mid-week Connect: 3/29/23 ~ Puppets across cultures
Greetings and Happy Midweek!
This week, I thought we would explore the topic of Puppetry. I’ve had several puppet-related moments in the past few weeks and this whole dynamic of puppets fits perfectly into the Collaboration component of our Global SKILLs’ PROACTive Framework.* You could say, “It takes two to enjoy a puppet - the performer and the audience” and that means puppetry is definitely a collaborative cultural activity - whether it be one child performing finger puppet antics for a friend or a lavish production from one of countless ancient and contemporary cultural puppetry traditions.
Recent puppet moments include one from my grandson, who attended a puppet show while visiting Germany. His Mom said he enjoyed it despite not understanding the language. At one point, he discerned the topic of conversation was probably about what the puppets were drinking since they were holding glasses. A simple deduction…and yet - it illustrates how puppets can move within and across language boundaries or barriers, collaborating with the audience and having their actions interpreted differently depending on the viewer - for instance a German speaking child viewing the show might well come away with a different understanding than my grandson’s of what went on.
And then too, another puppet encounter I had a few weeks ago was finding several shadow puppets my Mom brought back from Thailand years ago. I have fond memories of how Mom used those in cross-cultural festivals she participated in for many years - to highlight both the beauty of the handmade puppets and also how different people use different types of puppetry, to entertain and also to teach.
Puppets can certainly be seen as an integral, collaborative part of cross-cultural communications, whether ‘just’ playing around and leaving impressions based on viewers’ interpretations or effectively demonstrating cultural values, historic events and artistic wonders,
How about you ~ what is one cross-cultural puppet moment you’ve had?
Share about that with a friend or note it here.
And check out the Global SKILLs LINKs below for much more on puppets around the world.
Thanks for being part of this Connect community.
Until next week,
Betsy
Global SKILLs LINKs
~ all about puppets worldwide: https://wepa.unima.org/en/tradition/
~ Thai shadow puppets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKRn8zQSZas
~ African Giants - modern puppetry with an ancient traditions:https://www.unima-usa.org/pi-41-selection-2
~ the Muppets, a dream job: https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/black-woman-puppeteer-sesame-street/
Notes:
Related Connects: Child’s Play (1/20/21), Cultural Geo-Play/Guessing Game (6/29/22)
(you can find these posts by scrolling down to the date)
* Through my business Global SKILLs and several partner subsidiaries I offer unique cross-cultural consulting and training including:
3 Dimensional Dynamics Model:
1st dimension = HOME ; 2nd dimension = HOST ; 3rd dimension = HARBOR)
PROACTive Learning Strategies:
PRO = PROfile, PROcess, PROgram
ACT = Application, Collaboration (which we explored this week) and Transformation
2023 ~ Celebrating 40+ years of working in
intercultural communications and global community building
“It takes a community to build a community”
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Please do not reproduce or share without my permission (betsy.barbour@gmail.com)