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The Global Studies Journal

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VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2

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Global Citizens, Cross-Cultural Exchange and Individual Agency BORISLAVA MANOJLOVIC

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http://onglobalisation.com/ First published in 2013 in Champaign, Illinois, USA by Common Ground Publishing University of Illinois Research Park 2001 South First St, Suite 202 Champaign, IL 61820 USA www.CommonGroundPublishing.com ISSN: 1835-4432 © 2013 (individual papers), the author(s) © 2013 (selection and editorial matter) Common Ground All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the applicable copyright legislation, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact <[email protected]>. The Global Studies Journal is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Typeset in CGScholar. http://www.commongroundpublishing.com/software/

Global Citizens, Cross-Cultural Exchange and Individual Agency

Borislava Manojlovic, George Mason University, VA, USA

Abstract: Humans communicate to bring forth meanings that they want to share with others; they crave communication and interaction, which makes them the social beings that they are. However, this interaction does not occur in a void but is rather actualized around salient themes. This article focuses on what happens when humans find themselves in contexts where their socio-cultural code do not apply and their models of communication and agency need to adapt. It observes that participating subjects strengthen their capacity to produce and share meaning across cultural divides by clustering around salient themes. Based on the analysis of the respond- ents’ narratives, this study uncovers the relevant skills and attitudes that make it possible for individuals to be actively involved in research in culturally diverse contexts as well as some of the major challenges that they need to overcome.

Keywords: Cross-Cultural Exchange, Cultural Models, Global Citizenship, Individual Agency

INTRODUCTION

A daptation is becoming prevalent in the age of globalization as the world interlinks through multiple and dynamical networks, migration and global movements. The rise of Occupy and anti-globalization movements that are championing their causes and attracting support across the globe regardless of diverse cultural and political contexts is just one example of this phenomenon. Although there is a continuous tension that

globalization itself has generated between local and global levels, inability to adapt to the global change is simply not an easy option at this time and age. Because the inability to move forward usually means not only stagnation, but also moving backward, non-adaptation must take the form of an intentional resistance (Hoffman & Casnocha, 2012). Being a citizen in a certain town or a country is not only a matter of that particular locale, its values and norms, but it has to be “reconceptualized based on new global events” (Andrzejewski, 1996). Global citizenship implies understanding and respect for fellow human beings regardless of their na- tionality, race, gender, or age. Being a global citizen comes with certain challenges that will be examined in this article by focusing on cross-cultural exchange of students/researchers from the US and the countries of former Yugoslavia.

The goal is to find out how students/researchers navigate the value-belief and cultural nuances in diverse settings and what challenges they come across as global citizens in a dynamic and interconnected world. According to Noddings (2005), a global citizen is someone who can work successfully anywhere in the world, supported by a global way of life. This process creates new forms of cultural, national, and global identifications, values and beliefs that are the focus of this article. Therefore, this article is an attempt to contribute to the debate of how people, texts, identities and cultural models move and become combined in a global world and what happens when they hook up with other contexts and networks.

Stephens, Markus and Townsend (2007) posit that individuals’ choice of cultural models of agency is determined by social class. They frame their study around two major cultural models

of agency in the US, comparing cultural models of students belonging to lower social strata to those that are more affluent. Independent model of agency emphasizes importance of individual’s independent actions from others as well as independent interpretations of those actions. Inde- pendence is a feature of culture that promotes independent norms, behavior and expectations. On the other hand, interdependent cultural model stresses the importance of individual actions that are interdependent and intertwined with the actions of other members of a particular community. In interdependent model, the emphasis is on social and communal ties. Their ex- planation goes as far as claiming that the US universities represent major hubs that promote the independent model of agency, which puts the students from the lower social strata in a more disadvantaged position, since it is the more affluent that usually find it easier to align their values and attitudes with the independent cultural model.

This article attempts to go beyond Stephens et al. claims in an effort to examine other factors that may affect people’s cultural models, particularly when they find themselves in culturally diverse environments. It does not seek to test a hypothesis based on a particular set of variables, but it rather focuses on an in-depth understanding of people’s experiences and practices by examining their own perspectives, narratives and views related to the global phenomena of re- search, interaction and cultural exchange in diverse cultural contexts. The data analysis will, therefore, draw on constructivist theory (Flick, 2009) contending that theoretical formulations should follow a careful analysis of people’s experiences historically understood. Constructivism implies an important point of departure for this research emphasizing views and perspectives, which are socially conditioned and therefore susceptible to change.

Procedure

After explaining the nature, ethical aspects of research and what the interview entails, the author asked the participants several open-ended questions intended to elicit narratives and perspective related to the research question of how changing places, interaction, research and learning in diverse environments affect participants’ cultural models. Specifically, the participants were asked to expound on how they accommodated to and managed cultural diversity, what were the challenges, and how exposure to diverse cultural settings affected their subsequent agency in the communities of their origin. The respondents were chosen using snowballing technique in the pool of students/researchers from the Balkans and the US whose work has been connected to the field of conflict analysis and resolution. Five participants were from the Balkans region and five were from the US. Each interview was audio-taped, conducted in English and transcribed verbatim. The author of this article conducted six interviews via Skype and four were conducted in person. After eliciting comprehensive narratives from the ten participants, the author con- ducted thematic discourse analysis (Burman & Parker, 1993; Singer & Hunter, 1999) of inter- view transcripts and extracted significant themes organizing them into clusters (Smith et al., 1995). To increase the reliability of coding procedure and corroborate the saliency of themes, two colleagues were also asked to code the transcripts.

Analysis

The transcripts were read and re-read and five major themes emerged: 1) unpreparedness; 2) gender sensitivity; 3) change and adaptability; 4) individual versus communal culture; and 5) dissonance between actual and expected. Interestingly, these five themes that emerged from respondents’ narratives did not only function as the building blocks that structured respondents’ experience abroad, but they also seemed important for the construction of the their identity. It might be argued that the experience of cultural displacement heightened the need for attending to such salient themes.

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Unpreparedness

The majority of the participants emphasized their unpreparedness, lack of cultural training and exposure prior to coming to different contexts; they also stressed the difficulties of learning from scratch on the ground. Lack of previous training made some of the participants uncom- fortable and conscious of being outsiders. As one of the participants pointed out: “It was like sending someone into another culture and seeing what happens. I was aware of the main faux pas, but I still stuck out as I was so obviously unfamiliar with the culture.” The theme of un- preparedness is related to the wider discourses of estrangement and isolation of a modern globetrotter in new cultural contexts unable to either grasp or adapt to certain norms. However, it is not the unwillingness that prevents them to adapt but rather ignorance of how-to-strategies that stand in the way of change and adaptation. As one of the interviewees recounted: “I try to adapt to whatever the cultural norms are, rather than saying this is the way I do things because I am an American. But this is often not enough.”

An interesting storyline about the importance and politicization of language was traced in the narratives of the US respondents. For the US respondents, language represented a challenge particularly in the rural areas of their host country, as the people in urban areas mostly spoke English. Local language proficiency is extremely relevant in peace camps and non-violent communication training, and the participants see it as crucial in doing the conflict resolution work. Politicization of language is yet another challenge faced by the researchers and it refers to the use of different accents or dialects that can be seen as hostile to particular groups and identities of the host country. According to one of the participants: “I became acutely aware that saying milk or bread in a different dialect can get you some terrible glares, so I tried to learn those language differences first.” The language as such did not feature as an important topic in the responses of the students/researchers from the Balkans as they used English in their countries of origin and did not come across any difficulties in communicating while in the US.

Gender Sensitivity

The theme of gender sensitivity mostly emerged and remained salient in the narratives of the US students/researchers. One of the participants reflected on her experience in Bosnia where her fiancé and she were working with orphaned children: “I sat down on the ground with nurses and kids, but when my fiancé came in the room and wanted to sit on the ground, they gave him a chair and said that he should sit on a chair being a man.” Majority of US respondents also noted that being forthcoming and independent often clashed with local norms of behavior. In the Balkans, there is a specific role for women as caretakers and stay-at-home creators of the family. The role of women as mothers and wives is prevalent in the Balkans, while men are considered the protectors of the family and breadwinners. According to another US participant: “The father of the family was shocked to learn that I was living by myself in college and that I went home once every few months…When I came in their house, took off my shoes and started walking without socks on their tile floor, the grandmother freaked out and begged me to put on the socks, telling me that I would never have children unless I do so”. Being know- ledgeable about gender nuances can have a significant impact not only on the way we interact with the new culture, but it can importantly determine the efficacy of our work in a certain context.

Individual versus Communal Culture

The theme of individual versus communal culture emerged in the narratives of the majority of participants, both from the US and the Balkans. Both groups of respondents mostly point to the superficiality of relationships among friends in the US, while the connections with family members are not as deep as those in the Balkans. One of the respondents explained: “I think

MANOJLOVIC: GLOBAL CITIZENS, CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND INDIVIDUAL AGENCY

that people in the US are very loose in terms how they use the term friend; friends that really take care of each other, as a support system and community, are not as common. If I were in a dire situation, I wonder how many friends would be there for me.” Another participant added: “When I am in Bosnia, I have a feeling that that there is a constant community and care around. It feels more welcoming and much more of a community.” The attitude “this is not my business” is ingrained in the individualist cultural model, which often clashes with a more communally interdependent models of Yugoslavia’s former territories.

The theme of individualistic versus communal culture is often related to the discourse of caring and belonging to the family. According to one of the US participants: “While it is very easy for children in the US to leave and look for a job or go to college when they are eighteen, in Bosnia, the youths feel that they need to be around and take care of their families.” The discourse of caring for the family is closely related not only to the communal, interdependent cultural model, but also to the respondents’ respective religious and ethnic identities. The reli- gious and ethnic identities are often viewed as a key “form of social and discursive existence” (Butler 1997: 26) by the respondents from the Balkans. On the other hand, the US participants acknowledge that the connection between ethnic, religious and family identity maybe somewhat diluted for them because their society is perceived as being a melting pot.

The participants coming from the former Yugoslavia reflected on differences in cultural models by pointing to the anecdotal instances of cultural interaction. One of the respondents commented: “Complete strangers smile at you when you are in the street and I was wondering what they really want. Small things like sneezing are almost a ritual in the US. If you sneeze in Croatia, you just sneeze, and here you have to turn away and say excuse me. People are more polite here. In our culture, when you are too polite, you are considered a phony.” The theme of individual versus communal is not as clearly delineated as in the responses of their US counterparts, which points to their ambiguous relationship towards the cultural coda they en- countered in the US. As one of the participants from former Yugoslavia explained: “I think that Americans are encouraged to be individual and make individual choices, but on the other hand, they have a strong sense of community, which is similar to my country. Volunteering is very developed as well as handing out to other members of community. In the US, there is a combination of things.” The US respondents have also noted certain similarities between cultures: “Culturally, Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia, are all very hospitable, which resonates with my own background as I was raised in a Southern family and the hospitality was part of my upbringing and was very important to me.” Different cultural models of modern globetrotters can be a challenge, which is particularly evident in the initial cultural encounters. Most of the participants in this study have dealt with such challenges by attributing them anecdotal and local character that constitutes the richness of a particular culture.

Dissonance between Actual and Expected

Most of the respondents point out that the difference between reading about a case in the liter- ature, and actually visiting and doing research in a particular place was monumental. As one of the participants emphasized: “In the US, you can only hear the narratives people want you to hear. Hearing the narratives of different people on the ground was one of the greatest exper- iences. The most striking thing was the difference between what I was expecting and what I saw, especially with youth.” Many participants from the US noted that they were expecting people’s narratives to be very polar and diverse in post-conflict contexts, but what they en- countered, especially with the youth, was that their narratives actually complemented each other and were very similar. According to one of the US respondents: “When crossing from Banja Luka to Sanski Most, I was expecting huge differences, but that was not the case. I did a peace camp with Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, and it was fascinating how they all agreed with each other.” Some of the major challenges and obstacles in adapting to a new

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context have not only been researchers’ own stereotypes and generalizations about the host country and its people, but also lack of awareness about the perceptions that the local population had about a researcher who was coming from a particular culture. For example, the American respondents pointed out that being an American often made their interlocutors on-guard and difficult to open up. Even though they tried to separate their identity of being an American from being a researcher, the people responded with an increased awareness gauging their re- sponses in distrust.

Change and Adaptability

The theme of change and adaptability features in narratives of respondents from both groups. Learning about the case and the region’s history in a contemplative, anthropological and soci- ological manner is recognized as crucial in connecting the researcher to the context and culture. Many respondents mention standing at odds with cultural nuances they encountered, but also simultaneously showing incredible adaptability and willingness to change. Majority of the participants indicate change in their perceptions and behavior upon return to their countries of origin. One of the respondents pointed out: “In our education system, we are thought that there is a winner and a looser. When I went to the region, I realized that there are no winners; everybody lost something substantial in the war whether it is identity, physical property, lives… Nobody came out on the top. Bosnia is now cut in half. When I came back to the US, I was so ashamed of myself because I did not let the people tell me their story. Without thinking about it, I have silenced a group of people because I made up my mind about them beforehand.” Open mind and attentiveness to cultural nuances is key in becoming a global citizen, and it has a particular value in conducting research overseas in conflict-stricken regions.

Conclusion

Five major overall themes were identified from the data including responses of students/research- ers from both the US and the former Yugoslavia. The analysis of the interview transcripts tackled some of the relevant skills and attitudes that made it possible for individuals to be actively involved in research in culturally diverse and dynamical contexts. Some of the major challenges discussed by the respondents are unpreparedness, insufficient language proficiency, and the lack of cultural training and exposure before coming to different cultural contexts. Education and training related to issues of global citizenship with emphasis on emerging global trends, skills and challenges could therefore be seen as key for the development of understanding ne- cessary not only for researchers, but also any individual engaging in intercultural exchange. Both groups of respondents mostly point to the stronger interpersonal and family connections in the cultures characterized as communal or interdependent. However, this should not neces- sarily represent an insurmountable obstacle for the new-comers who need to recognize adapt- ability, open-mindedness, attentiveness to cultural nuances and ability to navigate multiple identities as crucial skills for doing work in diverse cultural contexts. They represent a possible response to the question of how we can prepare to tackle the challenges of globalization and what skills are necessary to live effectively in the world that is becoming more dynamic as we speak. As John Dewey (1916) posits, education for global citizenship should be grounded in the personal experiences of the individuals, and therefore, this article can be seen as a contribu- tion in the direction of systematization of knowledge about the main challenges, best practices and skills that individuals working and researching in an increasingly complex and interconnected world need to be aware of.

MANOJLOVIC: GLOBAL CITIZENS, CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND INDIVIDUAL AGENCY

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Borislava Manojlovic: Borislava Manojlovic is a PhD Candidate, Research Associate and Drucie French Cumbie Fellow at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University. Her research focuses on cultural diversity, history education, memory and reconcili- ation. As a conflict resolution practitioner, she has worked for seven years with the UN and the OSCE missions in Croatia and Kosovo.

THE GLOBAL STUDIES JOURNAL

The Global Studies Journal is devoted to mapping and interpreting new trends and patterns in globalization. This journal attempts to do this from many points of view, from many locations in the world, and in a wide-angle kaleidoscopic fashion.

Intellectually, the journal takes three steps: the first is a “this-worldly” step, mapping the details and extrapolating to big picture analyses in order to interpret what is at times challenging, dangerous and excitingly positive about the “New Globalization”. The second step is to set this New Globalization in the context of earlier globalizations – what are the continuities, and what is genuinely new? The third step is to re-examine and redefine the very concept of globalization – in theoretical, anthropological and philosophical terms. The journal works between fastidiously empirical and profoundly generalizing modes of engagement, analyzing one of the central phenomena of our contemporary existence.

The Global Studies Journal is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal.

ISSN 1835-4432

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