Operating in a Zone of Ambiguity: Tensions and Risks

Build ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 81-108
Author(s):  
Mark Katz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
Exchange Programs ◽  
Collaborative Interactions ◽  
The Asymmetry

This chapter explores the central tensions that animate hip hop diplomacy. One tension is between art and diplomacy, particularly in their distinctive approaches to process and views on outcomes. A second tensions arises because of the asymmetry of power between the United States and the countries that hip hop diplomacy programs visit. This chapter posits that hip hop diplomacy (and cultural diplomacy in general) operates in a zone of ambiguity, a state in which palpable, inescapable tensions and uncertainties hang over one’s every action. Specific examples come from hip hop diplomacy initiatives in El Salvador, India, Morocco, Senegal, and Zimbabwe. The chapter ends by offering guidelines for respectful, collaborative interactions in cultural diplomacy and cultural exchange programs.

Ballet in the Cold War

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Searcy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
Performing Artists ◽  
Exchange Programs ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

During the Cold War, the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union developed cultural exchange programs, in which they sent performing artists abroad in order to generate goodwill for their countries. Ballet companies were frequently called on to serve in these programs, particularly in the direct Soviet-American exchange. This book analyzes four of the early ballet exchange tours, demonstrating how this series of encounters changed both geopolitical relations and the history of dance. The ballet tours were enormously popular. Performances functioned as an important symbolic meeting point for Soviet and American officials, creating goodwill and normalizing relations between the two countries in an era when nuclear conflict was a real threat. At the same time, Soviet and American audiences did not understand ballet in the same way. As American companies toured in the Soviet Union and vice versa, audiences saw the performances through the lens of their own local aesthetics. Ballet in the Cold War introduces the concept of transliteration to understand this process, showing how much power viewers wielded in the exchange and explaining how the dynamics of the Cold War continue to shape ballet today.

Conclusion

Build ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 169-184
Author(s):  
Mark Katz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Funding Cuts ◽  
Trump Administration

The conclusion considers the value of the partnership between hip hop and diplomacy. Hip hop diplomacy has value in convening groups unlikely to collaborate otherwise; it can be a source of validation for hip hop artists and their communities; and it can generate a favorable view of the United States and good will towards its citizens. Such positive outcomes, however, are not automatic and require that programs be conducted with respect, humility, self-awareness and a willingness to collaborate with local partners. Although the State Department faced severe funding cuts in the first years of the Trump administration, hip hop diplomacy has remained well-funded, although its future is uncertain. Specific anecdotes and case studies come from Next Level programs in Bangladesh, El Salvador, and Morocco.

Introduction

Build ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Mark Katz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
African American ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Artistic Styles ◽  
African American Communities

The introduction explains why the partnership between hip hop diplomacy is unlikely and risky but also potentially productive. Hip hop is a powerful platform for US cultural diplomacy because it is globally popular, widely accessible, readily combined with a variety of artistic styles and practices, and immediately and positively associated with the United States. Hip hop diplomacy can serve US foreign policy objectives by enhancing the image of the United States and promoting US interests abroad. The introduction concludes with a reflection on the author’s identity as a white man and considers its implications for working in hip hop, a genre and culture that arose out of African American communities.

The Boom

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew K. Shannon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Military Training ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
Exchange Programs ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The U.S

This chapter traces the ways in which the United States launched its most coordinated effort to promote Iranian development during the 1970s. The educational cooperation of the decade prioritized military training, particularly for members of the Imperial Iranian Navy; technical assistance, notably through the training of Iranian nuclear engineers; and cultural exchange programs that were administered by the U.S. and Iranian states as well as non-governmental organizations.

Power and Culture

2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-516
Author(s):  
John Gripentrog
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Japanese Aesthetics ◽  
International Power

This study explores how the Japanese government endeavored to shape American public opinion through the promotion of Japanese aesthetics in the several years following the Manchurian crisis—and, importantly, how this “cultural diplomacy” was received by Americans. At the center of Japan’s state-sponsored cultural initiative was the Society for International Cultural Relations (Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai, or KBS). By drawing attention to Japan’s historically esteemed cultural traditions, Japan’s leaders hoped to improve the nation’s image and leverage international power. Critical American reviews and general-interest articles on KBS programs proffered images of a society imbued with a profound sense of artistic sophistication. To this end, the KBS’s cultural diplomacy tended to reinforce a popular assumption among Americans that Japan’s body politic in the 1930s was meaningfully divided between “moderates” and “militarists.” Japan’s cultural diplomacy, however, was undermined from the start by an irreconcilable tension: to simultaneously legitimize regional expansionism and advance internationalist cooperation. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in the summer of 1937 and subsequent proclamations that presumed Japanese hegemony in Asia, naked aggression rendered any lighthearted cultural exchange increasingly irrelevant. Indeed, KBS activities in the United States dwindled—a point that made clear the limits of cultural diplomacy.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Grare
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Slow Pace ◽  
Centre Of Gravity ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
Economic Interaction ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
The Relationship

India’s relationship with the United States remains crucial to its own objectives, but is also ambiguous. The asymmetry of power between the two countries is such that the relationship, if potentially useful, is not necessary for the United States while potentially risky for India. Moreover, the shift of the political centre of gravity of Asia — resulting from the growing rivalry between China and the US — is eroding the foundations of India’s policy in Asia, while prospects for greater economic interaction is limited by India’s slow pace of reforms. The future of India-US relations lies in their capacity to evolve a new quid pro quo in which the US will formulate its expectations in more realistic terms while India would assume a larger share of the burden of Asia’ security.

General Assembly

1957 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-496
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
United Nations ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
October 17

Seventh United Nations Technical Assistance Conference: At the Seventh UN Technical Assistance Conference, which met at Headquarters on October 17, 1956, under the presidency of Sir Leslie Munro (New Zealand), 63 governments pledged $14,940,000; this sum excluded the amount to be pledged by the United States. Several participating countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany, Indonesia and El Salvador, were unable to announce their contributions at the Conference as negotiations had not been completed

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