Cameron Diaz’s Cultural Faux Pas In Peru

No Comments | June 26th, 2007 | Trackback

Somewhere along the lines of Richard Gere…Cameron Diaz made a faux pas in Peru while filming a segment of a program for Canadian MTV. The show, incidentally, is called “4Real” and, according to this blog, highlights “how young people around the world are using art and culture to deal with pressing social issues.”

Just what did Diaz do? She was carrying a bag she picked up in China, featuring a red star and a Maoist logo written in Chinese. For locals, the symbol is an unpleasant reminder of the 80s and 90s Maoist insurgency, where more than 70,000 Peruvians died.

Diaz made an apology, an official version, apparently emailed to the AP, said:
“I sincerely apologize to anyone I may have inadvertently offended. The bag was a purchase I made as a tourist in China and I did not realize the potentially hurtful nature of the slogan printed on it… I’m sorry for any people’s pain and suffering and it was certainly never my intention to reopen what I now know is a painful wound in this country’s history,”

I think it’s a big story mainly because Cameron Diaz is in it (of course) – and I think around the world things like this happen regularly. I don’t mean that to undermine their importance, because what seems insignificant to one person can have a whole lot of meaning to someone else.

On the one hand, the reality is that many people will just never even realize they are doing something that offends, and Diaz’s apology seems like an appropriate step. It is notable to me though, that, in the context of filming a program which, in Diaz’s works “celebrates Peru’s culture”, no one on the team apparently new the country’s recent history well enough to realize the bag might offend.

How is this relevant to volunteers? I think the situation of being a foreigner in another culture is one where you are bound to come across situations where something which seems quite small to you can have quite a large meaning for someone else…is it possible to avoid? Maybe, and there is certainly good reason to try to educate yourself beforehand about history and culture. But even then, something may go over your head. I think Diaz’s response is a good example of what to do if that happens.