Inter-cultural Anthropology: A methodological approach of innovation

1. Inter-cultural Anthropology: A methodological approach of innovation • Dominique Desjeux • Professor of social and cultural anthropology at the Sorbonne (University of Paris 5) • Associate Professor at • USF, Tampa, FL, USA • The University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou, China • Innovation, Coca-Cola, Bruxelles, 12 juin 2003; www.argonautes.fr

2. What is the link between intercultural Anthropology and innovation? • understanding how new products, services, and technologies moving from one culture to another are accepted or not • This innovation processis related to • innovation and decision-making process in organization • daily life in home and family space • cultural and social codes

3. Using scales of observation geopolitics cultural areas Social belonging Life cycle Life style Macro-social • When observing social reality it is impossible to look at all social and cultural dimensions at once. • So I choose to start from a point of view, that is a scale of observation • I most often work on the micro-scale of observation Micro-sociall family daily life home space Social code Micro-individual individual psychological identity

4. Imaging scales of observation meso-scale Bordeaux France macro-scale Barcelona Spain micro-scale Guangzhou China micro-individual Paris France

5. On the macro-social scale: Cultural relations to the body France How important it is to have an esthetic body Body as analyser of life cycle American ads concerning far-sightedness, around one’s 50’s, for baby boomers Spanish ads concerning diabetes, for aging people

6. On the micro-scale West Indies rum Greek Tamara Tunisian Bourha • So, my field work consists of carrying out observations in homes in order to understand the “bed,” the cultural and social framework in which a new product (medicine, wine, soft drink, a service, food, a new communication technology) is introduced. • When looking at daily life I try to understand what could be the place of the new product Russian blinis Example of cross-cultural aperitif

7. The itinerary methodunderstanding the “bed” • a tool for understanding daily life and cultural differences; A comparative method In-home decision-making process Trip to store Shopping, Stealing Receiving as a gift Storing at home Eating habits, Table manners, Presenting objects (hidden, showed or displayed) Using, Cooking Waste disposal, leftovers

8. A food itinerary, Odense, Denmark In-home decision-making process: Trip to store Shoppingcart Shopping Back home Using trunk

9. The kitchen • A well equipped kitchen Basic utensils: wood spoon, knives

10. Storing A fridge without soft drink Storing dishwasher

11. Cooking: an ordinary meal Preparing cooking Using appliance Cooking ball meat

12. Table maners A Danish flag Roll of paper on the table candles Tablecloth

13. The end of the Danish itinerary Waste disposal

14. Depending on culture Denmark Hidden objects Outside the kitchen Washing machine Vacuum shoes • objects are treated in three different ways in a home • Displayed • showed • hidden France Old saucepan Showed in the kitchen

15. A home can be divided into 3 different types of space • public • private • intimate Danish living Danish Bedroom French Kitchen

16. Social codes • On the micro-cultural level, I focus more on strategies, practices, and social codes than on values • What is culturally and socially • prescribed • permitted • prohibited

17. Cultural differences: storing Toilet paper France In the toilet USA In the bathroom China In the living rom

18. How do deal with food fears American issue: fast food as a threat French solution: humour Chinese McDonald: no fear

19. Objects are used to express social distance or closeness • Social communication can go through different means: • face to face • phone • letters • e-mail • fax • post-its

20. Implementing the itinerary method • When observing an object such as a soft drink one must think about: • What triggers the use of the drink • At what kind of social occasion it is used (ordinary or festive, formal or informal occasion) • How the drink is used all along the stages of life cycle • As marker of passage from one stage to another (from childhood to adolescence, then to youth then to adulthood) • As marker of identity inside each stage, depending on the pair belonging

21. Think about intercultural uses • How the way of drinking is reinterpreted from its cultural origin • other uses than drinking • other occasions: night/day: meal/snack • Individual or collective use • Other storing place • What kind of space in the home French birthday The end