Intercultural communication Blog created by Dr. Ghada Awada

Liberia vs Lebanon

Background info:

Liberia “land of liberty” is a country that is located in West Africa, its capital is Monrovia, and its citizens are referred to as Liberians. It is located on the equator; hence its climate is a tropical one. It is rich in trees, petroleum, and diamonds, but the citizens are not using its resources properly to their financial advantage, which is what makes Liberia an underdeveloped country. Liberia occupies 43,000 square miles (slightly more than Tennessee). It is bordered on the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by Guinea, Sierra Leone, and the Ivory Coast. From antiquity through the 1700s, many ethnic groups from the surrounding regions settled in the area, making Liberia one of Africa's most culturally rich and diverse countries. It was founded as a result of the efforts of the American Colonization Society to settle freed American slaves in West Africa. The society contended that the emigration of blacks to Africa was an answer to the problem of slavery and the incompatibility of the races. Over the course of forty years, about 12,000 slaves were voluntarily relocated. Originally called Monrovia, the colony became the Free and Independent Republic of Liberia in 1847. It was the first country to gain independence in Africa.

Languages:

When Liberians are having a conversation with each other, twenty percent of the talk goes to the English language, while the other Eighty is dominated by the 20 ethnic languages, some of which are: Kpelle, Bassa, Gio, Kru, Grebo, Mano, Krahn, Gola, Gbandi, Loma, Kissi, Vai, Dei, Bella, Mandingo, and Mende.

However, the main language of communication in Lebanon is the Arabic language, but student learn in schools also French and English.

Cuisine:

The Liberian cuisine mainly consists of a combination of rice and either one of fish, meat, or chicken. Their most common dishes are potato green, palm butter, cava leaf, and domba. Also, whatever they eat has to always include a huge amount of peppers. Casava and Plantain are common vegetables that are often eaten either grilled or fried.

Lebanon is well known for its rich cuisine. thus, if you go to a Lebanese restaurant the first thing they serve you is the Mezza which is made up of plenty of plates such as hummus, tabbouleh, fattouch etc... Then they serve you the Lebanese mashewe which is contains grilled meat and chicken. After that they will serve deserts. One of the best Lebanese traditional deserts are the baklava.

Art and Dance:

Liberians are very outgoing people who are passionate about art and dance; the only way to express their passion is by dancing to the beat of the drums. Almost every single Liberian citizen can move. Also, it is a ritual that when someone close to them passes away, they gather around the corpse, get drunk and dance around it as well.

Art is another skill that most of the Liberians grow up having. Their paintings and drawings generally reflect their culture and their people.

The cultural dance in Lebanon is the dabke. The video below is a dabke dance which is participated in:

Fayrouz was one of the most Lebanese artists that influenced throughout her songs the Lebanese people positively. She didn't only sing, but she also acted in the Rihabni plays.

Clothing:

In the urban areas, the African cloth which is called ‘Lappa’ is what they use to make their clothes. It is a form of fabric that is signified by its unique pattern of colors. Lappa is also used to make hand bags, tablecloths, and many others. However, people in the city usually wear casual clothes.

However, in Lebanon people most people in urban areas started to wear like the westerns, yet some people in rural areas kept on wearing their traditional clothing such as the shirwel.

Sports:

The most common form of sports that Liberians play is football (soccer). They start playing at a very young age, and the ones who can’t afford a ball will use rocks instead. That’s how far they are willing to go in order to play.