One of the many challenges of my job as an English teacher in the Basque Country is to inspire a level of understanding in my students on just how big the world is. Now living in a foreign country, the spectrum of cultural differences seems obvious to me, but for my my students, the world is infinitely smaller and incredibly isolated. This latter phenomenon occurs not because Spain isn’t a modern nation. It does not lack the educational or technological resources to promote a sense of global understanding in its youth. In one of many theories, the absence of global perspective is considered a by-product of Basque nationalism.
As explained to me by one of my students, “It’s not because we don’t want to travel and it’s not because we aren’t curious about the rest of the world…I think we are just less inclined to leave when our country is being threatened. If I leave the Basque Country to travel, to live, or to understand the rest of the world…that’s one less person speaking Basque. It also means I can’t speak my native language anywhere else in the world. It’s not true for everyone, but we forget there is the rest of the world because we are so worried about trying to keep our own place. We are told from when we are young how very few and how very important we are.”
Her comments sort of reminded me of the dangerous American ego complex – where from birth we are told that “you can be anything you want when you grow up” and “you are so lucky to be born in the greatest place in the world” and then later, we inadvertently translate this commentary – intended to be assuring and motivational – into some kind of excuse for not having to accommodate or learn about other cultures. It’s not always true, but it definitely happens.
That’s why I’m so attracted to the Global Lives Project, an ongoing video library that documents 24 continuous hours in the lives of ten people from around the world, intended to represent the diversity of our world population. The blood, sweat, and tears of this project – all produced by volunteer filmmakers, artists, and designers – will premiere in at the San Francisco YBCA this Friday, February 26th. Without narrative and without interpretation, it is intended to show of the “force and depth of human difference and similarity” and “open a space for dialogue.”
I am confident that this project will be a huge success. Anything that injects a significant level of perspective into our lives is an enrichment. As a social entrepreneur and world change-maker, you have to be careful to never become too busy to lose sight of the immensely complex reality you are working to change and a young person, you have to do all you can to educate yourself about what is coming ahead of you. I take baby steps with my students. We have debates about national stereotypes and I struggle to quantify the vast diversity that exists within the United States, not to mention outside of it. I know they will never know until I throw them out there into the wind, but the appearance of the Global Lives Project, highlighting 24 hours in Lebanon, Serbia, China, India, Japan, Malawi, Indonesia, Brazil, Kazakhastan, and USA puts us one step closer. Now if I can just get them tickets to the premier…
Global Lives Project
Global Lives Project mission is to collaboratively build a video library of human life experience that reshapes how we are both producers and viewers conceive of cultures, nations, and people outside of our own communities.
- Organization Type: Non-Profit
- Website: http://globallives.org/
- Founder(s): David Evan Harris
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- See complete company list here
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