Bafa Bafa

Here's something of a response to participating in Bafa Bafa. For those of you who don't know, Bafa Bafa is a culture simulation (I think it's to make you feel weird)... anyway, here it is:

In the Bafa Bafa culture simulation, I was a part of the Betan culture. We were a trading culture—exchanging cards to gain as many sets as possible of the same color in order to win a prize. The Betan culture was very individualized—each person did not care what happened to the others as long as he or she could continue trading cards to make sets. There were only a few rules to the Betan culture besides the rules of trading—no English was to be used, only the Betan language, and no American gestures, only Betan gestures. Because of this, the Betan culture was rather simple to understand once it was explained.

The Alphan culture was very different. As a Betan, I was used to milling about through a crowd of people trading cards. The Alphans, however, were used to forming large circles. They did not trade cards—though they did play a game. They were a culture that was based on social interaction, as I found out later. They did not have a purpose in playing the game, because it seemed that random people always won some blue coins. However, I was led to believe that the blue coins were a bad thing because when their leader asked if someone wanted some more coins, and I said yes, several people dumped all of their coins into my hand (as if they were happy to be rid of them!)

My first impression and interpretation of the Alphan culture was that the Alphans were a very snobbish and rude group. They did not easily invite other people to join them, though once you were invited into their circle the Alphans were really friendly and nice. When I first arrived at the Alphan culture, and tried to join one of their circles, I was rudely thrust out of their midst and shown a card that said stippler on it. Apparently, that was their way of snubbing someone. My previous experience with the Betan culture (where the inhabitants would immediately approach visitors to trade with them) helped me to form the impression that the Alphans were not very friendly because of their methods of snubbing people. One guy from my group even got banished from Alphan land because he accidentally broke one of their rules.

When the group gathered again to explain the two different cultures, it was interesting to hear that both groups saw each other as selfish and rude. The Alphans were seen as rude because of their methods of snubbing and banishment. The Betans were seen as greedy because we seemed to attack the Alphan visitors in our eagerness to trade with them. Another interesting that the class noticed was that the visitors from the opposite culture were shy, confused, and rude.

~Laura

P.S. Yes, I know the picture doesn't have anything whatsoever to do with Bafa Bafa--I just thought it looked cool...