Which other country/region is the most different from America?

[Blue3]

I don't necessarily mean it in a bad way, but culturally-speaking, which country is the most un-American? Not in their views of America, or necessarily their political system (though that could be a factor), just which country is most free from American influence, and just overall the most culturally/socially different.




My opinion:

When I think of regions not as influenced by American/British/Western civilization, these immediately spring to mind:
*the Islam-dominated regions (North Africa, Middle East, Turkey, Caucasus region, Central Asia, Pakistan, Indonesia, some of Southeast Asia)
*the China-dominated region (China, Korea, Mongolia, some of Southeast Asia)
*the Russia-dominated regions (Russia, Eastern Europe, Caucasus region, Central Asia)

Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan) seems to be the one region where the three above meet... it's former USSR, it's mostly Muslim (with many behaving as Atheists), and it borders China. And unlike Southeast Asia or the Caucasus region, it's still not that industrialized or urbanized, still not entirely capitalist. And it's definitely not that politically liberal. So I'd bet the country in the world that's least like America is one of those five.

Thoughts?

[pbrower2a]

I don't necessarily mean it in a bad way, but culturally-speaking, which country is the most un-American? Not in their views of America, or necessarily their political system (though that could be a factor), just which country is most free from American influence, and just overall the most culturally/socially different.




My opinion:

When I think of regions not as influenced by American/British/Western civilization, these immediately spring to mind:
*the Islam-dominated regions (North Africa, Middle East, Turkey, Caucasus region, Central Asia, Pakistan, Indonesia, some of Southeast Asia)
*the China-dominated region (China, Korea, Mongolia, some of Southeast Asia)
*the Russia-dominated regions (Russia, Eastern Europe, Caucasus region, Central Asia)

Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan) seems to be the one region where the three above meet... it's former USSR, it's mostly Muslim (with many behaving as Atheists), and it borders China. And unlike Southeast Asia or the Caucasus region, it's still not that industrialized or urbanized, still not entirely capitalist. And it's definitely not that politically liberal. So I'd bet the country in the world that's least like America is one of those five.

Thoughts?

You could add Afghanistan to Central Asia.

[Blue3]

You could add Afghanistan to Central Asia.

But not for what I'm saying. It was never really influenced by the USSR, despite the invasion, or China.

[memphis]

Papua New Guinea.

[tpfkaw]

Sub-Saharan Africa north of the latter-day colonies, particularly the Muslim regions.  Duh.  Obviously Russia and its environs is very much influenced by Western civilization, being, you know, a part of it.

[pbrower2a]

Mongolia. Saudi Arabia. Yemen. Ethiopia.

[H. Ross Peron]

North Korea easily for "free from American influence"

[tpfkaw]

North Korea easily for "free from American influence"

Their entire government, culture, economy, and indeed raison d'être is entirely structured around "American influence."

[barfbag]

Somalia comes to mind. What about Antarctica if we're not just talking about countries?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Stone age tribes, obviously.

Excluding them, perhaps Bhutan.

[bballrox4717]

Generally, countries that don't interact with the global scene and do not have economic ties to America. You're probably right that countries in central Asia is probably the most different, as well as countries in central-Sub-Saharan Africa. I can't think of one that stands out.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Antarctica.

[The Free North]

Somalia

[barfbag]

Antarctica.

That's what I said.

[H. Ross Peron]

Antarctica.

Antarctica has American scientific bases tho'...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

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[Хahar 🤔]

My experience is only with anglophone countries, it should be noted, but the rest of the world is far more American than an American might expect.

[Person Man]

I'm going to go with either Himalayan countries like Bhutan or Equatorial areas where people are still horticultural or nomadic. Of course there's Antarctica, but most people who "live" there are either American or Western. 

[Franknburger]

To answer that question, one must first define America. A few things that come to my mind:

1.) Diverse (ethnically, geographically, various subcultures): That criteria would exclude countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, China, India, Russia, South Africa, even Afghanistan, Irak, Iran and the Sudan, that also display a considerable degree of diversity.

2.) Second world: Immigrant tradition, pioneer spirit, high mobility, comparable low respect for local traditions and heritage (though that seems to be gradually changing): Obviously puts most other second-world countries, i.e. Latin America (with the possible exceptions of Bolivia, Ecuador and Guatemala), Australia and New Zealand, off the list.

3.) Urbanised and industrialised: Pretty self-explaining. Takes out most of Europe and East Asia (probably even North Korea).

4.) Democratic, individualistic, protection of the individual's rights: If there were any European countries left that not already would be excluded by the "Urbanised & Industrialised" criteria (the Faroe Islands come to mind), they are out now.

5.) Strong religious (Christian) roots: If you look at the Christian part, you would get many Muslim countries as obvious antagonists. When you, however, consider the overall influence of religion on policy and individual behaviour, I see quite many parallels between the US and the Middle East.

6.) Anglophone: Speaking the same language facilitates the transmission of culture and values, so the most 'un-American' country is most likely not Anglophone. Here goes a lot of sub-Saharan Africa, including Somalia (or at least Puntland, its northern part).

What does that leave us with?
a.) Francophone Africa, especially Sahel countries like Niger and Chad. Quite a good fit, if it weren't for their ethnic diversity .. The same applies to Indochina (Laos, Cambodia).

b.) Various island states: Papua-New Guinea is Anglophone, quite close to Australia, and extremely diverse. Except for not being Anglophone, the same applies to East Timor. Greenland is too similar to Alaska to qualify. French Polynesia has been heavily exposed to American culture during and after WW II. Madagascar is pretty diverse, and has been settled simultaneously from the African continent, the Arab peninsula and the Malayan archipelago. Tourism hotspots (Maledives, Seychelles, Mauritius) can be excluded as well. That leaves us with Sao Tomé & Principe, which, however, is quite urbanised (62%).

c:) Inner Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Nepal are too diverse (Uzbekistan is also serving as US supply corridor to Afghanistan). Mongolia is quite urbanised (62%). Kirgizstan had sizeable German-Mennonite settlement since the early 19th century, which should have left cultural traces similar to those that can be found across the US Midwest. So the choice is down to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Bhutan.
Tajikistan: Haven't been there, but to Northern Afghanistan close to the Tajik border. As a Persian (=Indo-European)-speaking country that was part of Alexander the Great's realm, it should be more "European", and as such also "American", than one would initially assume. Still very different from the US, but not enough to make it to the top of the list.
In terms of political culture, Turkmenistan is an obvious antagonist. However, its oil-based economy implies strong economic interaction with the US, and the development vision is quite "American".
Bhutan is a Buddhist state. While one may say the influence of religion on politics makes it somehow American, the differences between Christianity and Buddhism are so pronounced (much stronger than the differences between Christianity and Islam) that I tend to see it as the culturally most un-American country in the world.

BTW: From a "Let's explore some unknown territory"  perspective, Antarctica (as the Moon and Mars) is as American as it can get ...

[Blue3]

Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Papua New Guinea are all very different.

Another one I thought of is Azerbaijan.



I'm not sure why people are saying Sub-Saharan Africa that wasn't colonized... except for Ethiopia, ALL of Africa was colonized. (Even Liberia kind of counts as colonization by African-Americans of the native people in that region).

Mongolia has a very Western government, and is even rated as fully-free, despite being between China and Russia. For how traditional Mongols lived, go to Central Asia.

Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Somalia are way too influenced by the West... and the Saudi's especially have a lot of interaction with it.



I don't think a country being diverse would necessarily make it too similar, and prevent it from being  very different from the USA. Both Papua New Guinea and India are very diverse... but they're even more diverse than America is, and the diverse cultures in those countries are extremely different from the main cultures in the USA.

Also, is the Francophone world really that different from the Anglophone world?

As for the Germans in Kyrgyzstan, they make up less than 0.3% of the population.

[TDAS04]

I do not understand the logic that colonization by a Western European country automatically makes a country more like the US than a country that never was.  Pakistan and Sudan were once part of the British Empire.  Does that mean that they are more similar to the US than Japan is?  I do not think so.  Japan is closer to (though certainly different from) American social values than Pakistan and Sudan are.

[barfbag]

Antarctica.

Antarctica has American scientific bases tho'...

The weather is much different there though. In that case, another very different country would be Uzbekistan.

[Blue3]

I do not understand the logic that colonization by a Western European country automatically makes a country more like the US than a country that never was.  Pakistan and Sudan were once part of the British Empire.  Does that mean that they are more similar to the US than Japan is?  I do not think so.  Japan is closer to (though certainly different from) American social values than Pakistan and Sudan are.

Japan and Germany were basically unofficially colonies for a while after World War II, and both have been in significant contact and cultural exchange with us ever since...



But my point is... I'm not saying Pakistan and Sudan are more similar to the US than Japan was because they were colonized. I'm just saying that makes them unlikely to be the MOST "Un-American" place in the world.

And I did mention the Muslim world (along with Russia's sphere of influence and China's sphere of influence) as the least-American broader cultural regions that immediately come to mind. I was then trying to see where those 3 cultures meet, to see if such a place would then be the least-American country/region in the world. And that's how I came up with proposing Central Asia.

[Franknburger]

I don't think a country being diverse would necessarily make it too similar, and prevent it from being  very different from the USA. Both Papua New Guinea and India are very diverse... but they're even more diverse than America is, and the diverse cultures in those countries are extremely different from the main cultures in the USA.

When putting down my full post, I already realised that I had not fully thought through the diversity point. Essentially, diversity has a number of socio-cultural implications. Federalist and autonomist tendencies are one of them. But diversity also works on values & behaviour, in quite different ways that may range from accepting (maybe even expecting) other people being different from you in attitudes and behaviour, towards formal and informal mechanisms of segregation, up to open racism. 
As such, I agree that while diversity favours certain patterns that are found in America, it does not necessarily have to make a country similar to the US. This applies especially to countries in which a good part of the diversity exists in isolation from each other (e.g. Papua New Guinea).
Having said that, a quite typical feature of diversity is that it promotes ethnically / religiously segregated housing, which you find across the US as well as in, e.g., most West African countries, or in Irak.

Also, is the Francophone world really that different from the Anglophone world?

All non-Anglophone countries (unless there is a sizeable number of US troops or tourists there)  are certainly less exposed to American media and culture than Anglophone ones, which makes them more likely of being "non-American".
Also, my experience as someone who is using both English and French as foreign languages is that English communication is quite straight-forward and business oriented, while French tends to be more polite and subtle. In general, language determines your expression, thus strongly influencing your way of thinking, and shaping the culture.

As for the Germans in Kyrgyzstan, they make up less than 0.3% of the population.

Today, yes, since most of them have re-migrated to Germany. However, in the 1970 USSR census, their share was still 3%.

[opebo]

The 'Anti-America', which discontented Americans dream about when they sleep at night.