Intercultural contact
What makes study abroad different from study at home? Intercultural contact.
Intercultural contact is when two or more people from different cultural backgrounds have social, economic, or political exchange with one another in a contact zone. Mary Louise Pratt, author of "Arts of the Contact Zone" says that contact zones are “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power.”
This contact may occur in a everyday encounter between individuals in line at the supermarket, in an intimate relationship between lovers, or between two individuals at either end of a supply chain. Contact does not have to be in-person, it does not have to be between equals, and it does not have to move beyond the superficial. However, a context which provides an opportunity for these conditions is much more likely to result in positive outcomes for both individuals involved.
Intercultural contact is when two or more people from different cultural backgrounds have social, economic, or political exchange with one another in a contact zone. Mary Louise Pratt, author of "Arts of the Contact Zone" says that contact zones are “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power.”
This contact may occur in a everyday encounter between individuals in line at the supermarket, in an intimate relationship between lovers, or between two individuals at either end of a supply chain. Contact does not have to be in-person, it does not have to be between equals, and it does not have to move beyond the superficial. However, a context which provides an opportunity for these conditions is much more likely to result in positive outcomes for both individuals involved.
Pratt cites inequalities in power as an important characteristic in the contact zone.
Everyone comes into intercultural contact with a lifetime of perceptions of Self and perceptions of the Other. Many times these perceptions are invisible to the people in the situation, but are manifested in how they treat and approach one another. An important part of intercultural contact is learning about yourself and where you come from, just as much as learning and unlearning about others.
In the pictures below, artists humorously represent the illusions and contradictions inherent in cross-cultural exchange. The subjects in each of the images struggle to remove themselves and their lived experience from their surroundings.
As Anais Win says, "We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." So, in order to see things differently, we ourselves have to change. This is a critical part of study abroad -- not only are we going to new destinations and living completely different realities (perhaps for the first time), we have to change the way that we see them all together.
Take a breather...
Here are some questions to get you thinking about intercultural contact. You've been in your host country now for at least half your semester abroad. Jot down the notes to these questions in another window or a notebook.
1. Describe your "Contact Zone" -- Where do you most often have contact with locals? Where do you most often have contact with Americans? Do these interpersonal relationships have different roles in your life, or the same? Draw a visual representation of your daily contact zones.
2. Describe the contact -- What type of contact do you mostly have with local people -- is it over a meal, over a bus ride, over a check-out counter? What language dominates your intercultural contact? Do you mostly connect with people who you spontaneously meet once, or people who are in and out of your daily routine? Make a list of the five people you consider your closest friends and a list of the five people you spend the most time with.
3. Think on it -- If you wanted to have more and better contact with local people, where would you go? Who would you be with (or without)? What questions would you ask, what activities would you participate in? What daily practices and behaviors would you change and why?
Post your answers to the Forum!
1. Describe your "Contact Zone" -- Where do you most often have contact with locals? Where do you most often have contact with Americans? Do these interpersonal relationships have different roles in your life, or the same? Draw a visual representation of your daily contact zones.
2. Describe the contact -- What type of contact do you mostly have with local people -- is it over a meal, over a bus ride, over a check-out counter? What language dominates your intercultural contact? Do you mostly connect with people who you spontaneously meet once, or people who are in and out of your daily routine? Make a list of the five people you consider your closest friends and a list of the five people you spend the most time with.
3. Think on it -- If you wanted to have more and better contact with local people, where would you go? Who would you be with (or without)? What questions would you ask, what activities would you participate in? What daily practices and behaviors would you change and why?
Post your answers to the Forum!
Ready to move on? Onward to confronting privilege!