Culture and diplomacy go hand-in-hand

If you thought culture and diplomacy are strange bedfellows, ask Cynthia P. Schneider. A former US ambassador to the Netherlands and co-founder of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University, Schneider says trying to do diplomacy without culture is like playing tennis with your hands tied behind your back.

“It is crippling. People’s decisions are motivated through their emotions. And culture, whether music or theatre, it appeals to our emotions,” said Schneider.

“What we do at the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, is try to humanise global politics through the power of performance. And what that means is we try to give aspiring students of international politics an alternative approach to diplomacy.”

“Through theatre performances and concerts, we give them real human stories of people living in conflict zones and war zones, and get them to think in a broader way in solving the issues.”

She said culture is the centre of identity, and ironically the only people who have realised the power of culture are extremists. “That is why they go about destroying culture. If culture matters to them, why not to us?”

According to her, culture is not an entity that has to be separated from life. “But it tends to be put aside as an extra thing you do in leisure time. We have to put it at the centre because culture is what gives people resilience and hope.”

Culture is the centre of identity, and ironically the only people who have realised the power of culture are extremists.”