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OIC’s Greatest Hits: Different Eyes on the World

by Your friends at OIC on May 3, 2021

5 Everyday Ways That Cultures Show Their Differences

People in every culture celebrate, greet each other, share stories and good food together, fall in love, honor their ancestors, play music and sports, name babies, and more. But the customs—the do’s and taboos—surrounding these universal activities are a remarkable reveal into how varied and ingenious different cultures can be.

Culture reveals itself even in mundane ways from what communities show on their road signs to how people cook their onions or describe a downpour.  At OIC, we say no one way is the “correct” way. And here, in our latest collection of “Greatest Hits,” our bloggers prove it with their observations and insights on everyday cultural differences. May they inspire you to look at the world with new eyes.

In the (School) Zone of Different Cultures

by Sheron Long on March 9, 2021

This round cardboard school zone sign from The Gambia with arrow pointing in one direction and 3 kids going in the opposite direction is part of a series of school zone signs from different cultures. Image © Kirszen/iStock

The beeline—Did this school sign from The Gambia presage 2020 education
or where kids wanted to go?
© Kirszen

School Zone Signs of the Times

All over the world in 2020 school traffic stopped and not just in the crosswalks. Now buses are creeping back to school, kids are in the crosswalks again, and our minds at OIC have moved from online education to the lines on school zone signs in different cultures.

Can Art Change the World? Artivist JR Has the Answer

by Meredith Mullins on December 1, 2020

Portrait of artivist JR Artist, showing cultural diversity, social awareness, and answering the question can art change the world. (Image © JR.)

French artivist JR (artist/activist)
© JR

JR’s Monumental Portraits Spark Social Awareness

There are hundreds of motivational quotes about how one person can make a difference . . . or shake the world. One person can be a revolution.

We know it’s true. There are people throughout past and recent history who changed the world—sometimes for worse . . . but mostly for better.

French artivist (artist/activist) JR is one of those people with an instinct for the positive side of change—a street revolutionary, a shaker of the world—with a simple goal of better understanding what makes us human.

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