Self though about intercultural experiences

Timothe CAPALDI
Not the ones speaking with the same language, but the ones sharing the same feeling
understand each other Rumi

The world is a wide place full of different people and cultures. When they meet each
other, an intercultural experience is born. Bennett wrote an article about the way people
behave when they enter in such a situation. He even described 6 stages from the most
ethnocentric (Denial) to the most ethnorelative (Integration) via Defense, minimization,
acceptance and adaptation. These stages all together make a model called Developmental
Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS).

To say a bit more about the DMIS model, follows a small description of the 6 stages.

1) Denial: Dont even considering any cultural difference.

centric
Ethno-

2) Defense: Recognizing cultural differences but in a stereotyped and polarized way.

3) Minimization: Better tolerance of superficial cultural diversity. Focusing on similarities.
4) Acceptance: Knowing different cultural perceptions.
relative
Ethno-

5) Adaptation: Adapting reasoning and actions to different cultural behaviors.

6) Integration: Developing a feeling of membership in another culture.

My personal perception of these stages

After reading that Bennett article How to be interculturally competent and knowing about
DMIS, Im questioning myself: What stage am I currently in? How can I upgrade?

Am I in Denial? As a French student in exchange in Eindhoven Netherland, I can say I did

experienced intercultural situations. But is it really affecting me? Im not always feeling it...
Maybe thats because Im not that far from my home country and people arent that
different. Im also thinking like we are all humans and sometimes I might literally deny
cultural differences. Finally I could even deny Bennett theory about intercultural experiences
and his model to avoid classification.

If I was in that stage, I could elevate to Minimization (I dont think Defense is a real
evolution from denial, I rather say there is no differences between people from different
cultures than to defend whatever value from any other one). Im actually experiencing
minimization when I expect people to understand behavior that I might feel natural. I am
already elevating saying that last thing because I stated cultural differences. I am no longer
in denying it.

Now lets elevate to Acceptance. The gap I need to cross is recognizing my own culture. I am
French, I do have some innate values that Dutch people might not have and they have some
that I dont.
Acceptance is described by Bennett as the Ability to experience another culture without
having to adapt to it. So how to evolve? Adapt.

I did experience Adaptation when I first arrive in Netherland. At school for instance, the
Dutch scholar system is very different from the French one. I used to be very annoyed by the
way it goes in France, we had like weekly tests, a lot of lectures and not enough autonomy.
Here Im free to do whatever I want and thats something I really adapted to.

I also adapted to Dutch diet, Im eating breakfast in the morning, another breakfast at 12
and one warm meal for dinner. In France I used to eat the warm meal at 12 and some simple
salad or soup for dinner. And I also used to eat only one breakfast. Normal way.

Finally, the wisest of all stages (or actually the most ethnorelative one): Integration.

To reach this stage, I would need to live a long time in my new environment and appropriate
its lifestyle as mine. I never experienced it yet. My longest journey into another culture was
last year in Malta. Ive been there for 3 months for an internship and I did nearly integrate to
the company I was working in. Still their culture is different from mine, they are very
religious and do some weird stuff like firing bombs on hilltops all day long during the
summer to chase the devil away or enchained themselves and walk through the streets for
Easter. That are things that made me see the separation between my culture and theirs. But
thats also because of different belief.

In conclusion to that first paragraph, I can say I did experience little bit of every stage of
DMIS and I can feel what Bennett is talking about. After that analysis, I can picture myself in
the adaptation stage. I can also think about ways to improve myself (in that model point of
view). For example, the trip Im going to have to Berlin with my classmates might bring me
more in an intercultural situation and I might integrate more to all of them.

That was to describe all the stages and give examples of when did I personally felt in any of
them. Now Im asking myself one more general question about the DMIS and evolutions
inside the model.

Is elevation from a stage permanent?

In my opinion, none of these stages are permanent unless youre very thick headed person. I
think we all experience all of the stages in different situation. Of course travelling and
meeting more people foster evolution in the DMIS and if you always stay home, youll never
change your mind. But for most people, I think its natural to evolve without even knowing
that Bennett model.

References

Bennett, M. (2004). Becoming interculturally competent. In J. Wurzel (Ed.), Toward multiculturalism:

A reader in multicultural education (2nd ed., pp. 62-77). Newton, MA: Intercultural Resource
http://www.idrinstitute.org/page.asp?menu1=15