Paper question
Maccccc
Interculturalcomm-1.pptxIntercultural Communication:
Interacting with Strange Neighbors
Culture:
a shared pattern of beliefs, values, behaviours, and physical artifacts communicated and contested via symbols through generations of a large group of people.
Or, “works and worlds of meaning”
(Vanhoozer, 2007)
And layered like an onion (Hofstede
2001, 2005)
As Geert Hofstede pictures culture, it’s like an onion:
Values: things we cherish: North Ams value beauty, sex, information, autonomy, health, and choice among other things.
Rituals, social & ceremonial conventions: the routines of our day; the group dance that we engage.
Heroes, real & imagined: the people who represent & champion the rituals and thereby the values.
Artifacts: tangible expressions: the messages and products, that heroes promote.
More relationally, intercultural (between cultures) interaction can be understood by degree of strangeness.
Stranger: the different neighbor (Simmel)
Neighbour: the disliked enemy (Jesus)
Ourselves redeemed Parnell & Lose
Enemy, trader, or equal (Sundermeier)
Incarnational communication: setting aside, entering in, serving alongside (Kraus)
III. What barriers make intercultural communication difficult?
A. Language: 6200 languages; the effects of Babel.
B. Nonverbals: emblems especially Cultural faux pas
Ethnocentrism: the belief that our culture is the measure of what is right, normal.
Student Project on Ethnocentrism in the U.S.A.
d. Prejudice: an attitude against others, for little reason.
Stereotypes: the perception that one person represents an entire culture.
IV. Overcoming these barriers requires a change
of heart and skills.
A. So how does this translate for us?
1. Communicate with love, respect.
a. Prejudice among university students
b. 4 strategies to engage people who seem strange to us.
B. Be open to other’s culture and language.
1. Biblical values and truths may be communicated in many cultural ways.
S O U L
S O U L
“Heart”
“Kidneys”
How does one really “Love your neighbor.”
Where does one sit?
What does one wear?
How does one show grief?
C. Use their cultural forms, or structure, to tap into the “flow of truth,” or their decision-making processes.
a. In oral cultures: value elders face-to-face; E.g., stories around the fire.
i. Don’t force print or digital cultural means on oral culture people.
