My son is reading “The Kite Flier” by Khaled Hosseini for his 10 grade English class over the summer, in order to be prepared for the first class discussion. I was (pleasantly) surprised to see this book assigned, knowing how deeply it touched myself. I warned my son in advance of some difficult, yet important passages, reminding him at the same time to keep his mind open for experiencing a glimpse into a culture and country that seems so different and far away from our own.
The public school authority in our county decided to have the book on their reading list in order to raise cultural awareness. I like that, I embrace diversity and am eager to learn about other cultures and gain a better understanding. In our daily work as a parents, my husband and I hope to instill this in our own two teenage boys as well. They are blessed to grow up in a home where we celebrate German and American heritage, with some Welsh and Swedish backgrounds mixed in for added flavor. We also felt that living in Northern Virginia, we experience many different cultures around us every day, ethnic stores are abundant and places of worship plentiful.
Back to the term “cultural awareness”. I was curious and researched the term. In their article “What is Cultural Awareness anyway, and how do I build it?” published by the Culturosity Group, LLC, Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore define it as follows: (http://www.culturosity.com/articles/whatisculturalawareness.htm):
“Cultural Awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. Why do we do things in that way? How do we see the world? Why do we react in that particular way?
Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behavior in one culture is frequently inappropriate in another one. Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of your reality.”
I liked that simple way of explaining the core issue of interacting and communicating across cultural boundaries in our global world of existence, where news flash on our screens and teleport us into the daily lives of those in a seemingly different world for just a few moments, only to find ourselves be beamed back into our own cultural comfort zone.
I can see how companies such as “Culturosity Group, LLC” are in high demand with corporate clients whose understanding of cultural synergies is solely based on the awareness of the otherness. The important thing to remember, though, is to know your own cultural values and beliefs, so that you gain understanding of the differences and use it as a catapult to put yourself in a different cultural context. Once you are catapulted to the other side, you are immersed in those values and beliefs, allowing you to reflect on your own. We might find ourselves quickly judging, acting superior with our belief system and feeling very out of place. This is where cultural awareness starts and turns into cultural understanding, which ultimately embraces diversity.
When we are able to open up to a different belief system, similarly to when we were sceptic towards new foods and were told “Just try it, you may like it”, we may develop the curiosity to learn about other cultures, be more aware of one another and learn tolerance to accept the differences. If I think about the two circles in a Venn Diagram representing two cultures, I would have to think that when two cultures become more aware of each other, they move closer together and thus enlarge the middle intersection which houses the similarities of both.
I hope that “The Kite Runner” will be continuing to feed my son’s cultural awareness, and that his class will be able to have a valuable discussion on what it means to have different belief systems, but beyond that realizing that all humans share some very basic needs: love, friendship, acceptance and integrity. True understanding and acceptance of cultural acceptances will only happen, if these students will have the opportunity one day to live abroad or choose to be in a multicultural relationship. Becoming aware of and overcoming differences can only be an asset, which may start for some of the students by reading the summer reading assignment.
