The story circle activity of this week helped me see various applications of our studies and how they can influence our lived experiences. It also served to associate a more concrete idea of what it means to communicate with others across the globe, as it provided faces and names for these individuals who are focusing on the same subjects as we are, from their own perspectives. I was excited to hear their stories and hoped that my own could be of interest to others as well.
Despite the excitement for this session, I could definitely sense some hesitancy across the group. During introductions, it seemed like a daunting task to try to pronounce the name of a student from the other university program. Personally, I worried that in an environment where cultural competency is so valued, that a mispronunciation could be received as a sign of some sort of lack in my cultural understanding or exposure to various names and languages. However, I know that I wouldn’t have minded if someone had said my name differently than I do, because I know that we are all so conditioned to speak in the ways that our native languages have shaped our pronunciations. Instances like this make me realize how I may need to reconceptualize my perception of a situation, and in this case that likely would have helped me worry less.
Once we were in breakout rooms, there were definitely times of awkward silence. It can feel very vulnerable to share a personal story, especially with strangers and when speaking on a topic as complex as culture. It seemed that we were unsure of how the other students would react to our behaviors, and so there was a degree of uncertainty in how to act. I think that subconsciously, we were weighing our knowledge of different cultural values and trying to decide how to behave in order to not upset another student’s normal behaviors. As outlined in the GLOBE project reading, cultures can differ in factors such as assertiveness and collectivism, and so there was likely some fear that being too much or not enough of one of these factors could lead to leaving a negative impression on the students of another culture. However, everyone in my group did share something. I was surprised at the vast spectrum of types and amount of intercultural experiences that different individuals had. In my group this ranged from no experience to experiences moving across the globe and living with families of different cultures.
The story I shared was regarding my experiences with my host family in Spain: how they challenged my ideas of what culture is and how I felt pressure to be a model of what Americans are like. I mentioned how I initially had trouble describing what ‘American life’ was like, since to me it was just ‘life’. I realized, as I was telling this story, that it would likely be understood differently by the American students than it would be by the Egyptian students, due to the differences in their proximity to ‘American culture’. When one is outside of a culture, it can sometimes feel simpler to identify things that are different from one’s own experiences and label them as belonging to that culture, while when you are looking at your own life it can be challenging to determine what the cultural source of each experience is. Nevertheless, I hoped that my story was relatable in the sense that most individuals will consider at some point what the relationship between themselves and others is in terms of culture.
I was surprised to hear that one student considered themselves as having no intercultural experiences. Although different countries do have different demographics levels, I would have thought that at a university level there would be a number of individuals from different countries or even different cultural groups within the same country. Now, I wonder if this was an instance of linguistic relativity: if this student has a different personal definition of what qualifies as a “different culture.” To me, there are different cultures everywhere, based on geography, language, religion, personal values, and so many more dynamic factors. Maybe, for this student, the definition of a different culture is limited to people from faraway places. I cannot speak to their mindset in considering this question, but I would find it interesting to know more about the people they regularly interact with and how they have decided to characterize them as all belonging to the same culture.
I gained a lot from this experience. Based on what I learned, I now know that in future experiences of intercultural communication I will try to let fear and discomfort affect me less, and actively be welcoming others to do the same. I hope that I will have the chance to engage in dialogues such as this again.
