High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

Is Pakistani culture a high context culture or a low context culture? And why you believe it is high context or low context?

Just for reference:

High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other. Your family is probably an example of a high context environment.

-Less verbally explicit communication, less written/formal information
-More internalized understandings of what is communicated
-Multiple cross-cutting ties and intersections with others
-Long term relationships
-Strong boundaries- who is accepted as belonging vs who is considered an “outsider”
-Knowledge is situational, relational.
-Decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships, often around a central person who has authority.

Examples: Small religious congregations, a party with friends, family gatherings, expensive gourmet restaurants and neighborhood restaurants with a regular clientele, undergraduate on-campus friendships, regular pick-up games, hosting a friend in your home overnight.

Low context refers to societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behavior and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural environment know how to behave.

-Rule oriented, people play by external rules
-More knowledge is codified, public, external, and accessible.
-Sequencing, separation–of time, of space, of activities, of relationships
-More interpersonal connections of shorter duration
-Knowledge is more often transferable
-Task-centered. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done, division of responsibilities.

Examples: large US airports, a chain supermarket, a cafeteria, a convenience store, sports where rules are clearly laid out, a motel.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

suno, itne intellectual sawaal mat poocha kero please......

lets stick to discussing hallal vs haraam.....;)

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

Aray bhai, tuka hi mar dou.

Mods: Maybe we can make it a poll?

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

high context, i suppose.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

I think so too, suroor. In our culture, non-verbal communication takes a big role and relationships are stressed upon.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

i don understand how an entire country can be high context or low context as you define it? if context has to do with familiarity (friends/family/exclusive restaurants) and low context means airports, big restaurants, motels, why wouldnt every country in the world have high context and low context cultures? why would it be country specific at all?

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

So, ahamdjee you are saying that in our culture we have nothing explict? I mean those galiyan that you hear on the street...Toba Toba.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

ravi yar, I am very objective kinda person and so these subjective issue boggle my mind too. But usually they consider the behavior of the majority of people in a geographic place as their culture.

The example here is a copy/paste and isn't very good one. Let me give you a better example.

If one person asks another, if a certain task can be completed by a certain time:

German (Low Context Culture): No.

American (Relatively low context culture): No because ....

Japanese (High context culture): It will be difficult .. (means no).

Pakistani (Relatively high): InshAllah. :D which basically means no.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

There is no such thing as Paki Culture. Language is an important component of culture and every nation in Pakistan has its own national language. Coming to material and social cultures and values, Baluchis, Punjabis, Sindhis, Pashtuns, etc. have different forms of them if not altogether conlicting. Race and ethinicty are also a very strong binding factors and different nations in Pakistan have different racial roots.

Even they belong to different civilizations. Baluchis, Pashtuns, and probably Dardic people are Iranic whereas all other are Indians/Hindustanis civilizationally.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

High Context.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

LastOfTheDinosaurs: While there are differences, there are many similarities in the different ethnic groups of Pakistanis. For example, I can safely say that Pakistanis are hospitable (mahman nawaz), some might be more than others but this fact of culture is true across the board. I can also safely say that we respect out elders and that is no different from Karachi to K2.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

High

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

High context

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

But then there are similarities between all human beings and hospitality is a universal value. Moreover, sometimes, a slight difference forms the basis for classification and grouping.

Some people here have contend that Pakistan has a high-context culture. This is a grass exaggeration and absolute falsity. A deep anaplysis and comparison of different cultures will reveal that Pakistan doesn't have a common cultural context. Let us take for example the material, social, and symbolic and ideological dimensions of culture and make a comparison.

We first take material culture and within material culture we take Food, Dress, Household Culture, Architecture, Agriculture, etc.

Let us take Food.

There is a lot of differences in food habits and preferences among nations in Pakistan.

North-Western nations like Pashtuns, Baluchis, and people of Northern Areas have entirely different food preferences than southerners. In Pashtunistan, for example, spicy food is not liked. Meat is consumed in high quantities. On the other hand southern nations consume beans and vegetables. Tea and Qawa is also more common in Northern Nations than in southern. Qawa is seldom taken by southerners (Punjabis, Sindhis, etc.) Rice, Chapli Kabab, and Tikka are common food items among the northerners. The form of bread in northerners and southerners is different. In the north, it is "Khamiri" and called "naan". Rather right from Attock to Central Asia and Caucausus, only "khamiri" form of bread is used. Among southerners it is "pateeri" and called "chapati". Northerners don't know about baryani etc. Pashtuns and Baluchis don't know about "haleem" and other things.

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

similar differences could be said to exist between a person from loiusiana and california. doesnt mean much. to take individual differences and try to show that there is no culture of the collective is like me counting our many similarities and saying that these similarities define our culture.

Every significantly large nation has variations in its culture as we move from one border to another. Indian eating preferences and language is vastly different depending on whether you're talking about the parts near kashmir, the parts near china, or the parts near sri lanka.

Doesnt show at all that there is no indian culture, as does your argument show anything about there being no pakistani culture

Re: High or Low Context Pakistani Culture?

Let us come to dress now.

It is a fact that the national dress of Punjabis, Siraikis, and probably, Sindhis is "dhoti" and "kurta". In Baluchistan, Pakhtunkhwa, Northern Areas, etc., the dress is "shalwar Kamis". Moreover, in Punjab etc. men wear colorful dresses which isn't liked in Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan. Traditional dress in Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan is Gharara and shalwar.

For veil, women use "paronai" or a chadir. In Punjab and Sindh, "purdah" isn't observed strictly and if it is observed, it is "burqa" often of black color used for that purpose. Ornaments are also different.