The Living Stone Coconut Model is a ‘tool kit’, a hands-on model borrowed from Mother Nature as the practical visualisation of the make-up of the cultures of the world. It is widely recognised that cultures are multilayered with visible and hidden aspects. The Coconut Model untangles every aspect of life/culture in 5 layers from complex and hidden to more easy to grasp. The circular shape aims to draw attention to the nucleus. However the coconut represents also ‘wholeness’, everything is linked to everything else.
Why the coconut? Its exotic nature and its durable qualities make it the best visual candidate for our training model. The COCONUT TREE (Cocos nucifera) is the graceful palm of tropic shores, and perhaps the most useful to human kind. Did you know the palm is used for drinks, wine, charcoal, walking sticks, thatch, mats, ropes, brooms, brushes, hair oil, fish poison antidote, cosmetics...
- Layer 5 the coconut skin, or outer appearances and visual reality
The outermost layer is concerned with outer appearances and the visual reality of a culture. Similarities and differences can be seen at a glance:
o People’s physical characteristics (ethnicity, physical build, etc.)
o People’s behaviour patterns (social conventions, greetings, etiquette, etc.)
o Material achievements (architecture, gastronomy, products, art, etc.)
o Means of expression (language, symbols, etc.)
o Rituals (birth, marriage, etc.)
- Layer 4 the pith of the coconut, systems and institutions or organisation of life and work
It is quite easy to get through the skin to the layer of systems and institutions. This is the layer where relationships are formalised and given form on the basis of conventions, beliefs and attitudes. Organizational forms develop:
o At a personal level (family)
o In business and organizations
o At the level of society (e.g. government)
- Layer 3 the shell of the coconut, a symbolic dividing line
The strong brown coconut is a symbolic layer. It indicates the division between the ‘visible’ and the ‘hidden’ aspects of culture. This is a harder nut to crack. We can also see culture as an iceberg, where only the summit is visible above water. The most meaningful part of culture is hidden beneath the surface. These invisible values and traditions are the force behind perceivable behaviour patterns.
- Layer 1 the coconut water or universal patterns
At the basis of universal patterns lie the concepts of world, time and nature. Universal patterns are defined by various dimensions: collectivism versus individualism, hierarchical versus equal, high versus low uncertainty avoidance ... A particular culture will have a dominant orientation in each dimension: more emotional or more neutral... Over time these preferences will shape a culture's basic assumptions ; that is how cultural patterns develop and are sustained. Most people of a culture will select the preferences taught by that culture but some will choose alternatives. The patterns of a culture shape, but do not determine the mental programming of its members. Also basic assumptions are often difficult for others to recognize ; people feel that rules they are used to, do not apply in another culture.