Hilarious Stereotype Maps Cleverly Reveal Cultural Differences

Cultural and geographical differences often create points of contention, and humor, between different countries. Now we can see specific countries’ points of view on the world, and people, around them laid out in map form with the Mapping Stereotypes project by Bulgarian designer Yanko Tsvetkov.

The collection already has over 40 maps, and you may have seen some of them already, but Tsvetkov just released his latest map “Europe According to Luxembourg,” and we’re using that as an excuse to post some of our favorites. He was asked by the German magazine Der Spiegel to create the newest map, and at first he was apprehensive because he didn’t know enough jokes to fill an entire map. The Der Spiegel team jumped in to give him information and soon after he had a snarky, yet accurate, representation — at least, according to Luxembourgers.

Tsvetkov was initially inspired by the 2009 political crisis in Europe, as grim as it may have been. Rather than focusing on the negative, he had the idea to replace names of countries on a map with funny phrases that described how they handled the crisis. He posted it to Flickr and the image quickly went viral in Europe.
Listening to the immense response, Tsvetkov started to think he was onto something. He says he always had interest in historical and cultural idiosyncrasies: “Why in Denmark is a ‘Danish pasty’ called a ‘Viennese pastry?’ And why are French fries actually Belgian?” So he set out to make more maps inspired by the weird questions he had about different cultures, and inspired by how different cultures view each other. Being from Bulgaria, Tsvetkov says it was easy to discover how natives of one country feel about their neighbors.
“The great thing about Europe is that you only have to move a few kilometers to find yourself in a different country,” he said. “Each nation here claims it invented hot water, so if you travel enough and you pay attention, you will collect a lot of jokes.”

And that’s Tsvetkov’s main research method for the maps: traveling and paying attention. He gathers information indirectly, and almost sneakily, from friends and people he meets in other countries. Rather than asking someone what they think of a certain country, he’ll ask, “How was your last trip to Brazil?” or “Who would win a fight, Catwoman or Dilma Rousseff?” While Tsvetkov acknowledges this will not always result in the most objective answers, and different groups in a country will not always agree, he says that the lack of objectivity is inevitable but it’s what ultimately keeps each map interesting, relatable, and fun.

“I don’t present the maps as products of a methodical, scientific research, because someone from Caracas may not agree with someone from Mexico City,” he said. “Excavation of prejudice is not an exact science and I’m more of a comedian than a psychoarcheologist. The maps are just like caricatures, we all laugh at them but we know very well they’re not completely true.”

Not surprisingly, the maps about the United States have blown up the interwebs, but while they’ve gotten the most buzz overall, Tsvetkov has seen certain maps pique the interest of certain countries. For example, “Europe According to Greece” is popular in German publications, as is “Europe According to Silvio Berlusconi.” Currently, he has a few more maps in the works, including “The World According to Christopher Columbus,” “Europe According to Hitler” and “Europe According to Bismarck.”

He also have plans to grow the map collection outside of this website and blog. There are prints and a calendar of the maps available on Zazzle, and this February Tsvetkov released a Mapping Stereotypes book in Germany. The rest of 2013 will see more of these books, including a Russian version at the end of August, and English and Spanish versions by the end of the year.

What stereotype map would you like to see?

Differences on Cybertheft Complicate China Talks

And to no one’s surprise, the Chinese had an answer ready: that the publication of secret documents showing the extent of American surveillance of Chinese universities and other institutions undercuts the Obama administration’s case.

That friction, American officials conceded in private, underscores how difficult it will be for the United States to make progress on what President Obama and his top aides have said is now a central issue between two countries whose economies are intertwined and whose militaries are in competition.

And at a time when the Chinese economy is showing signs that it is headed into a period of slower growth, the administration’s hopes of persuading Chinese leaders to crack down on the daily barrage of theft and espionage over the Internet — considered crucial to keep China competitive — is likely to be even more difficult.

“We both will benefit from an open, secure, reliable Internet,” Mr. Biden said at the opening of the talks, the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, an annual effort to bring together top Chinese and American cabinet and subcabinet officials on a range of problems. “Outright cyber-enabling theft that U.S. companies are experiencing now must be viewed as out of bounds and needs to stop.”

Mr. Biden was making the same point that Mr. Obama repeated in recent weeks, including during a meeting with China’s new president, Xi Jingping, in California. To the Americans, China’s cybertheft — often directed by units of the People’s Liberation Army — is different, and far more corrosive, than standard government espionage.

An American official who was sent out to brief reporters after the first day of talks said that when it came to the theft of intellectual property — including the designs of commercial products and military aircraft — “we don’t do it, and we don’t think any country should do it.”

China has always viewed the issue differently, seeing far less of a distinction involving what it regards as issues of economic and military security.

“For many Chinese, it is bizarre that how Washington can continue to pose as the biggest cyberespionage victim and demand others behave well,” China Daily, a government-influenced publication, wrote before the meeting, “after former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed that U.S. spy agencies hacked deep into China and other countries’ computer networks, including those of government, military, research, educational and business organizations.”

It concluded that “by dividing cyberespionage into ‘bad’ and ‘good’ activities, Washington is trying to dictate the rules for global cyberdomain, which is a public space.”

American and Chinese cyberexperts met Monday for the first time in a working group intended to address the issue. That alone was progress: when the United States asked Chinese officials to discuss cybertheft, cyberespionage and cybersecurity at a meeting several years ago, there was almost no give and take. But new attention focused on the activities of the Chinese military, notably Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army, has made it harder for Mr. Xi’s government to ignore the United States’ protests.

Mr. Snowden’s revelations may be a gift to the Chinese, because they shift the focus from China’s covert activities to Washington’s. And even American scholars say the Chinese have a good argument. “It is not true that ‘unwritten rules’ prohibit economic espionage,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and cyberexpert who served in the Bush administration. “Economic espionage is expressly prohibited by U.S. domestic law but is not prohibited by international law, written or unwritten, and it is widely practiced.”

The most fruitful part of the conversations, American officials indicated in a briefing late on Wednesday, dealt with North Korea and climate change, two areas where the governments have been moving into alignment.