Intercultural Diversity Research Articles

Superdiversity and conviviality: exploring frameworks for doing ethnography in Southern European intercultural cities

International migration contributes to increasing cultural diversity in many European cities. Historically, migration studies have focused on the integration of immigrants foregrounding race/ethnicity and identity issues, limiting our understanding of intercultural diversity. A new paradigm focusing on relational patterns among groups is emerging, highlighting the importance of mutual relations, interactions and influences among residents of different origins and backgrounds, including the experience of both immigrants and autochthonous populations. The notions of superdiversity and conviviality have significantly contributed to this debate. This paper discusses how both were methodologically operationalized in multi-sited ethnographies carried out in Lisbon and Granada, during 2009–2012. Superdiversity and conviviality are the main theoretical frameworks used to understand how interculturality is lived and experienced at the local level. We reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, unpacking common assumptions about race, ethnicity and culture, specifically looking at the negotiation of difference in intercultural events.

Intercultural Communication and Diversity Management: Focused on Research Trend in Germanyand its Implications

Intercultural Communication and Diversity Management: Focused on Research Trend in Germanyand its Implications

Creative Impact Measure of Cros – Cultural Managerial Apects

Abstract The world today is characterized by intercultural diversity. More and more communication takes place between people with different linguistic as well as cultural backgrounds. This happens because of contacts within the areas of business, science, education etc. but also because of immigration brought about by labour shortage or unstable political situation. The globalisation of the economy with increased appreciation by companies that managing cultural differences properly can be a key factor in getting things done effectively across borders. With increased contact of personnel and customers from diverse cultural background, there is a growing demand for businesses to understand and manage the diverse values, perceptions, business worldviews and behaviour of corporations, staff, and its customer. Intercultural communication and management is an interdisciplinary human resources field concerned with faciliting communication, management and effective interaction of personnel and customers across borders. The starting point for understanding consumer behaviour is really important. Marketing and environmental stimuls enter the consumer’s conscioussnes, and set of psychological processes combine with certain consumer characteristics to resault in decision processes and purchase decision. The marketer’s task is to understand what happened in the consumer’s consciousness between the arrival of the outside marketing stimuli and the ultimate purchasedecision. Four psychological processes are motivation, perception, learning and also memroy, fundamentaly influence consumer responses. Understanding consumer behaviour may often be complicated since many different factors influence the behaviour and sicnce many different forms of behaviour exist. Paper describe fuzzy concept for evaluation of some cros-cultural impact and compare it with other type of measurements presented in literature.

Approaching Diplomatic and Courtly Gift-giving in Europe and Mughal India

This article deals with courtly gift-giving practices in Europe and Mughal India from a comparative and interwoven perspective. Given the historiographical lacunae on Mughal gift-giving, the article presents preliminary observations for further research. Unlike most contributions to this volume, this article understands the notion of diversity in terms of an intercultural diversity that came to the fore in courtly contexts and in diplomatic encounters. My arguments are bifold. On the one hand, European and Mughal rulers and their envoys shared a common ground of diplomatic gift-giving practices that were shaped by an understanding of what was worthy of giving and of the symbolic power of the given objects. On the other hand, courtly gift-giving practices were embedded in different social and cultural environments in Europe and India. By looking at the notion of the ‘gift’ and the social organisation of the Mughal elite, it becomes clear that pīshkash was an idiosyncratic concept in South and Central Asian contexts and that offerings of manṣabdārs to the Mughal emperor had a different character than those of European courtiers to their rulers.

Escaping the Zoo! Exploring Personal World Views and Other “Natural” Aspects of Culture

Courses: Intercultural Communication, Communication and Diversity Objectives: This activity is designed to help students better understand the concept of world views in everyday life. It also provides an understanding of how world views may be connected to values, norms, and ethnocentrism in very personal and direct ways. Finally, it helps students to understand the cultural nature of what is often seen as simply a natural fact of life.

Activities Raising Organizational Awareness for Intercultural Diversity

AbstractWhich activities raise organizational awareness for intercultural diversity? This was the main question of the German project Economy by Diversity. The first aim of this article is to answer this question. Examples and empirical findings of the project work will help illustrate the approach chosen by the project team to bring cultural diversity in small‐ and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs).The article also discusses the usefulness of the often‐criticized access–legitimacy paradigm based on the evaluation results. The project concentrates on a counseling procedure to transfer the topic of diversity into SMEs. It was evaluated using observation records and interviews with the executive board and employees. Early findings indicate that the organizational executives expect financial benefits from their concern with diversity. It is important for them to discover opportunities to link their concrete work to a topic such as diversity.Another focus of the article is that primary access to an organization to work with the topic of diversity succeeds by concentrating on one certain diversity dimension. By including external perspectives concerning organization and market, the enterprise could be pushed to reflect its primary organizational focus. In addition, there is an organizational need for exchange and networking with individuals who have an immigrant history.

A Canadian ESL Teacher in China: A Stranger in a Strange Land

Through a self-study of teacher and teacher education practices, this article explores cultural discontinuities between Canadian teachers and Chinese students enrolled in Canadian offshore schools. The methodology of self-study provides a means to think about, understand and develop teachers' practice in contexts where intercultural diversity impacts on best practice. Strategies and techniques to ameliorate teacher–student interaction, conceptions of teaching and learning, assessment norms, and voluntary and involuntary plagiarism are discussed. The strategies and techniques presented have the potential to contribute to the development of culturally relevant teaching pedagogy which aims to negate cultural discontinuities between teachers and students.

Discerning ethical challenges for marketing in China

Along with China’s stunning economic growth, marketing has become a multi-billion dollar business, afflicted by a plethora of marketing scandals. However, little attention has been paid, until now, to a more systematic approach to marketing ethics in China. This essay attempts to provide a broad and timely, but far from complete, view on marketing issues in China. It uses four ethical guidelines which capture the fundamental features particularly relevant to marketing activities: practicing honest communication; enhancing human capabilities; fostering creative intercultural diversity; and promoting sustainable growth and eco-efficiency. These guidelines are then elucidated with 12 positive and negative cases of Chinese and non-Chinese companies. By combining guidelines with case studies, it is hoped that ethical challenges for marketing in China will be discerned in a more systematic and comprehensible fashion. The article concludes by indicating several perspectives for further research.

Intercultural education in Sweden through the lenses of the national minorities and of religious education

The aim of this paper is to discuss two perspectives in relation to intercultural education and diversity in Sweden. One of the perspectives concerns the historical and current situation of the five Swedish national minorities with a special focus on education. The second perspective is related to religious diversity and education, as connected to an increasingly democratic, plural and inclusive society. Both perspectives are highly relevant when analysing intercultural education in a specific national context. The last section highlights two main discourses which have been predominant during the last century in relation to education and diversity in Sweden.

Points of View, Social Positioning and Intercultural Relations

The challenge of intercultural relations has become an important issue in many societies. In spite of the claimed value of intercultural diversity, successful outcomes as predicted by the contact hypothesis are but one possibility; on occasions intercultural contact leads to intolerance and hostility. Research has documented that one key mediator of contact is perspective taking. Differences in perspective are significant in shaping perceptions of contact and reactions to it. The ability to take the perspective of the other and to understand it in its own terms is a necessary condition for successful intergroup outcomes. This paper sheds light on the processes involved in intercultural perspective taking by elaborating the notion of the point of view based on social representations theory. The point of view provides a theory of social positioning that can analyse cultural encounters between social actors, and identify the conditions for positive relations. Insights are drawn from a study of public views on the relative merits of science and religion, following a documentary by Richard Dawkins in which it was suggested that religion is a source of evil. The findings demonstrate that the point of view may be categorised according to a three‐way taxonomy according to the extent to which it is open to another perspective. A point of view may be monological—closed to another's perspective entirely, dialogical—open to the possibility of another perspective while maintaining some percepts as unchallengeable, or metalogical—open to another's perspective based on the other's frame of reference.

Conocer la cultura de un centro y las miradas del profesorado sobre la diversidad sociocultural y personal de la comunidad como punto de arranque para la transformación educativa

ResumenEste estudio pretende conocer las percepciones del profesorado sobre dos aspectos que afectan a la vida de los centros: la cultura escolar y las concepciones que poseen sobre la diversidad sociocultural y personal de la comunidad. Estas realidades se perfilan a partir de una serie de factores básicos: objetivos y valores interculturales e inclusivos compartidos, valoración positiva de la diversidad, imagen positiva de la escuela y altas expectativas sobre los agentes de la comunidad educativa, sobre los que se indaga a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas. El sistema de análisis y categorización de la información permite esbozar las líneas de actuación o iniciativas de cambio. Las conclusiones orientan el establecimiento de un plan de centro con carácter transformador, desde un modelo de respuesta a la diversidad inclusivo e intercultural.

Beginning Christian–Muslim Dialogue in Western Sydney: Context and Practice

ABSTRACT This article is the initial paper of a longer project that aims to chart the progress of Christian–Muslim dialogue in western Sydney, Australia. The first part provides the context for aspects of Muslim settlement, organization and practice in Australia. Following a brief overview of interfaith dialogue, the second part offers an exposition and analysis of the objectives and motivation of the three organizers of Christian–Muslim dialogue in the west of Sydney, and assesses the initial outcomes of the dialogues. The style of the exposition is discursive, allowing the voices of the organizers to be heard. The analysis is offered under the rubrics of inter-cultural diversity and interfaith dialogue. No validation of the organizers' perceptions against those of the participants is attempted. It is shown that the organizers' instinct to promote dialogue interaction on the human and social level attracted a great deal of interest from a wide audience. The structure employed for the gatherings was recognized by politicians and community leaders as an effective model for wider community-building exercises. Difficulties identified include responding to resistance to the dialogues, and deepening the dialogue experience for participants. The selection of the appropriate audience, format and forum for future gatherings is crucial to the ongoing success of the project.

The palliative care needs of ethnic minority patients: staff perspectives.

The aim of this study was to assess palliative care staff's perceptions of multicultural care provision and explore the barriers and facilitators to culturally sensitive care. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with five palliative care staff were conducted. Staff showed awareness of inter-cultural diversity and the importance of individualized care. It also became apparent that staff did not possess ethnocentric attitudes. Facilitators of multicultural care that emerged from the data included training, learning from experience, the use of culturally specific literature and resources, and effective communication channels in the team. However, barriers were present, including limited interpreting services, and some staff and other patients' negative behaviours towards ethnic minority patients. The findings lead to recommendations for better resourcing and expansion of interpreting services, and for more training, based on staff's desire for limited culturally specific knowledge in sensitive combination with an individualized care philosophy.

New Contexts for Relational Communication in Groups

This article discusses the importance of relational communication in groups. Connections are made with potentially fruitful theoretical concepts, while findings from related group research are used to discuss new and interesting directions with regard to relational communication in three pivotal group contexts. Each section provides a rationale for why these group contexts should be studied and suggests propositions to guide future research. The discussion highlights the many facets of the relational side of members’ intentions in groups: cooperation, connection, autonomy, similarity, flexibility/rigidity, cohesion/withdrawal, harmony/conflict, stereotyping, and stigmatization. Concerning group process analysis, the authors revisit the family, as one’s first group experience, from a relational communication perspective. Next, the influence of heterogeneity of group membership and intercultural diversity is discussed with regard to relational dynamics. Finally, the effects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on relational communication in groups are investigated.

Teacher Training with a View Towards Developing Favourable Attitudes Regarding Intercultural Education and Cultural Diversity

An analysis of Spanish multiculturalism, together with the lack of systematic teacher training in the area of intercultural education, a fact which was revealed by a review of the educational programmes and strategies developed in our country, has led us to propose a training course which improves the attitudes of teachers and educators towards intercultural education and the ever‐growing cultural diversity in our country. The study, carried out using a quasi‐experimental methodology and based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, revealed that this type of training programme favours a positive predisposition in teachers towards the development of intercultural programmes in schools, a fundamental element in promoting a further dissemination of this particular focus throughout the whole of the educational system.