Bill Coperthwaite: Yurt Builder Extraordinaire

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Here's an example: When I was in Finland I learned a kind of weaving that's done with a large darning needle. Then, later on, I went to Lapland and was taken to visit a home out on the tundra, where I was to have dinner . . . but nobody could talk to me because I knew no Lappish. In one corner — however — sat a tiny, wrinkled, toothless old woman . . . shyly looking away from me, afraid of this stranger.

Now, I usually carry things in my pocket for times like this . . . something to whittle, or a toy for the children. On this occasion I pulled out my strange "knitting" (which men aren't supposed to do, according to Lappish custom). Of course, I was taking a chance: Either I was going to lose status by doing women's work, or else the fact that I was relaxed about it and not afraid of doing something obviously out of place would help me gain status.

The little old lady was watching, and after a bit she came behind me and looked over my shoulder. The barrier had been broken because we had something in common now . . . working with yarn. I looked up and she smiled. I smiled in return and began doing the work more slowly, holding it where she could see more easily . . . and finally I handed it to her to let her try.

Another time, I sat down in a Swedish railroad station and pulled out some of my leatherwork. Very soon, some people gathered around . . . interested folks who looked at me, sized me up and saw that what I was doing was — to them — something new, interesting and out of the ordinary. Before long, a few sat down to chat and — eventually — invited me into their homes.

In short, handwork is an exciting way to relate to people, and we need to know more about techniques like this that facilitate positive contact with people from other cultures. The link isn't always easy to find, but I believe that it's always potentially there. For instance, sometimes you can make the connection by discovering at least one outstanding feature of a civilization — something that really amazes you — and keeping it in mind as you meet people. As far as I know, methods like this have never been singled out as a field of study.

PLOWBOY: Ways of jumping immediately into a foreign culture?

COPERTHWAITE: Yes . . . but "foreign" begins at home, remember. At Harvard — which was, to me, a foreign culture — the yurt I built on the campus became my bridge. We need keys to get inside another family, another community or another individual. We may think that communication is simple between individuals who speak the same language, or that people of the same culture will surely understand one another . . . and that's a dangerous assumption. I'm overly respectful when I walk into an Eskimo village, but I may be much less careful in my relationship with you just because I expect automatic understanding. In the same way, when I walk into your house I do well to assume that your culture is in some sense different from mine. That way, I'll behave with sensitivity and respect the rules of your home . . . but if I equate your way of living with my own, I may get irritated because you don't follow my customs.

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