DEVELOPING HISTORICAL M E M O R Y C O M P E T E NCY FOR I N T E R C UL T U R A L C O M M U N I C A T I O N I N T E R A C T I O N S
How can the historical legacies of the United States and Russia produce discord and conflict? What is a contemporary example?
How can a government use a nation’s historical legacy to generate popular support among the general population?
How does national history play a role in shaping national identity? What is an example for the United States?
During a state visit to China in 2010, the United Kingdom’s prime minister and his party were asked to remove the poppy flowers they were wearing to honor U.K. war dead, a national tradition observed every November 11. The Chinese indicated that the poppies might remind the Chinese of the Opium Wars of the mid-1800s, in which British forces defeated the Chinese. In your opinion, should the British representatives
have worn the poppies? Why?
Can you think of examples to help explain the notion that Russia
remains in a transitional phase?
How do Japan’s demographic separation, geographic isolation,
and sense of self-consciousness manifest themselves during inter-
action with strangers of other cultures?