I have not been shy in
stating that my experience among the world’s diverse community has been
limited. Growing up in a predominately African American society, what I learned
as effective communication has not necessarily been the most accurate. From a
broad perspective, as African Americans, we are conditioned to be respectful to
authority figures, assert our presence, and appear dominating. It has been
embedded in our culture that in
order to defeat our history of servitude and enslavement, we must showcase our
strength through communication.
As we become more
enlightened about the world, it is soon realized that the receptive nature of
that behavior may be negative, depending on the norms of the cultured that is being interacted with. For example,
in many Asian cultures, communication is more implicit and passive than the
American culture. When engaged in communication, if American’s come off as
abrasive and domineering, it can easily turn disrespectful.
The best way to handle a situation where there
will be intercultural communication is to respect the person’s race and culture. In doing so, you
should not automatically assume their responsiveness to your own communication
techniques and should be open minded and willing to understand cultural
differences in order to effectively communication better next time.
Drawing back from such a
broad scale, I find that intracultural
communication is just as complex as intercultural communication. Coming to
college was an eye opening experience. Although I attend a historically black
college, the wealth of diversity amongst the students is immense. I learned
that my sub-culture of being an
African American does not always relate to the sub-cultures of other African
Americans, which often means that a common ground must be found to understand
everyone’s point of view.
Here is a video to “Sh*t
People from DC Say” Check it out and see if you can identify with my
sub-culture and compare it to yours
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