inthe preparation of Miss Tanaka'selaborate itinerary and finalizingher institutional and professionalcontacts. o

Culture and Language Learning Newsletter 2-2

Culture Learning Institute1777 East-West RoadHonolulu, Hawaii 96822U.S.A.

4

Documents

Culture and Language Learning Newsletter, August 1, 1973 ...€¦ · Arab maqam scales, the Indian raga, and the ancient tuning pipes of China are thus as fami-liar to professional