Cultural Misunderstandings
Alusine M. Kanu DA
A cultural misunderstanding occurs when something--a word, gesture, object, social context, almost anything you can think of--has different meanings in two cultures. Sometimes the misunderstandings get resolved, sometimes they lead to deepening differences .Resolving cultural misunderstandings can clear the air, or even lead to laughter. Sometimes, though, unidentified cultural misunderstandings can also lead to festering resentments. It is only natural that when you are brought up in a society, that the things you were taught were proper behavior for everyone would have been deeply ingrained in your world view. If you were taught to make eye contact when you speak to someone, you will feel something is wrong with someone who averts their gaze. If you were taught to bow slightly in greeting, you will feel uncomfortable with someone reaching out to grasp your hand and to shake it. One of the most fascinating stories of cross-cultural misunderstanding is told by Anne Fadiman in her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.
A Hmong family who were refugees from Laos fled to the United States to escape from a war. Years later one of their children, Lia Lee, went to a hospital because she was having an epileptic attack. This event set in motion a huge problem between the Hmong, who thought that illness was a spiritual problem, and the U.S. doctors, who discounted the soul and focused on the body. This passage gives some idea of how communication can go wrong from the very beginning:
When doctors conferred with a Hmong family, it was tempting to address the reassuringly Americanized teenaged girl who wore lipstick and spoke English rather than the old man who squatted silently in the corner. Yet failing to work within the traditional Hmong hierarchy, in which males ranked higher than females and old people higher than young ones, not only insulted the entire family but also yielded confused results, since the crucial questions had not been directed toward those who had the power to make the decisions. Doctors could also appear disrespectful if the tried to maintain friendly eye contact (which was considered invasive, touched the head of an adult without permis-sion (grossly insulting), or beckoned with a crooked finger (appropriate only for ani-mals). And doctors could lose respect of their patients if they didn't act like authority figures. The young residents at MCMC did not enhance their status by their propensities for introducing themselves by their first names, wearing blue jeans under their white coats, carrying their medical charts in little backpacks, and drinking their coffee from Tommee Tippee cups.
Questions
1.
Name the cultural rules of the Hmong that the doctors violated.
2.
The passage points out why the young residents did not get respect from the Hmong. How do they get it from other people in the United States?
3.
What could be the consequences of treating people when the doctor follows different cultural rules from those of the patients?
4.
Is there anything that the doctors could have done to eliminate some of the cultural barriers that arose with the Hmong?
Even when we are thoroughly aware of all the barriers to effective cross-cultural communication and make use of available aids and tools to assist us in communicating with people from cultural and linguistic backgrounds different to our own, misunderstandings will occur. Misunderstandings occur in all communication, even between people from the same cultural and linguistic background. We cannot expect to get it right all of the time. What is important is that we know how to respond when a misunderstanding occurs and that we learn from our mistakes.
There is no absolute right or wrong in culture. Every culture is valid for the people of that culture or it would no longer exist as a culture. An Anthropologist or anyone who wants to work successfully between different cultures must understand the concept of Cultural Relativism and fight againstethnocentrism. I may be able to show the bottom of my foot or let people see my left hand. You may be able to walk around in much less clothing than me, and still be properly dressed. Certain gestures that I am allowed to make could be very bad in your culture. We do not normally kiss on cheeks when greeting, but that may be the best type of greeting for you.
But what I believe personally does not matter, because I have to place it carefully on a shelf where all other peoples beliefs can also be placed. I have to view this shelf as a shelf of good. It must be a shelf that is level and no part of it is above another. For me to operate as a human I must stay away from Ethnocentrism and my beliefs must be on the shelf with everyone else's. This is the way we can all communicate without mistrust and hatred. It is the only way I can exist. I have to believe for myself that every culture, every language, and every religion is equally good for the people that believe in them. I can still have my own private beliefs, but must realize that they are mine and not necessarily better just because they belong to me.
Multicultural coexistence and multicultural conceptions explicitly require that differences be maintained. But even though it is necessary to take advantage of obstacles and conflicts that arise in the exchange between cultures, this should only be a transitory phase. It is crucial not to regard these obstacles as fixed barriers of ethnocentrism but as driving forces indispensable to cultural interaction. It is through them that we are called upon to depart from the habit of regarding our own as well as foreign cultural positions, customs, texts, and literature only in the context of traditions, but to reassess and relocate them.
Reference: Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997), p. 65.
A cultural misunderstanding occurs when something--a word, gesture, object, social context, almost anything you can think of--has different meanings in two cultures. Sometimes the misunderstandings get resolved, sometimes they lead to deepening differences .Resolving cultural misunderstandings can clear the air, or even lead to laughter. Sometimes, though, unidentified cultural misunderstandings can also lead to festering resentments. It is only natural that when you are brought up in a society, that the things you were taught were proper behavior for everyone would have been deeply ingrained in your world view. If you were taught to make eye contact when you speak to someone, you will feel something is wrong with someone who averts their gaze. If you were taught to bow slightly in greeting, you will feel uncomfortable with someone reaching out to grasp your hand and to shake it. One of the most fascinating stories of cross-cultural misunderstanding is told by Anne Fadiman in her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.
A Hmong family who were refugees from Laos fled to the United States to escape from a war. Years later one of their children, Lia Lee, went to a hospital because she was having an epileptic attack. This event set in motion a huge problem between the Hmong, who thought that illness was a spiritual problem, and the U.S. doctors, who discounted the soul and focused on the body. This passage gives some idea of how communication can go wrong from the very beginning:
When doctors conferred with a Hmong family, it was tempting to address the reassuringly Americanized teenaged girl who wore lipstick and spoke English rather than the old man who squatted silently in the corner. Yet failing to work within the traditional Hmong hierarchy, in which males ranked higher than females and old people higher than young ones, not only insulted the entire family but also yielded confused results, since the crucial questions had not been directed toward those who had the power to make the decisions. Doctors could also appear disrespectful if the tried to maintain friendly eye contact (which was considered invasive, touched the head of an adult without permis-sion (grossly insulting), or beckoned with a crooked finger (appropriate only for ani-mals). And doctors could lose respect of their patients if they didn't act like authority figures. The young residents at MCMC did not enhance their status by their propensities for introducing themselves by their first names, wearing blue jeans under their white coats, carrying their medical charts in little backpacks, and drinking their coffee from Tommee Tippee cups.
Questions
1.
Name the cultural rules of the Hmong that the doctors violated.
2.
The passage points out why the young residents did not get respect from the Hmong. How do they get it from other people in the United States?
3.
What could be the consequences of treating people when the doctor follows different cultural rules from those of the patients?
4.
Is there anything that the doctors could have done to eliminate some of the cultural barriers that arose with the Hmong?
Even when we are thoroughly aware of all the barriers to effective cross-cultural communication and make use of available aids and tools to assist us in communicating with people from cultural and linguistic backgrounds different to our own, misunderstandings will occur. Misunderstandings occur in all communication, even between people from the same cultural and linguistic background. We cannot expect to get it right all of the time. What is important is that we know how to respond when a misunderstanding occurs and that we learn from our mistakes.
There is no absolute right or wrong in culture. Every culture is valid for the people of that culture or it would no longer exist as a culture. An Anthropologist or anyone who wants to work successfully between different cultures must understand the concept of Cultural Relativism and fight againstethnocentrism. I may be able to show the bottom of my foot or let people see my left hand. You may be able to walk around in much less clothing than me, and still be properly dressed. Certain gestures that I am allowed to make could be very bad in your culture. We do not normally kiss on cheeks when greeting, but that may be the best type of greeting for you.
But what I believe personally does not matter, because I have to place it carefully on a shelf where all other peoples beliefs can also be placed. I have to view this shelf as a shelf of good. It must be a shelf that is level and no part of it is above another. For me to operate as a human I must stay away from Ethnocentrism and my beliefs must be on the shelf with everyone else's. This is the way we can all communicate without mistrust and hatred. It is the only way I can exist. I have to believe for myself that every culture, every language, and every religion is equally good for the people that believe in them. I can still have my own private beliefs, but must realize that they are mine and not necessarily better just because they belong to me.
Multicultural coexistence and multicultural conceptions explicitly require that differences be maintained. But even though it is necessary to take advantage of obstacles and conflicts that arise in the exchange between cultures, this should only be a transitory phase. It is crucial not to regard these obstacles as fixed barriers of ethnocentrism but as driving forces indispensable to cultural interaction. It is through them that we are called upon to depart from the habit of regarding our own as well as foreign cultural positions, customs, texts, and literature only in the context of traditions, but to reassess and relocate them.
Reference: Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997), p. 65.