Hannah Bingaman 1
Service Organization
For my service learning project, I volunteered at the William E. Christofferson Salt Lake
Veterans Home. The contact information is listed below:
Nicole Johnson
Admissions Coordinator
William E. Christofferson Salt Lake Veterans Home
Phone: 801-867-1727
Project
Going into the project I thought I would be just playing games with the elderly, but I
found myself helping them each day. At the home they do not have any mission statements, but
they have appositive atmosphere. Everyone interacts like family. I was partnered up with
multiple of people in the home.
Each day I was assigned to help different people. I found myself mainly helping the
residents get from point A to point B. I helped with simple things like choosing snacks for the
day, helping sort through mail with the residents, and even helped put together some Friday
parties. The residents loved to laugh and have a good time. There were some days where they
didn’t want to participate, and there is not much that you can do. It was a very different
environment.
Cultural Groups
The cultural group I worked with was the elderly. They grew up in a different time period
then I did. Telephones were not in once pocket. One of the residents explained that his whole
neighborhood used to share a phone line. Another gentleman told me he didn’t have phones. One
vented to me saying “Kids are inside to much!” All of them fought in wars defending our
country.
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Challenges
The challenges I had during this project was not entirely communication. Yes, I found
myself repeating myself, and yelling so they could hear me, but majority of my challenges had to
do with being patient. It was difficult to wait to get to one place to the other. Where it would take
normally only 15 seconds to stand up it takes them about 2 whole minutes. I found myself taping
my foot impatiently and forgetting that they were older. When helping the residents load into
their vehicle it took up to 30 minutes. And going to the movies was an all-day event. Things
were a lot slower pace and they were very direct. If they didn’t like something, they would tell
you. I think another challenge was, how blunt they were with one another. One older man yelled
at me because I gave him a pina-colada margarita instead of strawberry, it was so bad that I
almost broke into tears. Soon after he got the right one he was back on his feet and happy; like
nothing happened.
Theory
The theory I would like to focus on is Relational Dialectics Theory developed by Leslie
Baxter. This theory is interpretative. It is about relationships within and outside of the culture. In
our course packet it states “Relationships have many dialectical tensions that are at work.” There
are six different types of dialectics: Cultural-Individual Dialectic, Personal-Contextual Dialectic,
Differences-Similarities Dialectic, Static-Dynamic Dialectic, History/Past-Present/Future
Dialectic and Privilege-Disadvantage Dialectic.
The first dialect I would like to discuss is Cultural-Individual Dialect. According to our
texts books, Intercultural Communications in Contexts, communication is both cultural and
individual. There are characteristics that we will pick up from our cultural, but there are
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characteristics that are our own. (Martin and Nakayama, 2004,pg. 77) For example, in my family
all the girls danced. It was something that was part of my families culture. We all loved to dance
and watch people dance. Each one of us had differenet styles of dance. Jessica danced differently
from Gretchen, and I danced differently from Gretchen. We had our own individual styles, but
the culture of dance was the same.
The second dialect I willl look at is Personal-Contexual Dialectic. This dialect looks at
the role or social status one may hold in their culture. In different cultures, and different
atmospheres one will be looked at and respected differently. For example: In high school I was
in Student Government. Many people turned to me for ideas, and help. In that culture, I was
looked up at. At home my father was the one we turned for ideas, and help. It was a different
culture of how things worked. (Martin and Nakayama,2004, pg 77)
The third dialect is Differences-Similarities Dialectic. When comparing cultures we
tend to look at the differences in each culture. This dialect is telling us to not only look at the
differences, but the similarities as well. (Martin and Nakayama,2004, pg. 77)
The fourth dialect is Static-Dynamic Dialectic. This dialect discusses how most aspects
of cultures remains the same, but there are some aspects that may change over time. (Martin and
Nakayama,2004, pg 78) For example: Many years ago family parties consisted of entertaining
the children. The childrens table was always larger than the adults. But now it’s the opposite.
Our culture is the same, but that aspect of how family parties used to be held has shifted over to
entertaining adults.
The fifth dialect I would like to discuss is History/Past-Present/Furture Dialectic. This
dialect reminds us to keep in mind the culturals past, present and future. Judith Martain and
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Thomas Nakayama state that “ we need to be aware of contemporary forces and realities that
shape interactions of people from different cultural groups.” (Martin and Nakayama,2004, pg.
78-79)
The last dialectic I would like to explain is Privilege-Disadvantage Dialectic. This
dialectic takes into account those percpectives of people who may be privledged in their culture,
and those who may have a disadvantage. Our text book gives a great example of this; it explains
that many people who travel are privledged, because they have money . But they could be at a
disadvatage, because the might not know the language. (Martin and Nakayama, 2004, pg. 79)
Analysis
My service learning applies to a coule of these dialectics. I thought it would be difficult
applying my theory to my project, but in reality it fits right in. There are couple theories that I
would like to apply my service project to. The first one is Cultural-Indiviual Dialectics. In my
service learning project the residents home had its own culture, but each resident brought
something new and intiving to the home. You had Art who collected all the snacks, Clair who
loved to sing, George who loved winning, but hated working, and Ray who loved the ladies.
They all were in the same enviroment and same circumstances, but individually they were
different.
Another example that fits right into theses dialectics is Differences-Similarities
Dialectic. Many people look the sterotypes of “old folks homes”. They look at the smell, the
slow pass, the repeditiveness and hearing aids, but in reality they don’t look at the similarites to
their own lifes. Many of those sterotypes are true, but in the home they play games, throw
parties, go grocery shopping, have family dinners, attend church, and pay bills just like any other
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adult would do. They may appear old physically, but they are young in the heart, especially Ray.
He loved to look at the ladies bums, and dance all day. He reminded me of a pervy teenage boy,
but he could get away with it because he was old.
The last example I would like to connect my service learning project to is History/PastPresent/Future Dialectic. In order to really understand these people in the home you must
understand their history. It’s important to understand that they come form a different time period,
and they might not understand the slang that is used now. Many of the residents have been
through war, so many times they will mention things from the war. It almost takes you back in
time. But you have to understand that these people have been through life already, things we as
young people are currently going through, they have been through and maybe even more.
As I look back it was really interesting to analyisis my service learning procject with
these dialectis. It made me realize that even though people come from a different background or
time period we all have some common ground.
Reflection
Entering into this project I was scared and I was dreading the thought that some of my
free time was going to be taken up, but in the end I loved every minute of it. These people have
been through what I am going through already. And they can relate to you. They may seem
old,but they are young at heart.
Going into the project I forrced myself to put on a smile, but as the days continued I
found myself going in each day with not having to force a smile. The people made me happy to
be there, and not all old people are grumps.
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When applying the theory I first found it difficult, but as looked for those common
grounds I realized any theory could be applied here. You just have to dig.
I would love to continue to go back and volunteer again. Those people made me laugh
and feel good about myself. It taught me to not judge one by a stereotype. One may be in a
culture that has many negative stereotypes, but you don’t know the whole story. You personally
don’t know their story. You should respect them and their background.
References
Martin, Judith N. and Thomas Nakayama. "Intercultural Communications in Contexts." New
York: McGraw Hill, 2012. 74-79.