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Prendiamo un caffè? Italian Coffee Culture
Let’s face it without the caffè this morning (yes, made with a traditional Italian caffettiera), I wouldn’t be writing this. Names like espresso, cappuccino, latte, and the now ubiquitous Italian espresso machines are a standard part of Australian cafe culture. So it’s natural to assume there is something quintessentially Italian about coffee. As Simona Lidia, a blogger on Italian culture jokes “an Italian will always believe deep inside that coffee grows spontaneously in Italy, and only in Italy, since the Lower Paleolithic.” Living Italian Coffee If my experience is anything to go by Italians, even in diaspora, can’t escape Italian coffee culture. Growing up, the tiny white cups were there…
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A Tribute to Bahá’u’lláh
This article tells the story of a moment in time. A small event, briefly told, yet one that still echoes through time and space. A few evenings ago the words from that event echoed in song in the Australasian Baha’i House of Worship in Sydney. Here is the story. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was travelling to the West. In October 1911 he reflected on his arrival in Paris, one of the first Western cities he visited: I regret much that I have kept you waiting this morning, but I have so much to do in a short time for the Cause of the love of God. You will not mind having waited a little…
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The Duty of Kindness and Sympathy Towards Strangers and Foreigners
It is hardest to write of those things about which we feel most deeply. Today I wish to write about someone whose words and life have profoundly influenced and inspired me. That person is Abdu’l Baha: the son of the founder of the Baha’i Faith and its leader from 1892 to 1921. I wish to address particularly what Abdu’l Baha had to say about the issue of ‘foreignness’. One hundred years ago, on 16 and 17 October 1911, he gave his first recorded talk to the people of Paris. The theme of his talk was “the duty of kindness and sympathy towards strangers and foreigners”. What did Abdu’l Baha see…
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En la nariz: perfumista chispas furor contra el racismo
El mes pasado, hablé de un problema de alienación que está emergiendo de Francia. Este mes, por casualidad, volví a recurrir otra controversia de Francia que se ha apoderado de la atención del mundo-que revela cómo el lenguaje puede crear y perpetuar las nociones de alteridad y alienación.. Jean-Paul Guerlain, que trabajó para la famosa gama alta línea de cosméticos que comparte su apellido como su nombre, ha caído bajo la atención de los medios por los comentarios racistas que hizo recientemente en una entrevista en la televisión francesa. Por decencia, no voy a reproducir sus comentarios en este blog, pero las fuentes principales medios de comunicación mundiales como The…
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On the nose: perfumer sparks racism furore
Last month, I discussed a problem of foreignness emerging from France. This month, coincidentally, I again turn to a controversy from France that has gripped the world’s attention—one that reveals how language can create and perpetuate notions of Otherness and foreignness. Jean-Paul Guerlain, who once worked for the famous high-end cosmetics line that shares his last name as its name, has fallen under the media spotlight for racist remarks he recently made in an interview on French television. Out of decency, I will not reproduce his remarks on this blog, but major news media sources across the world such as The Guardian are reporting them. There is no question that…
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A lesson from Europe
The question of the place of the Roma in European society has returned to the media spotlight. The New York Times reports that a meeting of European leaders this week “degenerated into open discord” over France’s plans to deport Roma. Since Romania and Bulgaria entered the European Union in 2007, Roma have migrated in increasing numbers to western Europe in search of work and education. This has raised questions in the EU, according to the Times, “over just how open its borders ‘open borders’ are.” The struggle of the European Union to deal justly with the Roma question serves as a reminder that foreignness is not just a legal or…
