INTERVIEW BY MIRTHE SMEETS
Mirthe Smeets brings us a conversation with a passionate young tourism professional who helps us consider how our tourism can avoid consuming the very jewels we set out to enjoy and marvel over.
Leave Only Bubbles
Contextualizing France's Yellow Vests Protests
COLLABORATION BY KAMI L. RICE, OLIVIER PEYROUS, AND JC JOHNSON
Since part of our Culture Keeper team is based in France, it seems appropriate to bring you a Culture Keeper take on one of France’s biggest news stories in the waning weeks of 2018: the Gilets Jaunes (“Yellow Vests” or “Yellow Jackets”) movement that made it into foreign news outlets when the protests turned violent in Paris. We’re not a breaking news outlet by any stretch of the imagination, but we are in the business of offering a bit of cultural context where we can. Which is what we seek to do here as we experiment with a new-to-us storytelling format that we hope to perfect over time.
Sometimes Diplomacy Is Soft and Quiet
STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAMI L. RICE
This week we’re joining the ranks of media outlets offering longer-read stories, because sometimes we all need a break from the sound-bite version of the world. So lean back, kick off your shoes, and tuck into this reminder of the less flashy ways the world’s countries interact with each other. No need to wait to be appointed as an ambassador, for you already are one.
My Kaleidoscopic Commute
STORY BY KORI WINTER
One recent Friday, Kori Winter Hutchinson, an American who has by now lived half her life in southeast London, was so struck by just how beautiful and fascinating her normal commute is that she made note of it. As a result, we all get to step inside this little slice of London life, and with Kori, we find hope there.
La dignité dans l’exil
STORY BY HÉLÈNE SCHWITZER-BORGIALLO
ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY KAMI L. RICE
French academic Hélène Schwitzer-Borgiallo reports for us this week on innovative projects undertaken by a duo of English playwrights who are bringing together groups of people who don’t normally get to meet each other.
Mettre sa créativité au service de la rencontre des cultures : voilà l’objectif du duo de dramaturges anglais dont nous parle cette semaine Hélène Schwitzer-Borgiallo, enseignante à l’Université Paris 8.
I Am a Neighbor
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOEL CARILLET
With this article from Joel Carillet, we wrap up a four-article series from contributors who have entered in various ways into the lives of the Rohingya people who have sought refuge in Bangladesh. In the height of their crisis last fall, Joel spent time photographing and listening to people living in several refugee camps in Bangladesh, specifically Jamtoli, Kutupalong, Shamlapur, Chakmarkul, and Balukhali. He shares with us one of the questions that has persisted for him since then.
Editor’s Note: Rohingya Refugee Series
With the photo essay this week from Nihab Rahman, you may begin to notice that we’re spending several weeks of our once-per-week publishing schedule on stories connected to the lives of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar (also called Burma) who have fled to Bangladesh, where they are living in refugee camps.
Through Nihab’s Lens: The Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar
PHOTOS BY NIHAB RAHMAN
We were introduced to Nihab Rahman through our contributor Scott Will, whose Culture Keeper account of life as an aid worker in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. In his first article for Culture Keeper, we’re going photo essay style, letting his photos speak for themselves as he takes us along to view life in a refugee camp for the Rohingya refugees whose situation has received a sizable amount of media attention.
Cox’s Bazar: An Aid Worker’s Journal - Part 2
Physician assistant Scott Will recently spent a month providing medical care to Rohingya people from Myanmar living in a large refugee camp outside Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. This week we bring you Part 2 of his camp journal. Check out Part 1 here!
Cox’s Bazar: An Aid Worker’s Journal - Part 1
STORY BY SCOTT J. WILL
Physician assistant Scott Will recently spent a month providing medical care to Rohingya people from Myanmar living in a large refugee camp outside Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. This journal-style article from him offers a behind-the-scenes view of aid worker life as well as offering a small introduction to the Rohingya people. He previously wrote for Culture Keeper about the family he gained while living in South Sudan for five years.
The View from Here: Lesbos, Greece
Throwing Ink at the Devil: On Hidden, Creative Labors
STORY BY LAURA M. FABRYCKY
Whether or not you’re an adherent to the Christian faith, today’s big anniversary marks an event whose effects have been so far-reaching that they helped create the cultural milieu you were born into. Laura Fabrycky’s current abode in Germany—the country in which Martin Luther made his 95 theses public 500 years ago today, on October 31, 1517—has given her a front row view of Germany’s public commemorations of the anniversary of the Reformation. This 16th century religious movement was ultimately marked by the rejection or modification of some Roman Catholic doctrine and practice and by the establishment of the Protestant churches. Laura reflects on how Luther’s work might inspire our own.
Encounters With Generous Hospitality in Iraq
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOEL CARILLET
Joel Carillet's 2017 travels have included stretches of time in a country that regularly dominates the world's news cycles. In this photo essay for Culture Keeper, he introduces us to people and stories that don't make the headlines, but that are just as instructive in creating a true portrait of Iraq as are all the other stories we hear.
When Silence Becomes Impossible: Toward an Ethic of Human Decency
Editor’s Note on behalf of the Culture Keeper team.
BY KAMI L. RICE
While we hadn’t planned to post new content in August, in order to give us time to prepare fresh articles to kick off the fall edition of Culture Keeper, the recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the conversation they have set off have prompted us out of our planned quietness.