Ethnocentrism in Short-Term Missions: Time Spent Abroad and Its Effect on Cultural Attitudes

This study examines the effects of time spent interacting with people of a different culture on ethnocentrism levels, within the context of intercultural short-term missions (STM). STM is defined as any international altruistic volunteerism lasting 11 months or less, and includes both spreading of Christianity and various poverty alleviation efforts. Data were collected by means of a survey measuring ethnocentrism levels, which was sent to the student body of Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. An ANOVA was conducted to analyze a possible relationship between the time spent in intercultural interaction (determined by length of trip) and ethnocentrism levels (determined by survey responses). The relationship between the two variables was not statistically significant, and possible reasons for this are discussed. Suggestions for further research regarding ethnocentrism are presented. Information regarding the dangers of ethnocentrism and a specific application for Southeastern University and its missions program are both discussed in Appendix A. For Southeastern University readers who are unfamiliar with APA format of experimental research, it is recommended to read Chapter One (Introduction), Chapter Two (Literature Review), and Appendix A (Application)

How to use stereotypes to raise awareness of cultural interpretation and encourage intercultural competence

As Ghent University is increasingly attracting international undergraduate and graduate students there is a growing need for special attention concerning intercultural issues. Besides the presence of international students the personal and student body has also been diversifying in the last decade. The diversity of cultures, linguistic backgrounds and religious affiliations within the same working force or among the students brings the need to tackle issues arising from intercultural encounters. Ghent University’s established a Diversity and Gender Unit, this unit has been organizing workshops ‘Intercultural Communication’ for its personal and doctoral schools. PhD-students as well as teaching staff and administrative and technical staff can choose to participate to these workshops. These workshops ‘Intercultural Communication’ have attracted participants from all sections and departments of the university and are especially designed to tackle a wide set of problems, misunderstandings and issues related to multicultural settings in a limited time frame (3 hours). To be interculturaly competent doesn’t mean you have to know all cultures, which is rather impossible. There are alternative ways to become an intercultural competent person. Hence, the workshops are going beyond informing people on other cultures. The workshops’ goal is to enhance its participants awareness of their own cultural interpretation mechanisms. Below I will give a short overview of what is been done to achieve this goal in a relatively short stretch of time. First participants are motivated to discuss social themes such as migration, ethnocentrism and racism. Participants are encouraged to talk about their own experiences, expectations and culture, and to reflect upon terminology and cultural differences. The workshops emphasize that knowing your own culture is the only way to understand your own perspectives and thus understanding other cultures. Being self-conscience of your own cultural mechanisms becomes the key to appreciate other ways of thinking and doing things. Secondly cultural self consciousness is achieved through an explicit discussion on stereotypes and their meaning. To reach this goal participants have self reflective discussions on negative and positive stereotypes concerning their own cultural group. Furthermore following questions are raised: How do stereotypes work? What is wrong with stereotypes? Can we avoid stereotype thinking? Are stereotypes useful? How so? Participants are stimulated to think about where stereotypes come from, what they tell us and how they can teach us something if handled with care. Through this experience participants are engaged in critical thinking of several stereotypes they may have of others. They are taught how to apprehend what they don’t know as to learn more about others through sensitive questions concerning their own stereotypes

Ethics in a Global Society (Chapter 12 of Organizational Ethics: A Practical Approach

Globalization is having a dramatic impact on life in the 21st century. We inhabit a global society knit together by free trade, international travel, immigration, satellite communication systems, and the Internet. In this interconnected world, ethical responsibilities extend beyond national boundaries. Decisions about raw materials, manufacturing, outsourcing, farm subsidies, investments, marketing strategies, suppliers, safety standards, and energy use made in one country have ramifications for residents of other parts of the world. Organizational citizenship is now played out on a global stage. Businesses, in particular, are being urged to take on a larger role in solving the world\u27s social problems

Cultural relativism in the Poisonwood Bible

In her novel The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver explores this same ethnocentric missionary zeal when critiquing the ways in which Western countries relate to “foreign” countries. She creates an allegory where the Price Family and the Congolese people are a microcosm of the United States and its relations to “foreign” countries. In this allegory, Kingsolver suggests that the attempt of the U.S. to change what it does not understand can be detrimental and unethical – that the attempt to spread an ethical system becomes the most unethical idea of all

Re-thinking pedagogies: New immigrants in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood settings

This chapter examines the importance of teacher orientations towards immigrant children, families, and teachers in early childhood education settings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Informed by a critical literature review and analysis,I highlight the complexity of cultural “otherness”and some tensions, risks, and dangers of superficial, simple interpretations of curriculum aspirations and guidelines. I argue that an orientation towards committed, sensitive, and accepting engagements is required to promote ethical and just practices. Following this, I argue that critical attention must be paid to interpretations of policy documents and guidelines for practice, and that ongoing questioning of possibilities for socially just professional practices are crucial to support diverse immigrants in early childhood settings

Ethics-Rorty-cultural studies : towards an understanding of the cultural production of solidarity : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Is cultural studies on the verge of an ethical turn? What role could the work of Richard Rorty play in such an ethical turn? Rorty may be considered as a cultural theorist whose work enables a productive articulation of cultural studies and that area of experience known as "ethics" – one's sensitivity and sense of responsibility to others in pain. Through an extended "misreading" of the dispersed texts Rorty has written on and around the topic, it is possible to formulate a Rortian account of ethics as solidarity, including such concepts as the moral subject, the other, moral identification, moral community, as well as the ethical implications of Rorty's theoretical ethnocentrism. This account, by virtue of its antifoundationalist and discursive theoretical position, holds much interest for a cultural studies concerned to understand the normative dimension of discursive meaning

Escaping from American intelligence : culture, ethnocentrism and the Anglosphere

The United States and its closest allies now spend over $100 billion a year on intelligence. Ten years after 9/11, the intelligence machine is certainly bigger - but not necessarily better. American intelligence continues to privilege old-fashioned strategic analysis for policy-makers and exhibits a technocratic approach to asymmetric security threats, epitomized by the accelerated use of drone strikes and data-mining. Distinguished commentators have focused on the panacea of top-down reform, while politicians and practitioners have created entire new agencies. However these prescriptions for change remain conceptually limited because of underlying Anglo-Saxon presumptions about what intelligence is. Although intelligence is a global business, when we talk about intelligence we tend to use a vocabulary that is narrowly derived from the experiences of America and its English-speaking nebula. This article deploys the notion of strategic culture to explain this why this is. It then explores the cases of China and South Africa to suggest how we might begin to rethink our intelligence communities and their tasks. It argues that the road to success is about individuals, attitudes and cultures rather than organizations. Future improvement will depend on our ability to recognize the changing nature of the security environment and to practice the art of ‘intelligence among the people’. While the United States remains the world’s most significant military power, its strategic culture is unsuited to this new terrain and arguably other countries do these things rather better

[Review of] John L. Hodge, Donald K. Struckmann, and Lynn Dorland Trost, Cultural Bases of Racism and Group Oppression: An Examination of Traditional Western Concepts, Values, and Institutional Structures which Support Racism, Sexism and Elitism

Dualism, a concept that simply tends to view the world in terms of “either-or” categories rather than “both . . . and,” has been examined and analyzed as the primary contributor to and cause of Western domination. The dangers of dualistic thinking are, according to Hodge et al., habit forming and unconscious. The Western practitioners of such thinking trace their ideology to the ancient Greek philosophers whose ideas support and reinforce existing oppressive patterns

Functionalist Conceptions of Moral Progress and the Plurality of Ways of Life

Many prominent conceptions of moral progress implicitly assume that progress must lead to convergence in the moral domain. However, given the actual plurality of ways of life and attendant moral outlooks, there is no reason to assume improvement must lead to uniformity. Moreover, as the entanglement of the Enlightenment discourse of progress with colonialism makes evident, the assumption that progress must lead to convergence can license problematic practical conclusions. Drawing on insights from postcolonialist critique, I argue in favor of functionalist conceptions of moral progress. Functionalist conceptions of moral progress do not assume that progress must lead to convergence. By contrast, they make it possible to understand progress in a pluralistic way. Functionalist conceptions of moral progress thus offer one way to develop a conception of moral progress, which can offer practical guidance, while taking into account one important line of critique of the discourse of progress