Cultural Awareness

You will find a huge amount of information regarding the country you are visiting by looking through some of these resources. 

Just the Facts!

• BBC News Country Profiles – Background material that includes the history, politics, economic and institutions of many countries and international organizations.
• CIA World Factbook – Pretty much just the facts!  This also links to a directory of World Leaders and numerous maps.
• FAO Country Profiles – Facts with an agricultural emphasis.
• Human Development Reports – Follow the progress of many developing nations through these annual reports from the United Nations Development Program.
• World Bank Data – Factual information on everything from number of cell phone subscriptions to incidence of tuberculosis can be found here.
• eHRAF World Cultures: eHRAF World Cultures identifies information describing cultural practices worldwide.
• International Statistics by Country – A guide from the UIUC Global Studies Library, this is  a list of statistical websites from governments around the world. Many are in English, some are in native languages.
• List of Foreign Governments – This resource from Northwestern University’s  Government and Geographic Information and Data Services Department  provides an alphabetical directory of international government websites.
• BBC News Country Profiles – These country profiles, compiled by BBC Monitoring, include history, political climate, economic information, and major news outlets for countries, territories, or international organizations.

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Going Beyond the Basics

• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 – This report from the U.S. Department of State assesses human rights conditions around the globe in 2012.  It is searchable by country or region.
• The Lonely Planet Travel Guides – A collection of over 500 travel guides from 195 countries that provide information on entertainment, dining, accommodations, and activities, and more.
• Rough Guides – A visually-stimulating collection of travel guides and photo galleries from worldwide destinations, this site includes useful information on culture and etiquette.
• The Abroad Guide – A travel guide website specifically for study abroad students, this site includes destination guides, and numerous blogs about studying abroad from pre-departure through returning home.
• Let’s Go – Travel guides written by students, for students.  These guides can give you some great insight into your destination.
• Rick Steves’ Europe – Travel guides to assist American travelers to Europe in choosing food, accommodations, transportation, and activities.

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 Cultural Adjustment

• Quick Guide to Culture Shock – This document by IIE Generation Study Abroad explains the stages of culture shock and methods for coping.
• Cross-Cultural Living – A guide to cultural adjustment that covers the stages of cultural adaptation, culture shock, coping strategies, and more.

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Topics in Cultural Awareness

Food

• Eating Abroad: The Cultural Resonance of Food – Some general tips from the Independent Traveler on eating abroad, discussing the cultural connections that are often part of dining.
• World Health Organization Guide on Safe Food for Travelers – Originally developed as a guide for travelers to the 2012 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the World Health Organization believes that the tips on safe eating can be applied and adapted for travelers to any destination.

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Transportation

• Five Travel Tips for the Study Abroad Student – From the Indiana University Overseas Study blog, these tips offer some general, practical advice on travel while studying abroad.
• Rail Europe – A source for finding fairs, schedules, and buying tickets for European rail travel.
• Beginner’s Guide to Train Travel in South America – Tips and information about rail travel in South America, broken down by country.
• How to Find Super Cheap Flights While Studying Abroad – From The Abroad Guide, some great tips on flying on a budget while abroad.
• Ultimate Guide to Airline Fees – Compiled by the Smarter Traveler, these charts will help you to understand what you’re paying for when you buy an airline ticket.

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 Political Climate

• PAIS (Public Affairs Information Services) – PAIS identifies articles, books, websites, statistics, yearbooks, directories, conference proceedings, pamphlets, reports, government documents, and microfiches on political, social, public policy issues from 1915 – present.

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 Historical Context

• Historical Abstracts – Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present in over 40 languages with publications starting in 1955. Historical Abstracts started a project in 2006 to extend coverage through the late 1800s.
• Keesing’s World News Archive – Breaking History – These free articles provide comprehensive context on breaking stories from around the world, drawing on Keesing’s 77-year archive of world news to trace the links between the places, people, and events of the last century.

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Appropriate Clothing

• “What to Wear Where?” Guide – A user-generated guide with advice on appropriate attire, browseable by country.
• 10 Things You Should Never Wear When Traveling Abroad – This informal guide from the Independent Traveler gives general tips on appropriate dress abroad.

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 Religion

• Pew Research Religion and Public Life Project – A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, this publication provides an array of resources to understand the religious climate of your destination country.
• Association of Religious Data Archives – Includes national and regional religion profiles, maps, and tools for comparing religion data for different countries.

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Currently in the Media

Newspapers (online)

• Arab world – Al-Jazeera
• England – B.B.C.
• France – Monde diplomatique
• Hong Kong – Asia Times
• India – Times of India
• Japan – Japan Times
• Latin America – Zona Latina Collection
• Russia – Moscow Times
• South Africa – African Sun Times

Newspaper Databases

• Access World News – A large aggregation of news articles in English from around the world.
• Nexis Uni – Full text world publications (news, transcripts).
• Library PressDisplay – Facsimile front pages and papers from around the world for the last week.
• Ethnic NewsWatch – Includes full text publications for 200 newspapers and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press from 1959 – present.
• World Newspaper Archive – Identifies articles from hundreds of Newspapers from around the United States and the World.
• Eastview Central and Regional Russian Newspapers: Newspapers from the Russian region.
• Watching America – This is an independent web site that translates a wide variety of newspaper articles.
• Newspaper Map – An interactive site that indexes newspapers within 39 countries and graphically plots their correct locations. New newspapers are added on a regular basis.

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Appropriate Behavior

• Travel Etiquette – A website created to provide etiquette and cultural information for international travelers, the articles here give overviews of regions and countries, with emphasis on rules of behavior and cultural climate.
• Culture Crossing – A user-updated directory of cultural information about every country. This guide is meant to help the user understand their own “cultural baggage” while exploring the cultural “basics” of other countries, from greetings and communication style to dress, taboos, and laws.
• World Citizen’s Guide – Created under the assumption that each of us should be an ambassador for our country, this guide seeks to inform travelers about customs and appropriate behavior when travelling abroad.
• Etiquette 101: Listen Up! – This fun article from Condé Nast Traveler, divided by world region and country, gives the reader “Six things you need to know to say in any language.”