 |
| Figure 1: The beginning of the traditional Thai greeting (Image Source: Hugh Sitton/Corbis) |
There is a famous saying that goes something like the
following: “Life imitates art, and art imitates life.” This phrase conveys the idea that often times
art and life are mirrors of each other, drawing inspiration from each
other. This notion directly relates to
today’s blog post, which was inspired by the current state of affairs the world
is involved in (social distancing due to the Covid-19 Pandemic) and several
people lamenting that they are not sure how to appropriately greet people through
not touching. These challenges present
yet another reason for why anthropology can and is so useful because while the handshake
or hug is considered the appropriate greeting among many American and Western
cultural groups it is not universal. Therefore,
this blog post will list some alternative greetings that are much more common
and appropriate in other cultural groups and that may work in place of body
contact greetings during this period (or even after, particularly if you work with individuals from different cultures!)
- In Tibet individuals greet each other by sticking out their tongue. This is considered a polite greeting to indicate that you are not the reborn, black tongued King of Tibet.
- In Thailand it is customary to greet people by putting your hands together (palms and fingers together, unclasped; see Figure 1) to your chest, bowing, and having your hands touch your face. Probably not the best option given the strict instructions by various medical professionals not to touch your face, but you can easily modify this to a bow with your hands close to but not touching your face.
- Among the Shona ethnic groups of southern Africa it is customary and polite to clap for someone in greeting. This can be a fun way to add a little positivity to greeting someone.
- Micronesians (of the South Pacific) use a simple raising of the eye brow to acknowledge someone’s presence. This may be best for those working in quiet spaces or those who are introverts.
- In China individuals actually get on their hands and knees and bow to those who are superior to them. In Japan a simple bow is all that is required regardless of status among individuals greeting each other. Asians typically do not feel comfortable touching strangers, hence why they have developed a series of non-contact greetings.
- The Kanouri tribal group in Niger shake their fists and call “Wooshay!” to those they greet. This could be a bit off putting here in the US since shaking fists has a whole other meaning here, but it could also be a fun way to release stress and anxiety at this time.
Please be aware that this post only shared the non-body
contact greetings that exist around the world.
There are several greetings that do involve body contact but are not
handshakes, including fist pumps and air kissing (the latter of which involves
contact between people by their cheeks).
Again, as medical professionals suggest not coming into direct contact
with people in order to slow and/or stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus I
have only shared those that make the most sense given this sage medical advice. Not listed here are some outdated greeting
options, such as the curtsey, which I personally would like to see come back,
but I doubt it will. Also not listed are the greetings more specific to subcultural groups, such as the Vulcan greeting that many sci fi fans are most familiar with and actually has Jewish origins (Figure 2). Whatever your
preference you have some new ideas to accommodate the current social situation
we are existing in while also maintaining important cultural and social
expectations related to greeting people.
 |
| Figure 2: Vulcan greeting through a hand gesture derived from Jewish greetings (Source: Google Images) |
References
Bryant, Sue. Every culture has a unique way of
greeting people. 3 April 2019. Electronic. 23 March 2020.
Family Education. Gracious Greetings Between
Cultures. n.d. Electronic. 23 March 2020.
Mitchell, Mary. "Modern Etiquette: Different
cultures have different greetings." Reuters 6 August 2012: 1.
Electronic.
Wong, Kathleen. "Showing hello: 15 ways people
greet each other around the world." Mashable 15 March 2015: 1.
Electronic.
14 comments:
Hi,
I think this information is very good, especially if you can persuade people to actually do them. I was just thinking how I could introduce one of these greeting to my family and friends. Even though others might not understand, it could be a great teaching moment because I am sure others will ask what are we doing.
Thanks,
Joell Davis
Dr. Boston -
I really enjoyed this blog post. It is interesting and exciting to learn about other cultures and how they greet each other. My personal favorites include the eyebrow raise and the hands together bow. I do not necessarily know if those would ever replace the long-held handshake here in the United States, but it definitely gives us an idea of what options are out there.
I do wonder if when all this is over, Americans will be more contentious of touching others and realizing how heavily we rely on handshaking, and even giving high-fives. I think the Covid 19 pandemic would be in our minds for quite sometime and perhaps people will be more cautious.
Thank you for the insight!
Melissa Vernon
I find this blog post very interesting especially at this time with covid-19 going around. I like the fact that you put multiple culutures and their noncontact greetings on here as information. These things could help us now in this difficult time to not spread the virus around so quickly. There has been thousands of deaths due to the covid and that has everyone pretty worried. I feel like this post can have people be more aware of the things they have physical contact with especially out in public then touching others. I love the information provided.
Thanks, Ashley Puckett
Dr. Boston, I found this post very interesting and very appropriate for the time being, with everything going on in the world today with Covid-19. The quote “Life imitates art, and art imitates life.” you used at the very beginning I found very interesting and had never heard it before but it makes perfect sense, I personally think that life as a whole is very artistic. On the other hand while reading through the different ways of greeting people in other countries I was impressed with just how many different ways there was to greet someone. One that really stood out to me was the very first one that you mentioned, from Tibet. Here in the United States we see sticking out your tongue as not very nice and not something we would think of as a greeting to someone else. With the Shona clapping when greeting someone, I think that would be awesome to go out with everything going on in the world today and seeing the energy of people clapping. I will definitely take these other forms of greeting someone into consideration when greeting someone in the near future.
Jessica Salmons
This is an interesting read, I never knew that the Chinese and Japan people both had a different of bowing.
Justin Mitchell
Dr.Boston,
Just like everything else we have learned throughout the course, this is interesting information. Thanks for providing us with this information. If we used any of these greetings here in America, we would probably have to explain what they mean the first time. After that, these would be perfect for greeting others during this time. I think I might teach my mother a couple and I can greet her when she gets home from work without having to touch.
Briana Jones
Hi,
This post is very interesting and relative to today's pandemic situation. I never thought about how other countries greet one another. I just generalized that all people greet with some sort of handshake, so this post made me a touch less arrogant.
I do wonder how people are greeting each other now. I know it sounds weird but I consider myself a "people watcher" I just like to sit and observer the typical human and think where are they going, what are they doing, how's their family? (okay side note over). But I have noticed that people lately, tend to hold their own hands locked together or their hands behind their back in a professional setting. I'm assuming this is due to the current condition of the world not wanting to engage in physical contact. But what is interesting is people seem to behave differently when they are with someone they are familiar with, and often engage in contact.
Why is that?
Do we not think we cannot get sick by someone close to us?
Should we allow the pandemic to change the affection we show to loved ones?
Briana Simpson
These other greeting are a good idea to use with the virus going around. But how scared everyone they most likely won’t use them lol. Waving from a distance or a phone call would most likely be what the ones that are practicing social distancing. The one I like from this is the raise of the eyebrow.
I can see myself possibly using the Tibetan greeting of sticking out my tongue to a member of the opposite sex, but definitely not using this greeting to acknowledge another man. In American culture, we have developed a few non-contact, no-verbal greetings. We use the head nod that symbolizes the words "What's up!?" We also may throw up hand gestures such as "Hi!", which is one hand with all fingers raised or the "Peace!", which is one hand with two fingers raised, the pointer and middle fingers.
Tytious Thomas
I love this idea obviously cultural appreciation so I’ll just be doing whatever to anyone or just because someone looks like they’re from a place you shouldn't assume and do whatever. But I love the idea of finding ways to still communicate while still being safe. I love the idea they were taking this seriously enough and that we see other cultures are ready have non-physical greetings it’s making us wonder why we don’t have our own yes we have a simple wave but the awareness of how do you stated in your blog South Africa’s clap greeting or those in the South Pacific will raise eyebrow to acknowledge the other person or personally my favorite the Tibet individuals who stick their tongue out each other. But in total I just love the fact that we are becoming aware of the seriousness of this disease and that we are not letting it discourage us from communicating with new people.
America should take notes ASAP! I think we should come up with something because it's still spreading rapidly here.
Mya Bursey
Greeting people is such a holistic response in how a person may view you or it may be rude if you do not approach with a greeting, this blog teavhes the ways and allows an appropriate example of a greeting to the people in other cultures.
Qwynn Marquez
The post draws attention to the wide variety of cultural greeting practices that exist among various ethnic groups and geographical areas. It highlights the diversity of cultural practices and the significance of honoring these customs by presenting examples from Thailand, Tibet, Japan, China, and Niger. It recognizes that communities must modify their greeting traditions in response to public health issues, including the necessity of social separation during the epidemic. The post demonstrates how cultural norms may change to reflect new situations while retaining their value by endorsing non-body contact greetings.
The post draws attention to the wide variety of cultural greeting practices that exist among various ethnic groups and geographical areas. It highlights the diversity of cultural practices and the significance of honoring these customs by presenting examples from Thailand, Tibet, Japan, China, and Niger. It recognizes that communities must modify their greeting traditions in response to public health issues, including the necessity of social separation during the epidemic. The post demonstrates how cultural norms may change to reflect new situations while retaining their value by endorsing non-body contact greetings.
Post a Comment