Culture: what it is
and the challenges of
cultural competency
Austin Rau
3-30-2015
Global citizenship is an important competency for me because it is one of my least
developed competencies. The intro to global citizenship class overall helped me further my
understanding of global citizenship and the meaning of culture. Working on a team for the
GLOBE project was a great opportunity for me to work on my intercultural communication and
teambuilding skills. My understanding of global citizenship has changed because of my
experiences in this class and I have a different mindset regarding culture and intercultural
interactions.
The introduction to global citizenship class was unique for me in many aspects. Firstly,
the class meeting every other week was interesting because it allowed me to have more time to
work on assignments and to process what I had learned during the previous lesson. I also
appreciated the use of media in this class. For example, the assignment in which I had to watch a
movie and analyze it for instances of stereotypes, generalizations, and other cultural symbols /
actions. For this assignment, I watched the film Gran Torino. It was a different experience
watching this movie and paying attention to culture. I had seen the movie previously about three
or four years ago, and when I watched it again it was completely different than before. I learned
some facts about the Hmong culture and saw how the different cultures interacted more clearly. I
also found myself emotionally touched by some of the scenes in the movie. After watching the
film and writing about what I saw, I feel I am more attuned to cultural difference and
interactions. I also find myself more sensitive to cultural conflicts. By this I mean that I
empathize with the plight of minority groups and understand some of the daily struggle they
encounter. I also try to discourage culturally insensitive actions or words from people around me.
This assignment was my favorite in the entire class.
This class overall was a good choice for me because it helped me in understanding
culture. Culture is a difficult term for me to come to grasps with. I struggled for a long time
trying to understand what culture is and in what ways do I have culture. I sometimes have bouts
of thought in which I feel I do not have any culture because I am from a white family who
emigrated from Europe many generations ago. My family does not really have any traditions
from our European roots and we do not practice any religion. So I thought I had no culture.
However, thanks to this class, I now have a better definition of culture. It is more than just
language and skin color. Culture can be on a national, regional, state, city, family, and individual
level and includes things such as: values, beliefs, practices, language, food, clothing and more
according to what I have learned in class. This definition is important to me because it helps
remind me that everyone has culture including myself. I feel this is something that many
Americans with a similar background to me struggle with so it is important that this definition is
shared. The definition is also a great reminder as to how complex culture is and that it takes
many shapes and forms. Most importantly, the vast majority of one’s culture is not visible on the
surface so one must avoid making assumptions based solely on the visual representation of
culture.
The GLOBE project was interesting in that it allowed my group and me to explore the
cultural characteristics of a cluster of countries in the world. It was a challenging project for a
variety of reasons. The article itself was dense and probably a little above my current level so it
was a process to understand the contents of the article. The biggest challenge working on this
project was that my other group members did not have much of an opinion. I had to step up and
lead the group because my group members did not have confidence, nor drive to make this
project happen in my opinion. I had to make an outline which laid out a timeline for what things
needed to be done and who was doing what work. This was difficult for me because I do not
prefer to lead a group project. However, I had to do this in order for stuff to get done. If I did not
step up and lead—I believe our project would be of a lesser caliber than what was presented in
class.
I asked my group members why I was the unofficial leader of the group. One of my
group members responded with “you look smart”. This is an explanation I have received in the
past for being the leader of a team, but I have some other ideas. I think that one of my group
members was uncomfortable with leading because she is an international student and may not
have confidence in her English. The other group member is a first year student and that may be
one reason she did not want to lead. Yet, I cannot be sure if those are the reasons why I ended up
leading my team for the GLOBE project. There may be other cultural related reasons as to why
they looked to me to lead, but I can never know for sure.
In the future, experiences such as the GLOBE project will be helpful in aspects of my life
such as my career. I have an interest in working as an epidemiologist or medical geographer in
the state of Minnesota so I will be working with a team of individuals who will have different
backgrounds than me and will need to adapt myself so that I can better communicate with them. I
may also work with policy makers and the general public to convey results of a study or
descriptions of the spread of a virus in the population so I must be able to adapt myself to
successfully convey important information to all of these people with different backgrounds and
cultures.
After going through the class materials and work assigned to date, I feel my
understanding of what being a global citizen is has changed. Being a global citizen is more than
understanding one’s own culture and what culture means. It is knowing how ones’ culture
interacts with other cultures and how to better adapt oneself to different cultural contexts. Many
confrontations could be resolved quicker or even avoided completely if people had more cultural
competence and put in effort to be conscious of how one’s own culture interacts with other
peoples’ cultures. It is essential for people to aspire to become a global citizen because the world
is a much more globalized place than before. Cultures and people from all over the world are
having increased contact between each other and in order to be successful personally and
professionally—one must learn how to become a global citizen so as to achieve this success and
fully enjoy life and other cultures. This will not be an easy process and it takes time.
I know that for the IDI test I took for the honors program last year I scored in
polarization. For my case, I scored in reversal meaning that I was too critical of my own culture.
However, I feel that if I was to take this test again, I would score in minimization or higher
because I have a better understanding of the meaning of culture and I feel I have a better
appreciation for American culture and where I come from. I am taking two class this semester
that talk about cultural and social issues. These classes are social geography and geography of
South Asia. Both of them have given me a new perspective on the world and a newfound
appreciation for where I come from. Part of the reason I think I scored in polarization is because
I sometimes tend to focus on the negatives of American society or things I disagree with, but I
have come to understand that all cultures have good and bad aspects to them and I must learn to
accept that. Furthermore, I must also refrain from propagating behaviors or ideas I disagree with
in society such as discrimination.
Another experience I will have that will increase my cultural competence is a study
abroad trip to France. I will be on the two week program in Paris, France over the summer. Even
though this is a short experience, I believe it will be beneficial to my personal growth. It will be
the first time that I will be out of the country and I will have the opportunity to talk with people
from another culture, eat food from another culture, and appreciate art from another culture. I
hope that this experience will broaden my perspective on the world and increase my cultural
competence. I anticipate that I will have a great time in France and since I am a geography
major—I have a desire to travel and see the world. This will only be the beginning of my travels.
I would like to visit every state in the U.S. and visit other countries in the world like: Italy,
Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Ireland, the U.K., and India. I want to see different places in
the world because I think they are fascinating.
In the beginning, I wrote that global citizenship is my least developed competency. This
may have a negative connotation, but it is not intended to be. It means that I have the most room
to improve in this competency and I understand that this one is difficult to develop and may take
nearly a lifetime to get to levels of the IDI like adaptation and integration. The human being is a
complex lifeform and has created thousands of unique languages and lifestyles across the world.
Many factors hinder the development of cultural competency such as lack of exposure to other
cultures, language barriers, and societally imposed biases. However, college education is one of
the best things to combat these and allows one to transcend cultural ignorance and become a
more culturally aware and accepting person. My experience in the honors global citizenship class
is a platform for me to begin my journey of developing my cultural competency and has properly
prepared me with the skills and knowledge needed to move forward.