Dear Editor,
The Guyanese society like many societies is complex and as I have mentioned before in some of my letters, Guyana is generally a high context culture, however, there are shifts towards a low context culture particularly by the people, the followership; while the leadership remains largely high context. Nonetheless, within the various sub-cultures in Guyana, some are more high context while some are more low context. In addition, some have a more collectivist culture while others have a more individualist culture.
As citizens of Guyana we subconsciously reflect our cultural backgrounds in our day-to-day communication and in the manner in which we present ourselves to others and the outside world. The high context aspect of our society refers to the groups where people have close connections over a long period of time and many aspects of cultural behaviour are not made explicit because most people in these sub-groups know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other. In the low context sub-groups people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration, or for some specific reason. In these groups, cultural behaviour and beliefs may need to be explained in detail so that those coming into a particular cultural environment know how to behave.
While we are largely an expressive people, much of our communication is implied; however, within the various sub-cultures and sub-groups the communications may be more expressed while in others it might be more implied. For example, in a discussion with a foreigner, the point came up that Guyanese are viewed by some foreigners as a dishonest people, so I asked for an example. The person explained that they had an employee who suddenly submitted a resignation and went abroad. The foreign employer’s concern was that, the employee showed no indication or said nothing of resigning and/or going abroad. I then said to the person, let’s reflect a bit on some of the things the person would have said indirectly or the nonverbal messages that the employee might have been sending. In Guyana we say that ‘the employee was throwing some hints’. After the foreign employer (outsider) reflected, they admitted that I was making a valid point. However, if someone comes from a highly expressive culture, they may very well conclude that as a people, some of us are dishonest for the reasons mentioned above but is it that we are dishonest or is it more that much of our communication is implied? My conclusion is that, much of our communication is implied; we are communicating all of the time but it is difficult for outsiders to sometimes read us. In addition, we have more of a high context culture which can be difficult to enter if someone is an outsider because they do not carry the context information internally, and because creating close relationships can sometimes be a challenge.
Some features of the high context sub-cultures and subgroups within the Guyanese society are that communication is less verbally explicit, less written or formal information (for example, contracts), and more internalized understandings of what is communicated; there are multiple cross-cutting ties and intersections with others (for example, this is distinctly obvious in our politics); there are long-term relationships with strong boundaries pertaining to who is accepted as belonging versus who is considered an ‘outsider’; that knowledge is situational, relational and decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships, often around a central person who has authority.
Some features of the low context sub-cultures and subgroups within the Guyanese society are that they are rule oriented; people play by external rules and more knowledge is codified, public, external, and accessible; there is sequencing and separation ‒ of time, of space, of activities, of relationships; there are more interpersonal connections of shorter duration; knowledge is more often transferable and task-centred; and decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done and a division of responsibilities.
The African sub-culture in Guyana tends to be generally more low context and the communication is more expressed. The Indian sub-cultural tends to be more high context and the communication is more implied. This sometimes leads to Africans accusing Indians of not speaking up, and Indians accusing Africans of speaking up too much.
In terms of individualism verses collectivism, while generally there is a more collectivist culture among Guyanese, in the case of Africans and Indians which goes back to African and Asian history, the African sub-culture over the years has evolved to be more individualist than the Indian sub-culture which is still largely more collectivist.
Someone said that we are like puppets on strings, hence it is important that we understand what the strings are which are determining our behaviour as individuals, institutions, and as a society as a whole.
As we approach the next 50 years, It important that we understand these various dimensions of our society, and it is critical as we attempt to find solutions and develop a problem-solving culture. It is imperative that we understand that these features influence the way we do politics, government, business, family, and community.
A significant number of suicides occur among persons of Indian descent, and as stated above, communication in the Indian sub-culture largely tends to be more implied. Research shows that in less expressive cultures there is lot of pent-up aggression, hence alcohol drinking to a large extent represents an institutionalized way of anxiety release among the Indian sub-group.
In our attempt as a nation to find solutions to both the issues of suicide and alcohol drinking, we need to examine how children are socialized within the various sub-groups. While the objective should not be to change any particular culture, there is always room for adjustments in the light of developing a more solution-oriented approach. We have to develop strategies and methods of socialization for the Indian sub-culture to be more expressive, so in this way pent-up aggression or rather anxiety could be released through other activities. Research shows that in some societies they use coffee and tea as stimulants and these have the opposite effect; while alcohol releases stress temporarily, coffee and tea are used in cultures where stress is internalized and anxiety levels are relatively low.
Finally, in the light of the diversity of the various cultures within our society, I support the notion of a public service college which should serve the purpose similar to that of the College of Europe. The main objective of this college is to promote “a spirit of solidarity and mutual understanding between all the nations of Western Europe and to provide elite training to individuals who will uphold these values” and “to train an elite of young executives for Europe,” It has the status of ‘Institution of Public Interest.’
Yours faithfully,
Audreyanna Thomas
