The world of today is becoming highly diversified, mainly because of globalization. There is a growing need for understanding different cultures as a step towards cultural integration. The existence of diverse cultures in society poses a range of significant challenges such as communication, prejudice, conflicting interests and more. In the United States and some parts of the world, several societal issues exist, such as discrimination and its implications others to lack of knowledge of others, especially foreign cultures. Many programs designed to learn about other cultures have been proposed. One such program is cross-cultural conversations. It is structured to help people develop cultural understanding by connecting people of various ethnic backgrounds through productive conversations. With the incorporation of the cross-cultural conversation initiative for this learning activity, I gained significant insight into the culture of Arabs in the country.
Following the attention Arab ethnicity has been receiving in the media all across the country in recent years, and how they are associated with terrorism, the subject for the learning exercise was an Arab. The purpose of involving an Arab of Islamic descent was to understand the identity and their way of life. Before the interview, because of the purpose and nature of the activity, I had to identify a student of Arab background in the school and plan the interview process. Having done that, a structured interview that intended to capture how the interviewee identified themselves and their experiences with their culture was used.
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The interviewee identified himself as an Arab. He further clarified that Arab is both a cultural and linguistic term. As such, it can be used to refer to those who speak Arabic as a first language or a people belonging to a certain ethnic group. Although the conversation partner is a citizen of the United States by birth, his parents are immigrants from Lebanon who relocated to the country for professional reasons. On how he landed at Biola University, he notes that it was the wish of his parents for him to attend school close to where they stay. The most important value his parents instilled in him is moral and religious values diverse which primarily center on integrity, honesty, respect, and more. Family traits the interviewee intended to pass down to his families include observing restrictions of God, abiding by the ethics of Islam, practicing mutual respect, and responsibility. For the interviewee, God is at the heart of every family and shapes the relationship between family members. Owing to his personal experiences like instances of prejudice, the interviewee values racial reconciliation and integration.
From the interview, several interesting aspects of Arab culture transpired. One, although a majority of Arabs are Muslims, a significant portion of the ethnicity identify as Christian or Jews – both in America and the rest of the world. This piece of information rejects the notion that all Arabs are of Islam religion. Two, contrary to what many believe, Arab is not a race but, as pointed out earlier, a term used to refer to culture. Three, honor and family are very important among Arabs. They take honor and respect seriously – you should never insult or mock at an Arab especially where the elderly are concerned. Unlike most ethnicities, Arabs have a strong focus on family units. The head of the family – the patriarch – is considered the most powerful member of an Arab family. The nuances help identify and describe Arabs more accurately as opposed to misconceptions about the culture all over the media.
In American political landscape, there is an intensifying emotional response to the idea that Arabs are naturally terrorists. Because of their culture and history, Arab Americans and treated as terrorists in most parts of the United States. Although not an aspect of the culture, this is a puzzling effect of belonging to the Arabic decent even when a person is a full citizen of the United States. There is a sub-culture within the Arab culture ingrained in harmful Islamic beliefs devoted to destroying the world. According to the interviewee, the views and actions of the Jihadists, a group of extremist Muslims in Arab countries make the rest of the ethnicity all around the world pay the price of terrorism. It is something that can end through successful cultural reconciliation.
The experience was a learning process not only about Arabs as another culture but also about myself concerning other cultures. I am an Asian American with a family background in Hong Kong. Being a minority and to some extent, a “foreigner” I can relate to the conversation partner’s experiences especially on the issue of prejudice. However, I have learned that we suffer inequality because of our cultural diversity at varying levels of severity. Additionally, I realized that my experiences have profoundly humbled me and also made me a generally right person regardless. My culture is distinct from others, and it is for this reason I have learned that my experiences differ, I behave uniquely, I talk differently, and I interact in a way that is not apparent in other social groups.
Cross-cultural conversations facilitate the understanding of other cultures. That being the case, there are numerous benefits realized from the approach, especially for a society that is excessively diversified, such as the United States. First, it fosters positive relationships between different cultures. For example, having gained perspective on Arab culture from the conversation, I now understand Arabs are not bad people as everyone thinks of them. With such knowledge, I can effectively make lasting friendships with people from the culture. This is something I would like to see people embrace – establishing healthy relationships from people of different cultural backgrounds through cross-cultural conversations. Secondly, through cross-cultural conversations, many people have overcome the issue of cultural barriers. Communication is a common barrier experienced in school and organizational settings today. Challenges stemming especially from non-verbal communication limit success of organizations with a diverse workforce or even learning institutions with learners from several cultures. Something I would like to see continues is knowing communication differences across cultures to increase chances of success by eliminating barriers through open conversations.
A cross-cultural conversation is an instrumental approach to managing problems arising from the existence of a diverse range of cultures. The United States is an excellent example of how having many cultures within a boundary can be devastating. The way we make assumptions, behave, make decisions, and establish relationships is primarily influenced by our cultural upbringing. However, the interaction proved that given a chance to communicate with one another, we learn. Cross-cultural conversations, as the analysis demonstrates, provides us with that chance to learn and overcome the challenges associated with cultural differences. Therefore, recommendations for productive conversations would include keeping an open mind, active listening, maintaining personal touch, and paying attention to nonverbal communication.
