{"id":3560,"date":"2025-07-03T22:35:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T02:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=3560"},"modified":"2025-07-03T22:42:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T02:42:46","slug":"combating-american-isolationism-with-cultural-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2025\/07\/combating-american-isolationism-with-cultural-diplomacy.html","title":{"rendered":"Combating American Isolationism with Cultural Diplomacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My unforgettable experience touring South Africa with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and their conductor Kenneth Kiesler is the topic of my most <\/em>recent NPR feature<\/a> <\/strong>and also of three previous blogs<\/strong> in this space. (Above: Karen Slack singing “My Man’s Gone Now” in Cape Town, photographed by Patrick Morgan.) Today, \u201cThe American Scholar\u201d publishes <\/em>my further reflections online<\/a>. I write in part:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cultural exchange was once a high-profile foreign policy priority for occupants of the White House. A pivotal instance was the 1959 visit to Soviet Russia of Leonard Bernstein and his New York Philharmonic. Bernstein brought Ives and Copland to the USSR, but also performed Shostakovich\u2019s Fifth Symphony. His interpretation\u2014with a sped-up ending\u2014was embraced by Shostakovich himself. This startling exercise in mutual understanding was not so different from the University of Michigan musicians setting down their instruments and singing the beloved Xhosa hymn \u201cBawo, Thixo Somandla.\u201d But MAGA signifies a new isolationism\u2014a go-it-alone toughness. The cancelation of the Voice of America, of Fulbright scholarships, of USAID are all part of this picture. And so is the new hostility to hosting Chinese students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My own experience of Chinese students is meager but unforgettable. One was hearing and meeting a 20-year-old Chinese pianist: Yifan Wu. His favorite composers are Robert Schumann and Paul Hindemith\u2014a singular pairing. For his all-Schumann recital in New York City, he brought (from China) his own piano bench (he sits low). He improvised between pieces. His interpretation of Schumann\u2019s\u00a0Kreisleriana<\/em>\u00a0was the most compelling I have ever heard. In conversation, he is voluble and cosmopolitan. The kicker is that to date Yifan Wu is wholly trained in China, by Chinese teachers. Then there was the pair of Chinese students my wife and I encountered at a neighborhood restaurant. We were astonished by their poise and maturity\u2014and the alacrity with which they spoke critically (and not) about conditions in China.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“China, right now, is exercising immense influence in South Africa. To keep young Chinese out of the United States, or to discourage study in China, makes so little sense that retaining soft diplomacy,\u00a0sans<\/em>\u00a0governmental support, becomes a patriotic initiative. It also sustains the arts in a world at risk. And\u2014a related goal\u2014it sustains basic American ideals of individual freedom. . . .”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juxtaposing “the gaudy AI imagery of dueling elephants and murderous crocodiles that I encounter on my YouTube feed” with the same animals we glimpsed coexisting in real life in the Pilanesburg\u00a0National Park, I\u00a0conclude:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Doubtless the University of Michigan tour was conceived as a showcase for its exceptional orchestra, abroad and at Carnegie Hall. Its higher purpose, deserving even greater applause, was to combat metastasizing American isolationism\u2014and, commensurately, the growing insularity of young Americans entrapped by circumstances and technologies now being inflicted upon them. “Doubtless the University of Michigan tour was conceived as a showcase for its exceptional orchestra, abroad and at Carnegie Hall. Its higher purpose, deserving even greater applause, was to combat metastasizing American isolationism\u2014and, commensurately, the growing insularity of young Americans entrapped by circumstances and technologies now being inflicted upon them.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Our sunset safari at the Pilanesburg National Park, as captured by Patrick Morgan <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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My unforgettable experience touring South Africa with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and their conductor Kenneth Kiesler is the topic of my most recent NPR feature and also of three previous blogs in this space. (Above: Karen Slack singing “My Man’s Gone Now” in Cape Town, photographed by Patrick Morgan.) Today, \u201cThe American Scholar\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-Vq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3560"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3572,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3560\/revisions\/3572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}