Three Steps to Cross-Cultural Dialogue
With “a global mindset by which we try to see things through theeyes of others and add their knowledge to our personal repertories”(Chen & Starosta, 2000, p. 1), we can perhaps take three stepsto cross-cultural dialogue. The first step is to understand themental layer of our own culture and its impact on the behavioraland material layers. The second step is to under- stand the mentallayer of other cultures and its impact on the behavioral andmaterial layers. The third step is to listen to others’perspectives on our culture and share our perspectives on othercultures in order to reflect on what it means to be human in bothlocal and global contexts and how humans should relate to oneanother, nature, and the spirits. In this step, we must engage inintercultural dialogue with Asante’s (2006) spirit of mutualrespect and learning: “As creators of our own societies, we havevaluable experiences to share, not to impose, which might beexamined and adapted in a spirit of sharing and dialogue. This isthe real meaning of intercultural interaction” (p. 154). Tu (2008)echoes Asante’s position by saying that “the celebration ofcultural diversity, without falling into the trap of perniciousrelativism, is profoundly meaningful for global stewardship” (p.331).
Centricity in the first step of cross-cultural dialogue is thebeginning and basis of equality and mutuality in interculturalcommunication (Miike, 2008a). It prevents our interactions withpeople from different countries and cultures from becoming a mereimposition– imitation encounter. This point should be well taken,especially by non-Westerners who wish to have sincere and seriousconversations about intercultural cooperation and collaborationwith Westerners on an equal footing. As Asante (2009) elucidates,centricity urges us, first and foremost, to inquire about our ownidentities, cultures, and histories as a way of contributing to thegrand flow of the entire humanity without being imitators whoblindly follow others. Paradoxically, in this soul-searchingprocess, we may discover that the development of our own cultureis, in fact, indebted to other cultures, and that the nature ofhuman civilization is truly multicultural and synergic. In anycase, imitation is not intercultural (Miike, 2008a).
Describe and discuss the three steps to cross-culturaldialogue.
