Benin

Greetings

Men greeting Men – A hand shake is used as a greeting between men.

Women greeting Women – For women, either a hand shake or kiss on the cheek is acceptable.

Greetings between Men & Women- A formal verbal greeting or a handshake with the right hand is the most common form of greeting for formal and business situations.

Note: There are over fifty different linguistic groups and almost as many ethnicities in Benin. Greetings may differ greatly between them, especially in tribal and rural areas.

Communication Style

• Communication tends to very direct; there are not many taboos when it comes to speaking your mind.

Personal Space & Touch

• Personal space is generally kept at about arm’s distance, but is often closer between good friends and family.
• People are generally free in their movements; when laughing, making a point or simply discussing, touching is acceptable.

• In a professional setting, one generally abstains from touching.

Eye Contact

• In big cities, direct eye contact is important when meeting and discussing with people.
• In smaller, more rural settings, it is still polite to lower one’s head when speaking with an elder. It is generally a rule of politeness to follow the elders lead in greeting and conversation.

Gestures

• Closing your fingers together with your thumb with your fingers tips upwards means, “want to eat?” or “are you hungry?”
• Wagging an index finger at someone means “be careful” or “attention.” This is called indexing someone.
• As a result of western television series, many gestures, such as thumbs up and high fives and hand-grasp-snap-back-slaps are also common.

Views of Time

• It is polite to arrive on time for business meetings and appointments, however, more often than not, everyone is running late.
• In general, when inviting people over for dinner, expect them an hour after the appointed time.

Gender Roles

• Women are generally found at home, caring for the house, children, cooking and husband. Often times this is because there is still a high illiteracy rate amongst women.
• If a woman is well educated, it is not uncommon to see her working in diverse fields, such as government and commerce.

Taboos

• It is rude to be excessively drunk.

Law & Order

• There is no drinking age and it is generally easy to buy alcohol at any age. For example, often times parents will give their children money and have them run out to buy some beer or alcohol to have at the house.
• People smoke, however, one would generally not smoke in front of parents or people on whom one wants to make a good impression.
• Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines.

In the Classroom

• Most schools starts in September or October and continues through June. There are two weeks off for Christmas, one week in February, and two weeks vacation for Easter.

• At university, there is no specific dress code and most anything goes. In high school, uniforms are generally khaki colored and consist of shirts and shorts or pants.

• At university, grades are based on a scale from 0-20, as in the French system.

• Grading is often very difficult and one must really work for a good grade.

• Lecture style classes are the most common form of teaching, with students copying and memorizing what the professor says.

Other Observations

• Benin gained it’s independence from France in 1960 and after ethnic strife and a military coup, from 1972 to 1991, was a communist country. It is now considered a model democracy from other African nations.
• French is widely spoken in Benin, however, the lingua franca is Fon.
• The name of the largest city Contonue, comes from the Fon phrase meaning, “lake of the dead,” which refers to the adjacent lagoon and the belief that falling stars represent the souls of those who have just died, falling to the underworld. When Cotonou was founded, the city lights reflecting on the water suggested the fallen stars at the bottom.