Cultural attaché - Wikipedia

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A cultural attaché is a diplomat with varying responsibilities, depending on the sending state of the attaché. Historically, such posts were filled by writers and artists, giving them a steady income, and allowing them to develop their own creative work while promoting their country's culture abroad. However, many countries’ cultural attachés serve a different purpose.

Purposes

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Gulf countries

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The purpose of the Gulf countries’ cultural attachés is to preside over the post-secondary education of their nationals, especially those who are state-sponsored to study abroad or those in educational programs created by the state. As such, these cultural attachés work under their countries’ equivalent to a ministry of education rather than a ministry of culture or a ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[1]^[2]^[3] In other words, where an ambassador is the head of mission sent by the ministry of foreign affairs to serve the relations between the host country and the sending country, a cultural attaché in the Gulf is the head of mission sent by the ministry of education to oversee the education of the nationals of the sending country in the host country. This head-of-mission-status gives the Gulf states' cultural attachés high-ranking diplomatic status as opposed to other countries in which the role of cultural attachés is not as important nor vital.

For instance, the Saudi Arabian cultural attaché could be sent by the Ministry of Education to supervise and manage medical training programs that train Saudi Arabian medical students in universities and hospitals abroad (as well as performing the aforementioned responsibilities of overseeing other state-sponsored students and programs).^[1]

United States

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American cultural attachés have historically been known to be spies posing as diplomats.^[4]^[5]^[6] While this tactic was used primarily during the Cold War against Eastern European states allied with the Soviet Union, the United States has sent spies posing as diplomats to Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa.^[6] This is a highly effective intelligence tactic because cultural attachés have a very broad purpose and are covered by diplomatic immunity, protected by international law should they be accused of espionage.

References

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^ ^a ^b "The Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau (SACB) in Canada". Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau in Canada. Archived from the original on 2015-06-22. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
^ "Kuwait Cultural Office Canada". Archived from the original on 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
^ "United Arab Emirates Cultural Division | Cultural Division Contact Information".
^ "The Long History of Spies Posing as Diplomats Abroad". Bloomberg.com. 2018-03-26. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
^ Feuer, Alan (23 October 2007). "A Dead Spy, a Daughter's Questions and the C.I.A." The New York Times.
^ ^a ^b Mazzetti, Mark (28 November 2010). "U.S. Expands Role of Diplomats in Spying". The New York Times.

External links

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"What does a Cultural Attaché DO?" - John L. Brown, Foreign Service Journal, Vol. 41, No. 6 (June 1964)

v t e Culture
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Sciences	Cultural anthropology Cultural astronomy Cultural ecology Cultural geography Cultural neuroscience Cultural studies Culturology Culture theory
Subfields	Bioculture Cross-cultural studies Cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural leadership Cross-cultural psychiatry Cross-cultural psychology Cultural analytics Cultural economics Cultural entomology Cultural history Cultural mapping Cultural mediation Cultural psychology Cultural values Culturomics Intercultural learning Intercultural relations Internet culture Philosophy of culture Popular culture studies Postcritique Semiotics of culture Sociology of culture Sound culture Theology of culture Transcultural nursing
Types	Constructed culture Dominant culture Folk culture High culture Individualistic culture Legal culture Low culture Microculture Official culture Political culture Civic Popular culture Urban Primitive culture Resistance through culture Subculture Alternative culture Fandom Far-right subcultures Youth subculture list Super culture Vernacular culture Culture by location
Aspects	Acculturation Cultural appreciation Cultural appropriation Cultural area Cultural artifact Cultural baggage Cultural behavior Cultural bias Cultural capital Cross-cultural Cultural communication Cultural conflict Cultural cringe Cultural dissonance Cultural emphasis Cultural framework Cultural heritage Destroyed Cultural icon Cultural identity Cultural industry Cultural invention Cultural landscape Cultural learning Cultural leveling Cultural memory Cultural pluralism Cultural practice Cultural property Cultural reproduction Cultural system Cultural technology Cultural universal Cultureme Enculturation High- and low-context cultures Interculturality Manuscript culture Material culture Non-material culture Organizational culture Print culture Protoculture Relational mobility Safety culture Technoculture Trans-cultural diffusion Transculturation Visual culture
Politics	Colonial mentality Consumer capitalism Cross cultural sensitivity Cultural assimilation Cultural attaché Cultural backwardness Cultural Bolshevism Cultural conservatism Cultural contracts Cultural deprivation Cultural diplomacy Cultural environmentalism Cultural exception Cultural feminism Cultural genocide Cultural globalization Cultural hegemony Cultural imperialism Cultural intelligence Cultural liberalism Cultural nationalism Cultural pessimism Cultural policy Cultural racism Cultural radicalism Cultural retention Cultural Revolution Cultural rights Cultural safety Cultural silence Cultural subsidy Cultural Zionism Culture change Culture minister Culture of fear Culture war Deculturalization Dominator culture Interculturalism Monoculturalism Multiculturalism Biculturalism Multiracial democracy Pluriculturalism Polyculturalism Transculturism
Religions	Buddhism Christianity Catholicism Cultural Christians Protestantism Role of Christianity in civilization Eastern Orthodoxy Mormonism Cultural Hindus Islam Cultural Muslims Judaism Sikhism
Related	Animal culture Archaeological culture Bennett scale Cannabis culture Circuit of culture Civilization Coffee culture Cross-cultural Cultural center Cultural competence Cultural critic Cultural determinism Cultural diversity Cultural evolutionism Cultural homogenization Cultural institution Cultural jet lag Cultural lag Cultural literacy Cultural mosaic Cultural movement Cultural mulatto Cultural probe Cultural relativism Culture speculation Cultural tourism Pop-culture Cultural translation Cultural turn Cultural sensibility Culture and menstruation Culture and positive psychology Culture and social cognition Culture gap Culture hero Culture industry Culture shock Culturgen Children's culture Culturalism Cyberculture Death and culture Disability culture Deaf culture Drinking culture Drug culture Eastern culture Emotions and culture Intercultural communication Intercultural competence Languaculture Living things in culture Media culture Oppositional culture Participatory culture Permission culture Rape culture Remix culture Tea culture Transformation of culture Urban culture Welfare culture Western culture Youth culture
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