• Home
  • About Alex Wild
  • Articles
  • Galleries
  • Myrmecology News

Myrmecos Blog

the little things matter

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Sunday Night Movie: Hitchhiker’s Guide to Murder
Monday Night Mystery »

How cross-cultural is scientific research?

March 8, 2010 by myrmecos

I apologize for the slow blogging. I’ve been under the weather this weekend, and what energy I could muster went to more pressing things. Like patching an unfortunate hole in the kitchen wall from when the doorstop failed.

I also had some minor paperwork. I am being contracted to work remotely for a University in another state, and they sent along a question about what I’ve done “to foster multicultural understanding and cultural competence?”

While penning the obligatory bland response about international research and my old Peace Corps days, it occurred to me that many scientists who have to fill these things out can fall back on the inevitable international collaborations that pop up in a globalized scientific network. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it’s one of those small cheats that meets the letter but not the spirit of the question.

When I’m at a conference with researchers from around the world, I don’t feel like I’m doing anything cross-cultural. Even when we speak different languages, the overwhelming feeling is that I’m at home among my people. Anyone who can talk for hours about the taxonomy of Pheidole, or collecting techniques for leaf litter arthropods, or the latest phylogenetic algorithms, fundamentally belongs to the same culture regardless of whether they came to it from English, or Portuguese, or Mandarin.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Navel-Gazing, Science | 2 Comments

2 Responses

  1. on March 8, 2010 at 9:49 am Matt

    I wish I had the bravery to complete forms like this honestly (in other words, you define what you mean by cultural competence, how you measure it; and I’ll answer your ignorant questions).

    As a biologist you have probably categorised and labelled species/organisms etc – some people think you can categorise and label human beings by nationality/race/ethnicity in the same way. So because someone who lives 2 miles away from me happens to be across a political border they behave/react in a different way?

    For an academic perspective on the dangers of “culturism” you only need to see that by using blandly “culture” as a by word we promote difference, and where difference is promoted, value judgements (i.e. better/worse) are encouraged – those involved in promoting “diversity” are often inadvertently promoting prejudice.

    “cultural competence” is a meaningless phrase, especially when you ask for examples of the competencies. Traits such as “flexible behaviour”, “tolerance” etc are admirable, but we are not persistent in the applicability of them. In a biological context we can ask: are snakes aggressive towards humans? The answer is always yes and no. Even an earthworm may exhibit aggressive traits if provoked (though i’d prefer a bit from an earthworm than a viper). I am tolerant with clients, but much less tolerant when my daughter comes home later!

    If you are secure in your position, and have nothing to fear from the authorities, ask them to define their cultural competencies, taking into account post modernist objections!

    Good luck!


  2. on March 9, 2010 at 7:29 pm jtrager

    Indeed, science is (or has) its own culture. This may mean that many scientists (those who “have lives” outside their work) are themselves multicultural, living in a scientific culture part of the time and in their neighborhood, family, hobby, religious, etc. cultures at other times.



Comments are closed.


  • This blog is an archive; the Myrmecos blog has moved.

    Please update your bookmarks!
  • Alex’s Galleries

    alexanderwild.com

  • Recent Photos

    ... beneaththestreets...Mount Rainier WildflowersShining pathHubble Gazes at a Dazzling Star ClusterWhen there was a belly and spinach from the gardenHole in the Sky
    More Photos
  • Biology Links

    • Tree of Life
    • Understanding Evolution
  • Blogroll

    • Ainsley Vs Livejournal
    • Ammonite
    • Anna’s Bee World
    • Archetype
    • Arthropoda blog
    • Backyard Arthropod Project
    • Beetles in the Bush
    • biodiversity in focus
    • Bug Dreams
    • Bug Eric
    • Bug Girl’s Blog
    • Burrard-Lucas Photoblog
    • Catalogue of Organisms
    • Creature Cast
    • Dan Heller
    • Debbie's Insect Blog
    • Dechronization
    • Drawing the MotMot
    • Entomoblog
    • Evolving Thoughts
    • Fall to Climb
    • Generant
    • Historias de Hormigas
    • Life on Six Legs
    • Macromite
    • microecos
    • mirmekolozi
    • myrmecoid
    • Myrmician
    • Natural Imagery
    • Nature in the Ozarks
    • NCSU Insect Blog
    • No Cropping Zone
    • omit needless words
    • Photo Synthesis
    • Princess Peppercloud
    • Science Blogs
    • Snail’s Tales
    • Stu Jenks
    • The Ant Hunter
    • The Ant Room
    • The Bug Whisperer
    • The Loom
    • This Week in Evolution
    • What's Bugging You?
    • Wild about Ants
    • Xenogere
  • Insect Links

    • Ant Farm Forum
    • Ant Insights
    • Antweb
    • Bug Squad
    • bugguide.net
    • Xerces Society
  • Photography Links

    • Canon Photography Forums
    • Digital Photography Review
    • DIY Photography
    • Igor Siwanowicz
    • Mark Plonsky
    • photo.net
    • Piotr Naskrecki
    • The Strobist
  • Popular Posts

    • Friday Beetle Blogging: Long-necked Ground Beetle
    • Eastern North America is the Asian Lady Beetle's Bridge to the World
    • Things that look like ants but aren't (Part 1)
    • Pheidole tepicana
    • You say dominula, I say dominulus
    • Pyramica vs Strumigenys: why does it matter?
    • Friday Beetle Blogging: Goldenrod Soldier Beetles
    • Galleries
    • Friday Beetle Blogging: Temnoscheila Bark-Gnawing Beetle
    • Rover Ants (Brachymyrmex patagonicus), an emerging pest species
  • Recent Posts

    • This blog has moved.
    • Friday Beetle Blogging: The Hollyhock Weevil
    • The Friday Beetle will be late…
    • Bed bugs reach an all-time high
    • Answer to the Monday Night Mystery
  • Recent Comments

    • Donald Byron Johnson on Reader question: who discovered the sex of ant workers?
    • Anonymous on Update on the Rogue Taxonomist
    • Ant on Arizona Daily Star covers “Planet of the Ants”
    • Ga. Girl on Beware the Cow-Killer
    • Anonymous on Beware the Cow-Killer
  • Categories

  • Archives

  • animation Ants aphids arachnids Argentina arizona army ants art Bees beetles behavior biodiversity biology Biology Links bugs Canon carabidae coleoptera copyright Darwin desert diptera E. O. Wilson ecology entomology Evolution fail fire ants Flies formicidae genetics google haiku Harpegnathos imaging Insect Links Insects invasive species lighting Linepithema macro macrophotography macro photography Martialis media miniscule muppets music myrmecology mystery natural history Nature new species odontomachus Parasites Paratrechina pests pheidole Photography Photography business photoshop phylogenetics phylogeny Pogonomyrmex politics predation Scarabaeidae Science SEM social insects spiders Taxonomy termites travel wasps
  • Nature Blog Network
    Add to Technorati Favorites

    Follow this blog

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Myrmecos Blog
    • Join 90 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Myrmecos Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: