Post 178: More Intercultural Communication Assignments

Post 178: More Intercultural Communication Assignments

1) Find a recent situation in which a conflict related to cultural difference occurred. You can ask a friend or look into news/media or relate a personal experience you witnessed. Based on your research, in intercultural communication, why did the conflict take place?

2) Explore the role mass media played in shaping conflicts. Does the media use stereotypes of different ethnic groups? ( all African American as possible thieves, all Muslim Americans as possible terrorists or all Asian Americans as spies for China and now all Asian Americans as carriers of the Wuhan Virus) Has the current coverage of 'Wuhan Virus' sparked hate crimes against Asian Americans? Did 9/11 spark hate crimes against Muslim Americans?

3) Sapir Whorf who are linguists stipulates that there may be one universal language and that is why babies around the world say 'baba' or 'mama', what do you think would be the effect on the world at large if all humans spoke one language? (Think about the Biblical Tower of Babel)

4.What is the relationship between intercultural communication and culture? How does culture guide our behavior? ways of communicating?

5. What is the relationship between history and cultural identity, how do these factors affect intercultural communication? Do people from the West look down on former colonized countries in intercultural communication? How does the power influence intercultural communication?

6. What are some negative or positive outcomes of learning intercultural communication or learning about other cultures?

7. What different body language have you seen as you traveled to other countries? How do different countries greet each other? use eye contact? proxemics (personal space)? relate to other people (rank, family, seniority in company, age, job, ethnicity)?

8. Do you belong to a contact culture (a culture where everybody hugs a lot or shows affection) or do you belong to a non-contact culture (where showing any kind of emotion is not appropriate especially in public)?

9. If you have traveled to other countries, have you ever experienced culture shock?  Were you homesick because you missed your home country food? family? customs?

10. How does your culture relate to people? Is your culture Confucian? American Indian? Monogamous? Polygamous? Christian? Buddhist? Are there intercultural conflicts based on ethnicity, religion or ideology?

11. How is self worth measured in your culture? Are you more concerned with 'self face'--concern for own image? Are you concerned with 'other face'--concern for others? or 'mutual face'--concern for both sides?

12. What are the differences between Western culture and Eastern culture? How does Western culture deal with conflict? work? promotions at work? work performance? How does Eastern culture deal with conflict? work? promotions at work? work performance? What are the dominant traits and values of Western culture vs Eastern culture?