Ana Martin
Opinions editor
Even though the past few decades have seen the different regions of the world become increasingly, irreversibly intertwined through trade and technology, it can still be easy to forget that the world is a vast and diverse place. In fact, one of the saddest stereotypes of Americans today is that they are notoriously unaware of different ways of life and global current events.
Several members of the Shorter community agree that the currently common tendency to shy away from global exploration and intercultural interaction robs many Americans of experiencing the richness of other cultures as well as the opportunity to become engaged and helpful citizens of the world.
A part of this problem of preferred isolation appears to stem from a fear of change. According to Mrs. Linda Palumbo Olsanzki, the assistant vice president of International Programs at Shorter, “especially in the South, little towns were able to survive, manage, and thrive without international interactions,” but times have changed.
“Now there is a desire to engage with the new international community, but there is an ambivalence [in] that they want to interact, but they don’t want it to affect their lives and culture,” said Palumbo.
Basically, Palumbo asserts that this mentality frequently evolves into the interactive idea that “I want you to take my culture, but I don’t want to take any of yours.”
With this being said, however, overcoming this mentality and becoming more conscious and involved in the world at large is always a process. One of the first obstacles presented is in regard to understanding the foundational elements of intercultural communication.
As junior music education major Hannah Mitchell, who has travelled throughout China and India, says, it is important to realize that “just because something is normal…in American culture does not mean that it is accepted in another culture. Like, in China, you can’t point [with your index finger]. In India you can’t shake hands with your left hand.”
Additionally, senior English major Becca Newell details how mastering intercultural communication, and
thus experiencing the world to a fuller extent, also involves obtaining a working knowledge of how other cultures perceive United States citizens.
Specifically, she recalls how when she was in Bangladesh in 2012 “they [saw] us as they see us on TV.”
“They think we are all like Friends or Gossip Girl, and they thought that all American women were easy, so we had to be very careful,” said Newell.
And while it is easy to become amused, frustrated or confused at the misconceptions other cultures hold regarding the United States, it is naïve to think that most Americans are not equally ignorant of other ways of life and global events, if not moreso.
According to Newell’s observations, many in the States “assume stereotypes and never really dig much into it. It would be really helpful if we could turn the gaze sometimes and see how they look at us.”
Furthermore, it is a common complaint that Americans, and especially American youths, are so obsessed with the newest, self-gratifying technology that they forget that the luxuries they deem so necessary are unheard of in many Majority World communities. This is why an intercultural communication class is taught during the Fall semester of every year— to equip students to counter this very problem.
This is also an especially convicting concept as the season of Thanksgiving approaches. One of the most poignant examples of how this seemingly widespread ignorance can become problematic is with regard to world poverty.
Specifically, Mitchell says that because Americans tend to seclude themselves from global situations, “we don’t understand the full extent of poverty in the rest of world. When I was in India, I went to a city slum where mothers would feed their children mud because they were screaming and in such pain from their hunger.”
Newell also comments, “I think the little things we worry about disappear when we see the real struggles happening in the world.”
However, Mitchell, Palumbo and Newell believe that solutions to this scourge of ignorance are within reach.
Mitchell comments that Americans seeking to become more engaged in both the vibrancy and needs of the world at large must “Be humble and…read about other cultures. If you are in another culture, just try to immerse yourself in it.”
Furthermore, Palumbo asserts that international interactions from a Christian perspective should be inherently different and intentional.
“The New Testament says we are not Jew or Gentile, but we are all men of God….We always need to remember that God created all cultures, countries and races. We must also fulfill the Great Commission. If that doesn’t come naturally to you, that’s something you need to work on, because that’s what God wants.”
