Ronnie's Blog Spot

Intercultural Communication

Intercultural Communication Essay


It’s obvious why this country needs to develop a greater ability to engage in intercultural communications. How else will we stop talking at each other and starting talking to each other.

I did not get to view the movie, Gung Ho, but for another look at intercultural communication based on a real story, I recommend the film, “Freedom Writers.” It is the true story of a young white woman who went to teach in an inner city, recently integrated school in Long Beach, CA. where most authorities had given up on their low achieving, gang-affiliated, and hate-filled inner city teen-agers. The kids were white, African-American, Asian-American, Hispanics – who fought each other at every turn. One Hispanic girl had been taught to stand by “her people” at all costs, even if it meant sending an innocent African American boy to jail for a murder committed by her Mexican-American friend. The movie shows how this teacher not only got her students interested in reading and learning, but taught them to respect each other for their differences and their similarities.

Their introduction to love and tolerance came after one student drew a picture of an African American classmate designed to humiliate him. She used this as a lesson to make them think about what that kind of ridicule can spur – telling them about the Jew-baiting and Jew-bashing that occurred in Nazi Germany, which eventually led to the Holocaust. The kids had never heard of the Holocaust and it made them think – and ended up serving as their first step toward intercultural understanding AND communication.

I used this movie as a point of departure because of what it says about all six imperatives for studying intercultural communications – technological, demographic, economic, peace, self-awareness and ethical. Technology allowed these inner city kids to learn about other people. They learned to respect and to appreciate their own diverse demographics – by tolerating others’ viewpoints and by employing the self-awareness imperative by becoming more attuned to their own backgrounds. The economic imperatives were touched upon when their teacher took on two part-time jobs to be able to buy books for her students and as the academic years progressed, these same students who used to engage in turf wars with each other began to live in peace. And the ethical imperative kicked in as soon as the students railed against the injustice of the Holocaust and could make the connection to their own lives.

We are no longer a melting pot – if ever we were – but a salad of different cultures, colors and ideas. We must learn how to blend the ingredients of this salad to come up with a good mix of people and ideas and not end up tossing it all away because we don’t like mushrooms (or African-Americans) or olives (or Jews). Just an example.
A key barrier to overcoming intercultural conflict is language. Even when we speak the same language, we don’t always express ourselves in the same way. Look at generational differences in speaking English for example – or different ways that Spanish speaking people will use the language to say the same thing in different words. Body language and physical space are other ways that cultural differences get in the way of understanding. For example in Asia, if one takes a business card and simply puts it in a pocket without looking at it, you have offended your counterpart. One must look at the card and examine it in a way we are not accustomed to doing in the United States to keep from (unknowingly) insulting your colleague.

As far as what is to be done by the individual to improve intercultural communications and tolerance for diversity – a first step is listening and then listening again. One could also resolve to do something different – attend an event or take part in an activity outside of one’s cultural circle on a regular basis. Take a language class. When you learn another language you also learn about that culture. Watch foreign language films – the same thing applies. The list is endless, but there’s no time to start like now. This is why I am off to see the movie, Babel, with a friend from Nicaragua, another from Trinidad, and another from right here in north-central Florida.

posted by Ronnie @ 12:19 PM