1. Confronting
Ethnocentrism:
The Key to
Developing Cultural
Competence
Dennis White, Ph.D.
dkwhite@itol.com

2. This presentation is available on line at
www.yeoresources.org
• A complete program that teaches the concepts
of culture and culture shock using the film
Outsourced is available on Drop Box
• Send me an email at:
Dkwhite@itol.com

3. This presentation is available on line at
www.yeoresources.org
• A 45 minute training DVD on Understanding
Cultural Differences (about 10 copies) for sale
from NAYEN
• Two short YE promotional videos (10 minutes
each) for sale from CSRYE
a. Recruiting Exchange Students
b. Recruiting Host Families (also with Spanish
subtitles)

4. The key to a successful
exchange program is
understanding culture

5. The key to understanding
culture is understanding
ethnocentrism

6. The keys to understanding
ethnocentrism are:
1. Actively looking for cultural
differences
2. Accepting those differences and
3. Adapting to differences, without
judgment

7. Culture
An integrated system of
learned behavior patterns that
are characteristic of any given
society.
It refers to the total way of
life, including how people
think, feel and behave.

8. Any given society refers to any
group to which we belong that
teaches us how to behave.
Examples include:
• Nations
• Ethnic sub-groups
• Religious groups
• Geographic regions
• Families
• etc.

9. Why does culture matter?
The vast majority of failed
exchanges have at their base the
inability to understand and adjust
to cultural differences

10. Why does culture matter?
But the reasons are often seen as
something else – “personality
differences” lack of interest from
the hosting Rotary Club, “rude
school classmates”, etc.

11. Why does culture matter?
Our inability, as YEOs, to
understand and adjust to cultural
differences can interfere with every
aspect of managing exchanges

12. Why does culture matter?
• Selection
• Placement
• Orientation
• In-country problems
• Early returns

13. The best preparation I
know is to try to
understand the concept
of culture and the idea of
cultural differences

14. Think of culture as the
lens through which you
view the world

15. If you are color blind, you
cannot see certain colors,
no matter how hard you
try

16. If you are “culture blind”,
you cannot see many
dimensions of other
cultures, no matter how
hard you try

20. Ethnocentrism:
The universal tendency for
any culture to see its own
values and practices as
natural and correct.

21. Versailles

24. Ethnocentrism:
The universal tendency for
any culture to see its own
values and practices as
natural and correct.

25. • In some ways, all people
are alike
• In some ways, people are
like others in their group
• In some ways people are
unique

26. • Universal
• Cultural
• Individual

27. The most common ethnocentric
assumption is that we can
translate literally from one
language to another, which
leads to both humorous and
serious mistakes.

28. What do they mean?
• On the door of a Moscow hotel
room:
• If this is your first visit to
Russia, you are welcome to it.
• Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop:
Ladies may have a fit upstairs.

29. What do they mean?
• The Minister unveiled the church's new
tithing (giving) campaign slogan last
Sunday:
"I Upped My Pledge (increased my
promise to donate money)
- Up Yours."
• This afternoon there will be a meeting in the
South and North ends of the church.
Children will be baptized at both ends

30. • In Mexico it was translated as “The Rebel
Novice Nun”
• The Sound of Music
• In the Czech Republic it was translated as
“Santa Is A Pervert”
• Bad Santa
• In China it was translated as “One Night,
Big Belly”
• Knocked Up
• In Venezuela it was translated as “Vaselina”
• Grease

31. At the very minimum, confronting
ethnocentrism teaches us that
there is almost always more than
one way to see something.
This is readily demonstrated in
optical or visual illusions

34. • Universal
• Cultural
• Individual

35. Example: Eating Food
• Everyone eats – Universal
• Different groups eat different foods – in
different ways – Cultural
• Some people don’t eat the way most of the
people in their culture eat - Individual

43. Normal Distribution of Any
Cultural Trait
Frequency
Amount of Trait

44. Comparing Two Cultures
(on any given trait)
In this example, there is some overlap, but the two cultures are
mostly different

45. Think of culture as the
lens through which you
view the world

51. The Cultural Iceberg
Conscious 1/8th above
behaviors the surface
Unconscious 7/8ths below
beliefs and the surface
values

52. • Universal
• Cultural
• Individual

53. Dancing

59. Ethnorelativism:
The acquired ability to see
many values, beliefs and
behaviors as cultural rather
than universal.

60. Universal vs. Cultural
• Greetings are universal
• How we greet is mostly cultural
Shake hands
Wave
Bow
Hug
Kiss – One, two, or three times…

63. Universal vs. Cultural
• Greetings are universal
• How we greet is mostly cultural
Shake hands
Wave
Bow
Hug
Kiss – One, two, or three times…
Wai

64. How high should one Wai
when greeting a Thai?
The answer that comes at us
Is it depends on their status

65. Bhichai Rattakul, RI
President,Thailand
2002-03

66. Nationally famous Australian cricket
player Dennis Lilee, when introduced to
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth simply, and
sincerely stated:
G’Day, mate, how ya goin’?

67. The Australians are really quite naïve
when it comes to greeting people.
They treat everyone exactly the same!

68. “The world in which you
were born is just one
model of reality. Other
cultures are not failed
attempts at being like
you. They are unique
manifestations of the
human spirit ”.
Wade Davis

69. Developing cultural
competence means
confronting the
experience of difference
Not the experience of
similarities

70. But in a new culture, with
differences that make us
uncomfortable …
That is exactly what we do!

71. In order to feel comfortable we:
1. Focus on other Inbounds (the
Inbound Syndrome), and
2. Maintain excessive contact
back home (the Homebound
Syndrome)

72. Hidden Values beneath the
surface
• Respect for age
• Proximity (personal space –
closeness or distance)
• Informality

73. Assumption:
Informality = Comfortability.
Reality: In some cultures
Formality = Comfortability.

75. • Respect for age
• Proximity (personal space –
closeness or distance)

77. Culture Shock
The profound sense of
disorientation and discomfort
that comes with extended travel
or living in a foreign culture
markedly different from one’s
own.

78. Kalvero Oberg
• Finnish Parents
• Born in Canada
• Studied in USA
• Led a career as a teacher and international
aid expert – became US citizen
• Assigned for a time in Brasil
• Gave a speech in Rio De Janeiro – August
3, 1954
• First recorded use of the term “culture
shock”

79. Stages of Culture Shock:
• Initial enthusiasm and excitement
• Irritability and negativism
• Gradual adjustment and adaptation
• Integration and bi-culturalism
Culture Shock.doc The Middle Wave of Culture
Shock.doc

80. Because Ethnocentrism is
usually unconscious, it is rarely
intentional.
That is we rarely start out
trying to be ethnocentric

84. Culture Shock
The profound sense of
disorientation and discomfort
that comes with extended travel
or living in a foreign culture
markedly different from one’s
own.

85. Culture Shock is stressful
Under stress we fall back to old
behavior - Ethnocentrism

86. When are we most stressed?
• Hungry
• Angry
• Lonely
• Tired
H.A.L.T.

87. These principles apply to any
intercultural experience, not just
Youth Exchange
• GSE Training
• World Community Service
• General Rotary Awareness

88. Examples of Irritability and Negativism
• If they mean “no” why don’t they say “no”?
• Why don’t they just tell me what something
costs?
• Why can’t anyone stand in line?
• Why do they drive so fast?
• Why are they always hugging? or
• Why don’t they ever hug?
• Why are their signs so hard to read?

89. Example: Floor elevation (uneven
surfaces)
• In the USA and Canada – floors going between
rooms are almost always on the same level
• In Thailand, and many other countries, this is
not necessarily so.

91. Example: Floor elevation (uneven
surfaces)
• In the USA and Canada – floors going between rooms
are almost always on the same level
• In Thailand, and many other countries, this is not
necessarily so.
• We expect the surfaces to be even, so we often trip or
stub out toes on the small step.
• Ethnorelativism would tell us – it isn’t right or wrong –
just different.
• But after stubbing my toe several times in one day after
a long day of travel, it is difficult not to be critical.

93. Studying the concept of
culture requires confronting
Ethnocentrism
– again and again

94. As H.A.L.T. increases
• Our tendency to think and behave
Ethnocentrically increases
• Our ability to think and behave in a
culturally sensitive and competent
manner decreases

96. “Some travelers want to go to foreign
places but are dismayed when the
places turn out actually to be foreign.”
Canadian author Margaret Atwood

97. When you travel, remember that a
foreign country is not designed to
make you comfortable. It is
designed to make its own people
comfortable.
Clifton Fadiman

98. No culture is static – all
cultures are constantly
changing – from within and
without
Once again, this is most
apparent in food

101. But the changes can be more dramatic
and important
• Slavery was once widespread and is no
longer legal anywhere in the world.
• Northern Ireland is relatively peaceful.
• The Berlin Wall has been gone for 23
years – longer than any of our current
students have been alive.

102. But the changes can be more dramatic
and important
• In 2004, RI President-elect Carl-Wilhelm
Stenhemmar said:

103. "My dream is for every 17-year old to
become a Youth Exchange Student.
If we could achieve this, there would
be no more wars."
Carl-Wilhelm Stenhemmar,
Rotary International President 2004-2005

104. We are making a difference
in the culture of the world
– the culture of peace.
And you deserve to give
yourselves a “well done”!

108. This is my prayer, oh God of all the nations
A prayer of peace for lands afar and mine
This is my home, the country where my heart lies,
Here lie my hopes my dreams like stars that shine
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

109. My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine
But other skies have sunlight too, and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
Oh hear my prayer oh God of all the nations
A prayer of peace for their land and for mine