Free Essay Sample: Cultivating Intercultural Understanding in Courtship and Marriage

The term culture generally refers to society's acceptable practices and includes the values, rules, knowledge, and traditions. The individual personality of members in the groups is also an element that makes up the collective culture. Humans acquire culture by observation, education, socialization, and acculturation. There are levels and sublevels of culture discussed by anthropologists. They include international, national, and regional levels. All living areas are guided by culture, beginning from birth to education, work, relationships, marriage, and travel. Communication also varies according to culture and, specifically, non-verbal communication. In this essay, I will discuss the most likely or significant area of my life where I think I will have intercultural communication. I have selected to discuss courtship and marriage because it has different approaches that will require me to have intercultural communication.

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Intercultural communication is the goal of all interaction and is used to describe a society in which there is acceptance and mutual respect for all cultures. I must first accept my culture but be careful not to place it above others to fit in with intercultural communication goals. Intercultural communication is the process of interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds based on an understanding of their respective cultures.

The way people interact, speak, dress, eat, and even walk can reveal their culture. Some groups take every aspect of life so seriously, and others view life as a joke. This spills over to every other aspect of life, including at the workplace. Their culture can shape the character of an individual. The contrasts in an individual's culture can define their likes and dislikes that have been developed through exposure to families, age mates, schools, mass media, colleagues, and even leaders. These modalities will shape the individuals irrespective of their race, nation, region, or ethnic orientation. The way one has been brought up socially will mark their culture. In a marriage scenario, I will need to understand the background of my partner.

Bennet Milton has discussed six stages of intercultural sensitivity; how a person acquires an understanding of diverse cultures. The stages range from ethnocentric approaches where one's own culture is considered the ideal to a higher level of cultural understanding. The stages are denial, defense, minimization, acceptance, adaptation, and integration. There is a belief that diverse cultures might be less human than their own in the denial stage. The defense stage is where one begins to accept other cultures but tends to regard them as threats. Here the defense can be to undermine or exalt their culture. The minimization stage focuses on universal humanism to reduce the difference. Towards the final stage is acceptance of differences in behaviors, values, and views of the world. In the adaptation stage, an individual will fit into a different culture. Integration is the final and is the total immersion into this culture as an accepted way of life. I will ensure I will achieve each and also assist the people I will interact with to adapt.

Intercultural communication will enable me to understand cultural barriers stemming from superstitions, customs, or traditions. Cultural barriers may be evident in the way members of a culture perceive courtship and marriage. In my own cultural experience, people in love exhibit public displays of emotion, such as holding hands and kissing. However, it is forbidden in some other parts of the world. This will be important to remember to avoid embarrassment.

Similarly, gazing at each other or looking into the eyes is romantic, but some cultures consider staring to be rude. As a person who may marry from a different culture, I need to understand nonverbal communication. Eye contact sets the tone between two individuals and greatly differs in meaning between cultures. In the Americas and Western Europe, eye contact is interpreted as conveying interest and honesty. Staring can be misconstrued as arrogance in some cultures in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Patients from these cultures might avoid eye contact since they perceive direct eye contact disrespectfully and challenging authority. This cannot be very clear. Nodding of the head in many cultures symbolizes agreement, and shaking shows disagreement. However, it might not always be the case since gestures are also not universal. A thumbs-up sign can have varied meanings in different cultures.

I will also need to be keen on dressing and food differences and to find out the expected gender roles. Issues such as a man and woman hierarchy vary per culture, which will help me understand my spouse's behaviors. Speaking out may not be allowed of women in chauvinistic societies, which will make me understand the reactions of those around me. The current world is a global village, and there is a diversity of cultures. There will be marked differences between races, genders, and ethnic cultures. In some cultures, for example, men are not expected to display emotions in public. Self-disclosure is also uncommon in men compared to women.

Intercultural communication aims to dispel notions that encourage prejudices and ethnocentrism. This will lead to respect between couples who have intermarried. It will also lead to acceptance and stop any attempt to impose one's culture on the other. Intercultural communication will be needed to understand racial and ethnic universality through exposure to cultures, geographies, and histories in interaction, leading to understanding. I have applied this to the aspect of courtship and marriage that I hope to adapt across cultures.

References

Bennett, M. (1986). A developmental approach to training for intercultural sensitivity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10(2), 179-196.

Bennett, M. J. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In R. M. Paige (Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Greenberg, Jeff; Koole, Sander L.; Pyszczynski, Tom (2013). Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology. Guilford Publications. ISBN 978-1-4625-1479-3

Macionis, John J; Gerber, Linda Marie (2011). Sociology. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-13-700161-3. OCLC 652430995

Tylor, Edward. (1871). Primitive Culture. Vol 1. New York: J.P. Putnam's Son Jackson, Y. Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology, p. 203

Velkley, Richard L (2002). "The Tension in the Beautiful: On Culture and Civilization in Rousseau and German Philosophy". Being after Rousseau: philosophy and culture in question. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 11–30. ISBN 978-0-226-85256-0. OCLC 47930775. ^