Hard to believe in times past fashion confined itself to separate French, Italian, and US markets rather than to today's cross-cultural global industry. Even when Vogue magazine has separate international editions in Arabic and for Latin America, Poland, and the Czech Republic, Vogue's original edition features a global array of designers and models, such as Somali-American Halima Aden, the Tanzanian-Norwegian twins Martine and Gunnhild Chioko, and Grace Bol from South Sudan.
Although global e-commerce, references to no borders or boundaries, diversity, and presentations in exotic locations seem to be the mode, a former culture minister in Italy observed, "a globalized world puts greater value on the distinctions and sense of identity...." Brands with strong national identities, like Chanel and Burberry, do not shy away from projecting their heritage and point-of-view in the global marketplace. At Chanel, Hamburg's Karl Lagerfeld insured the future of the Lesage embroidery house. Japanese designer, Jun Takahashi, admits his inspiration from the British punk rock youth culture.
Fashion will always search for what is new and different. Flappers cast off their constrictive undergarments to Charleston in short shifts that could move. Dior fashioned voluminous skirts to signal the end of fabric rationing in World War II. The man who put on a Lumumba University
T-shirt to work out in CIA's gym wanted the attention he received.
Today, creating an individual identity is easy. Simply incorporate a touch of another country's culture. I treasure an African "gold" necklace of straw and wax a friend brought me from Mali. On my coffee table, guests can pick up and examine the carved wooden sling shot I found at a bazaar sponsored by West African missionaries. Add stuffed dates and rice wrapped in grape leaves to your dinner menu. And when you browse through mail order magazines from a museum (store.metmuseum.org) or a nonprofit (unicefmarket.org/catalog), look for foreign items for yourself and for holiday gifts that might introduce children and older friends to a new culture and distinctive identity.
Showing posts with label Somalia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Somalia. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
China is Everywhere in Africa
"The Chinese are everywhere," writes a friend who is a missionary in Tanzania. News of China building sports stadiums, roads, railroads, pipelines, ports, bridges, hospitals, schools, and office buildings throughout the continent confirms her observation. China enjoys a reputation of making the lowest bid, not requiring local reforms, and bringing projects in on time.
A consortium of companies led by the China Communications Construction Company broke ground this year on its $478.9 million contract to build the first three berths on phase one of a $5 billion infrastructure project on Kenya's coast at Manda Bay. To the Chinese, the islands of Lamu, Manda, and Pate that lay just off Africa's Indian Ocean coast may have resembled the Hong Kong and Macau areas of China.
When completed in 2030, the Lamu area will be a deep-sea port hub with 32-berths, a pipeline to oil fields in Kenya (10 billion barrel reserve) and Uganda (2 billion barrels), a natural gas power plant, and a railroad that runs south to the Mombasa-Nairobi line and north to link landlocked Ethiopia and South Sudan to the Lamu port. The latter link would help free South Sudan's oil shipments from depending on Sudan's northern pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
Security at the Lamu project is a major concern. Islamic extremists, the Shabab from Somalia, killed in Lamu county in 2014 and at a Nairobi shopping mall in 2013. Earlier, violence left 1000 people dead and another 600,000 displaced during the 2007 election of Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta. Poaching of elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns for art objects and folk medicine in China, Vietnam, and Thailand continues to reduce Africa's wildlife population. One Chinese woman was jailed in Kenya for two and a half years for trying to smuggle 15 pounds of ivory pieces onto a Kenya Airways flight by claiming they were macadamia nuts.
Originally, China's interest in Africa resembled that of the Europeans who carved up the continent in the 19th century. They were intent on extracting raw materials. While it is true that China still builds roads in Ghana to mine gold and into Mozambique to cut timber, the forecast of three billion people added to the continent's population between 2000 and 2100, now also motivates China to open manufacturing plants in Africa and to develop a market for its exports. Some African manufacturers suffer by not being able to compete with China, but resellers benefit from higher profits on, for example, Chinese shoes, motorbikes, smartphones, and counterfeit goods. In return, China is a market for Africa's tea, cut flowers, and, of course, chemicals, minerals, and lumber. But China's infrastructure improvements will not benefit China alone. They will be open to all marketers who see an opportunity to get more goods in and out of Africa.
A consortium of companies led by the China Communications Construction Company broke ground this year on its $478.9 million contract to build the first three berths on phase one of a $5 billion infrastructure project on Kenya's coast at Manda Bay. To the Chinese, the islands of Lamu, Manda, and Pate that lay just off Africa's Indian Ocean coast may have resembled the Hong Kong and Macau areas of China.
When completed in 2030, the Lamu area will be a deep-sea port hub with 32-berths, a pipeline to oil fields in Kenya (10 billion barrel reserve) and Uganda (2 billion barrels), a natural gas power plant, and a railroad that runs south to the Mombasa-Nairobi line and north to link landlocked Ethiopia and South Sudan to the Lamu port. The latter link would help free South Sudan's oil shipments from depending on Sudan's northern pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
Security at the Lamu project is a major concern. Islamic extremists, the Shabab from Somalia, killed in Lamu county in 2014 and at a Nairobi shopping mall in 2013. Earlier, violence left 1000 people dead and another 600,000 displaced during the 2007 election of Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta. Poaching of elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns for art objects and folk medicine in China, Vietnam, and Thailand continues to reduce Africa's wildlife population. One Chinese woman was jailed in Kenya for two and a half years for trying to smuggle 15 pounds of ivory pieces onto a Kenya Airways flight by claiming they were macadamia nuts.
Originally, China's interest in Africa resembled that of the Europeans who carved up the continent in the 19th century. They were intent on extracting raw materials. While it is true that China still builds roads in Ghana to mine gold and into Mozambique to cut timber, the forecast of three billion people added to the continent's population between 2000 and 2100, now also motivates China to open manufacturing plants in Africa and to develop a market for its exports. Some African manufacturers suffer by not being able to compete with China, but resellers benefit from higher profits on, for example, Chinese shoes, motorbikes, smartphones, and counterfeit goods. In return, China is a market for Africa's tea, cut flowers, and, of course, chemicals, minerals, and lumber. But China's infrastructure improvements will not benefit China alone. They will be open to all marketers who see an opportunity to get more goods in and out of Africa.
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Characters with Diverse Nationalities Populate A Summer Reading List
Children who read for fun under a shady tree or beach umbrella this summer will be in good company. Microsoft's co-founder, Bill Gates, considers "the chance to sit outside reading a great book" summer's gift for "gutting out" the rest of the year inside.
No doubt young people will find the reading list selections made by Elizabeth Perez, a children's librarian at the San Francisco Public Library, more to their liking than the books Bill Gates put on his list:
The Vital Question by Nick Lane, who explores the role energy plays in all living things, and
How Not to be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg's take on the role of math in all things, and
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, in which Noah Yuval Harari speculates on the way things like artificial intelligence and genetic engineering will change future humans.
Perez chose books featuring characters with diverse nationalities, including children from Mexico, the Caribbean, Guatemala, Ghana, Somalia, and Korea. Her choices also include children who have dual nationalities, American and Vietnamese, for example. She has age-appropriate selections for students from age 4 to age 14.
For ages 4-8
Emmanuel's Dream: the True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson.
A Ghanaian boy, born with one less developed leg, becomes a professional athlete.
For ages 5-8
I'm New Here by Anne Sebley O'Brien
Children from Guatemala, Somalia, and Korea begin to adjust to a new school with the help of new classmates.
Mango, Abuela, and Me by Meg Medina
A parrot becomes a go-between for a little girl who doesn't speak Spanish and her grandmother who does.
Mama's Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation by Edwidge Danticat
Librarian Perez advises adults to read this book first before deciding if children should find out letters are the only way some children have contact with their parents in detention camps.
For ages 5-9
Juna's Jar by Jane Bank
Juna uses a Korean kinchi jar to store her dreams.
For ages 6-10
Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras by Duncan Tonatiuh
A non-fiction book about an illustrator famous for drawing Mexican Day of the Dead skeletons.
For ages 8-12
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
Unwillingly an American girl visits Vietnam with her Vietnamese father and grandmother to learn what happened to her grandfather during the Vietnam War and to discover the Vietnamese part of her identity.
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton
This book uses a half Japanese girl's interest in space to describe her feeling of being an alien in a town where almost everyone is white.
For ages 9-12
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
An heroic young girl is determined to save her Caribbean island from the ghostly Jumbies that appear in folk tales.
For ages 10-14
Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan
During World War II a harmonica weaves together stories about a family living in Nazi Germany and a Mexican-American family and Japanese-American family living in the United States.
No doubt young people will find the reading list selections made by Elizabeth Perez, a children's librarian at the San Francisco Public Library, more to their liking than the books Bill Gates put on his list:
The Vital Question by Nick Lane, who explores the role energy plays in all living things, and
How Not to be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg's take on the role of math in all things, and
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, in which Noah Yuval Harari speculates on the way things like artificial intelligence and genetic engineering will change future humans.
Perez chose books featuring characters with diverse nationalities, including children from Mexico, the Caribbean, Guatemala, Ghana, Somalia, and Korea. Her choices also include children who have dual nationalities, American and Vietnamese, for example. She has age-appropriate selections for students from age 4 to age 14.
For ages 4-8
Emmanuel's Dream: the True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson.
A Ghanaian boy, born with one less developed leg, becomes a professional athlete.
For ages 5-8
I'm New Here by Anne Sebley O'Brien
Children from Guatemala, Somalia, and Korea begin to adjust to a new school with the help of new classmates.
Mango, Abuela, and Me by Meg Medina
A parrot becomes a go-between for a little girl who doesn't speak Spanish and her grandmother who does.
Mama's Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation by Edwidge Danticat
Librarian Perez advises adults to read this book first before deciding if children should find out letters are the only way some children have contact with their parents in detention camps.
For ages 5-9
Juna's Jar by Jane Bank
Juna uses a Korean kinchi jar to store her dreams.
For ages 6-10
Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras by Duncan Tonatiuh
A non-fiction book about an illustrator famous for drawing Mexican Day of the Dead skeletons.
For ages 8-12
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
Unwillingly an American girl visits Vietnam with her Vietnamese father and grandmother to learn what happened to her grandfather during the Vietnam War and to discover the Vietnamese part of her identity.
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton
This book uses a half Japanese girl's interest in space to describe her feeling of being an alien in a town where almost everyone is white.
For ages 9-12
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
An heroic young girl is determined to save her Caribbean island from the ghostly Jumbies that appear in folk tales.
For ages 10-14
Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan
During World War II a harmonica weaves together stories about a family living in Nazi Germany and a Mexican-American family and Japanese-American family living in the United States.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Corruption Has Consequences
Countries with a reputation for being free of corruption from abuse of power, bribes and kickbacks, and secret deals are attractive tourist destinations and prospects for business investment. Unfortunately, based on a study of 168 countries by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), no country is totally free of corruption.
In 2015, using a scale of 0-100, the OECD's corruption index showed 68% of the ranked countries scored below 50, indicating a serious corruption problem that took protesters to the streets in some countries. Even Denmark, which scored 91, has room for a bit of improvement. The United States and Austria, with scores of 76, did not make the top ten list of least corrupt countries, which included: Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, and Germany. Corruption caused Kim Jong-un's North Korea and Somalia to tie for last place in both 2014 and 2015.
Brazil, now embroiled in a corruption scandal (See the earlier post, "Warning to Students: Don't Cheat."), dropped 5 points since 2014, and was in 76th place in 2015. Not a good prospect for countries sending teams to this summer's Olympics in Rio.
The OEDC cautions that its corruption index is based on surveys of conditions institutions make within a country's borders. Countries might have a higher or lower score, if their corruption activities in foreign countries were measured. Indeed, half of OECD countries have been found to violate agreements to stop companies from paying bribes when they do business in countries outside their borders.
The earlier post, "Cheating is Easy, but...," provides some anti-corruption strategies for doing business around the world.
In 2015, using a scale of 0-100, the OECD's corruption index showed 68% of the ranked countries scored below 50, indicating a serious corruption problem that took protesters to the streets in some countries. Even Denmark, which scored 91, has room for a bit of improvement. The United States and Austria, with scores of 76, did not make the top ten list of least corrupt countries, which included: Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, and Germany. Corruption caused Kim Jong-un's North Korea and Somalia to tie for last place in both 2014 and 2015.
Brazil, now embroiled in a corruption scandal (See the earlier post, "Warning to Students: Don't Cheat."), dropped 5 points since 2014, and was in 76th place in 2015. Not a good prospect for countries sending teams to this summer's Olympics in Rio.
The OEDC cautions that its corruption index is based on surveys of conditions institutions make within a country's borders. Countries might have a higher or lower score, if their corruption activities in foreign countries were measured. Indeed, half of OECD countries have been found to violate agreements to stop companies from paying bribes when they do business in countries outside their borders.
The earlier post, "Cheating is Easy, but...," provides some anti-corruption strategies for doing business around the world.
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