6. What does intercultural mean in simple terms?
Intercultural describes communities in which there is a
deep understanding and respect for all cultures.
Intercultural relations are relations between groups or
individuals from different cultures. These relations can
be characterized by the acknowledgment of different
world visions or by the ignorance of them.
8. QUESTION
1. How did you feel about how you behaved? Your
partner’s behaviour? The outcome?
2. What values were behind the different strategies
people used?
3. What did you learn from the activity itself and from
the “dance” strategy?
4. How can this learning be applied?
9. REMEMBER
● We tend to filter information, form assumptions based on our
own experience and values, and then act according to these
assumptions. Cultural values such as cooperation,
competition, individualism and collectivism are demonstrated
in this kind of activity.
● Assumptions can prevent us from exploring alternative
behaviours.
● Cultural values such as individualism and competition may
result in conflict and block winwin solutions.
● Meeting force with force is almost always futile.
11. TASK
Point out all the
misunderstandings, prejudices and
judgements in the story that can
endanger or hurt a relationship.
Editor's Notes
When all the participants have finished to read the story, you can facilitate a debriefing. Make sure to point out all the misunderstandings, prejudices and judgements in the story that can endanger or hurt the relationship.
The students should understand that we all have a different representation of the same reality, based on our experience, our culture, the context, and our own perception of life. It is a kind of personal "glasses" through which we see and understand the world. These representations then directly influence our encounter with the other.
When meeting somebody for the first time, if prejudices are identified, we can try to go beyond them to establish a relationship that goes beyond the stereotypes conveyed by our society.
To do this, it is essential to know how to "decenter", that is to say, to identify our representations, what glasses enable us to see the world, and take the necessary distance to change, have a different perception of things, and thus transform the vision that one can have on the other.
