I am inclined to think that Schadenfreude is part of "African" culture.
For instance when I was at the Melbourne conference, we were all warned to turn our cell phones off for the delivery of the papers. However, seated several rows down from where I, and a number of black intellectuals were seated, was a hapless black academic (who knows if my colleagues behind me knew him personally). His phone had begun to ring, and in his flurry to deal with it, he kept pressing the wrong buttons, which puncutated the air with their trill as he became increasingly agitated. There was a prolonged snickering recognition from at least three behind me.
Nobody else, no Australians, were laughing.
I think this is a real cultural difference -- the level of humour tolerated within a culture -- which might be worth bringing out.
For instance when I was at the Melbourne conference, we were all warned to turn our cell phones off for the delivery of the papers. However, seated several rows down from where I, and a number of black intellectuals were seated, was a hapless black academic (who knows if my colleagues behind me knew him personally). His phone had begun to ring, and in his flurry to deal with it, he kept pressing the wrong buttons, which puncutated the air with their trill as he became increasingly agitated. There was a prolonged snickering recognition from at least three behind me.
Nobody else, no Australians, were laughing.
I think this is a real cultural difference -- the level of humour tolerated within a culture -- which might be worth bringing out.
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