CPD Highlights: Hyphenated Diplomacy

Whether Americans realize it or not, our public diplomacy touches the lives of people around the world on a daily basis in unexpected ways: whether it’s a cup of Starbucks coffee; a McDonald’s Big Mac; a sporting event on television; or a music concert at a theater. The very things Americans often take for granted at home—be it food, sports, or some other form of entertainment—are also widely available around the world, exported to other countries for the pleasure – and sometimes displeasure – of foreign publics. These are just some examples of the United States’ influence abroad and provide the basis for this month’s PDiN Monitor topic, hyphenated diplomacy.

Public diplomacy activities are taking place around the world daily and are conducted by governments, corporations and non-governmental organizations which can greatly influence a foreign public and its government’s perception of a country as well as its culture in unexpected ways. The following articles from April’s PDiN focus on different forms of hyphenated diplomacy.

Zambia: Minister Urges Envoys to Market Nation Abroad
All Africa
The Government has called on all Zambian heads of missions abroad to market the country’s investment opportunities in their respective operations in view of the prevailing stable economy Zambia is enjoying.

Why Craigslist’s Craig Newmark Still Does Customer Service
Business Insider
Newmark’s latest project is CraigConnects.org, which aims to connect the world for the common good. “I’ve been doing an increasing amount of public service and philanthropy, and I realized that I had been doing far more than I thought, and that I needed to get my act together in a way that could serve far more people.”

Taiwan Academy awaits nod from US
Taiwan Today
Branches of Taiwan Academy, an institute promoting Taiwanese culture and Mandarin Chinese, are set to open in Los Angeles and Houston once the U.S. gives the green light.

Education Will Bring Societies Together—We Can’t Depend on Governmental Diplomacy Alone
The Huffington Post
How ironic that in a time of rapidly increasing connectivity around the globe, we are still so far from understanding other cultures, especially those that observe religions and traditions different from our own.

Sesame Street comes to Pakistan
The Guardian
In a $20m (£12m) remake of the classic American children’s programme, the setting for the show has moved from the streets of New York to a lively village in Pakistan with a roadside tea and snacks stall, known as a dhaba.

European film festival to boost cultural exchange
Arab News
Italian Consul-General Simone Petroni said that the festival reflected the passion for art and cinema alive in Europe. It remained, he believed, a powerful medium in which to express ideas as well as help cultural exchange.

Azerbaijan, Russia, China to shoot joint TV series
News.Az
“Chinese film-makers are going to shoot a documentary about Baku, the soundtrack of which will be a Chinese song about Baku performed by [Azerbaijani singer] Rashid Behbudov,” Valeriy Ruzin, president of the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio and a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia, told a press conference in Baku.

Peace tastes great
Consulate General of Israel
Four Israeli master chefs from different ethnic and religious backgrounds cook up a variety of ways to make beautiful cuisine together. Taste of Peace (Taam Salaam in Arabic and Taam Shalom in Hebrew) was founded in 2009 by a multiethnic corps of chefs…Their first event was a “coexistence cooking competition” where 10 Jewish and 10 Arab chefs paired off to cook dishes together without knowing the recipe.

DC’s Wholly Disappointing Chinese Food Scene
The Atlantic
Here’s an idea raised by a friend: Apparently the Thai government/embassy used to (still does?) subsidize Thai restaurants in DC as a way to promote Thai culture—hence the proliferation of pun-laden Thai joints (Thaiphoon, Thaitanic, and so on).