|
Introduction:
Where is the line between stereotypes and cultural associations? As mediators, we are told that we need to be aware of potential cultural differences between parties. Yet, S.Y. Bowland points out that it can be
dangerous to have preconceived notions about the cultural assumptions that we make about how people from certain cultures will behave.
| |
This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Stereotypes and Cultural Associations
S.Y. Bowland
Director of The Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute (PRASI) and mediator, based in Atlanta, Georgia
| |
A: Sometimes all the things that you were told about a culture, all the things that
you were told about a group, can completely go out the window. I was working with a black family and a mixed
family, and in the mixed family was an Asian woman. She was the one that was raising her voice and saying, "Look me in the
eye," "Talk to me face-to-face," "Talk to me woman-to-woman." And on the other side was a black
woman, who was giving her the silent treatment and saying, "Talk to the hand." So
clearly, when we look at what we're told, it doesn't always offer the insight
that we need.
Q: That Asians are quiet, that they won't look you in the eye, that there's a lot of
context to what they say and there's a lot of symbolism... That, in that case,
was completely false?
A: Absolutely, absolutely. I think that that's why it's important, because a
lot of people from different groups have been together long enough that new
cultures and new ways of working are emerging. People will do a lot of
different things that you don't expect. You have to figure out how to engage the
people at the table in the best way that you can, and that's not only going to come
through in what you say. It's also going to come through in what you do and how
you behave. People from many cultures will look at you not for what you say you
are, but for what you do.
|
