For a more comprehensive understanding of Hall’s work, I believe it is mandatory to have at least an overview of the author’s biography. Born in Missouri in 1914, he served in the U.S. Army both in Europe and the Philippines. He also worked on Navajo and Hopi American reserves, this giving him a deeper understanding of their culture. It was this work with the army and the reserves that laid a foundation for his lifelong research on cultural perceptions of space. With information garnered from his experiences, he began you believe that how different cultures interpreted reality played a major role in cases of miscommunication of the most fundamental kind.
Hall has published several books on cross-cultural communication, but his most significant contributions have been in the area of proxemics. Proxemics is the study of the use of human space within the context of culture. He argues that although all humans share a perception of space that is derived from sensory elements, this perception is also shaped by one’s culture. He furthers this argument by saying that different cultures have different frameworks for defining and organizing space, which is internalized in all people at an unconscious level. This can lead to serious failures of communication and understanding in a cross-cultural setting.
Hall’s work remains relevant to date and has brought great input in several fields, starting from his definitions of space. He classifies space into three major categories: intimate space, social/consulate space, and public space. The first, he says, is the space that individuals allow only their closest friends and intimates to share with them. Social or consulate space is that which one feels comfortable conducting routine social interactions with acquaintances as well as strangers. Public space is the area of space beyond which people will perceive interactions as impersonal.
He also came up with the concept of “the anthropology of Space.” This is where anthropologists study the built environment of past civilizations to try and determine how this expresses the culturally shared ideas sustenance of relations of inequality between people. Another area to which Hall has contributed is in the development of the communication theory, especially the intercultural communication theory. He inspired research on spatial theory. Besides this text, Hall has written several other books on anthropology. We will carry a chapter by chapter analysis of this particular piece of work to try and get a clearer understanding of how inter-cultural relations influence us and to step beyond cultural boundaries, reacting on a more base and unprejudiced level.
In the first chapter, the author focuses on the definition of the word culture. By first clarifying, those definitions are, in a sense, not static, being but a model in the broader sense of the word. “The purpose of the model is to enable the user to do a better job in handling the enormous complexity of life. By using models, we see and test how things work and can even predict how things will go in the future.”(p.13)
Man’s definitions of things are rather limiting because they tend to tell us more about the man rather than what is being defined because the definitions are colored by the definer’s perception. Thus, it is difficult for an anthropologist to define things that make up culture. This is because the models applied would not really be a definition but more a description of that particular culture.
The best he believed he could do was come up with was two specific models: language and time. On this count, he quotes Saphir, who is of the opinion that “Language is much like a mathematical system which pre-visages all possible experiences in accordance with certain accepted formal limitations…” (p.15)
Language does play a very major role in the structure of a culture because it is the basic mode of communication and the first step to understanding. Not only the grasp of a particular language is important, but also the use of words. This usage determines how a person is perceived. Hall’s other major concern is that of time. He classifies time into monochromic-where time is linear and tangible since it is used with phrases like makeup, running out, etc.; with monochromatic time, people only get to do a single thing at a time, which means that time and other areas of our lives are divided into units according to these divisions of time.
Time in this sense, is intricately interwoven with space. This is better illustrated in polychromatic time cultures where the inter-personal relationships are very close and intense. The point that Hall specifically wants to drive home in this chapter is that one’s use of language and view of time is learned, and throughout our lives, our perceptions of both are influenced by the fundamental lessons absorbed right from childhood.
Chapter two dwells on the theory that every organism controls nature by means of extension. Taking the example of a car, which in a way, are an extension of feet, only that they enable faster movement? Another example is that of photographs which are taken as an extension of memory. Hall says, “Extensions often permit man to solve problems in satisfactory ways, to evolve and adapt at great speed without changing the basic structure of his body. However, the extension does something else. It permits a man to examine and perfect what is inside the head. Once something is extended, it is possible to look at it, study it, change it, perfect it and at the same time, learn important things about oneself” (p.29). Though extensions improve the quality of human life, they do have their limitations as well. Taking a car, for example, which can make movement more efficient, cannot carry other functions of the feet, like jumping or dancing. Extensions are thus ways of adapting to one’s environment.
In the third chapter, the focus is on how one can match up different systems. He says that human beings tend to take that we are all the same since, after all, we are human. But this is only superficial. We all carry different ideas, and when it comes to a non-superficial environment, say, a working environment, the be-yourself-formula, as he refers to it, cannot hold.
“The hidden controls are usually experienced as though they were innate simply because they are not only ubiquitous but habitual as well” (p.42)
In a way, systems make us automatons, doing what we take as being the norm without questioning or further investigating the repercussions of our actions. In Hall’s opinion, the greatest gift we, as humans, have for each other is the opportunity to understand the systems we live in when we receive criticism from one who is not within our particular system. He gives several examples of systems like age groups, sex, ethnic groups, and cultural systems.
Briefly, chapter four focuses on what Hall terms the “hidden culture” to show that culture is not explicit. Taking language, he says that communication, though it can organize information and release thought, it cannot, on the other hand, transfer these thoughts or experiences. He further these to the extensions discussed in the second chapter because, though a car can carry out the functions of the feet, they are not feet.
Therefore, when one is adapting to a new culture, the biggest limitation is the fact that though one may knee the language, he will not as easily grasp what goes on unsaid. Thus adaptation is more of a case of trial and error.
Chapter five dwells on the tendency that man has to synchronize his actions and to create harmony with those he is in contact with. Being “in sync” does not mean very obvious choreography. It is more on a subconscious level where one tries to emulate cultural rules of body contact and movement. Hall says that humans take these synchronizations to another level by trying to do as nature does and developing a rhythm.
Just as nature has seasons, day and night, humans also have patterns in their sleeping habits, heartbeat, menstrual cycle, etc., being in sync is expressed by one’s body movement. But Hall stresses that body movements are not explicit and are rather to be taken in context. His opinion is that the principal defect in the recent of body language is that it is presented as independent of the person, as though it were pasted on, something that can be doffed and donned like a suite of cloth as an item of vocabulary”(p.82)
Body movement can be taken as non-verbal cues. They are so deeply ingrained that they are considered part of one’s personality and even society. Wrong body language elicits distress and tension since it makes people uncomfortable. These nonverbal clues decrease with the increase in cultural distance.
The following chapter focuses on being a screen that can be used to prevent a deluge of information. Hall compares this to the system of language where one word might mean many different things unless put into context. These, he considers, are the major drawback of translation machines since they are insensitive to context. The problem lies not in the linguistic code but in the context, which carries varying proportions of the meaning without context, the code is incomplete since it is only part of the message’ (p.86)
This theme is continued in the next chapter. He emphasizes the importance of context; sing that context enables us to recognize patterns. For example, it does not matter whether the alphabet is printed or handwritten, but it is the context that allows us to understand. He also says that situations are the smallest unit which can be observed in culture situations are common, e.g., greeting eating working. How one reacts in a particular situation allows another to judge whether he fits n or not. Use of situational dialect, e.g., when greeting an elder, determines whether one belongs.
In conclusion Hall’s summary can be put as follows “man must now embark on the difficult journey beyond culture because the greatest separation feat of all goes one manages to gradually free oneself from tee grip on unconscious culture” (p.240)
Reference
Hall Edward T. (1976). Beyond Culture. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.