Text D Stereotypes: An Intercultural No-No

As more or more people from different backgrounds, countries, cultures and religions immigrate to foreign lands, those countries become an intercultural melting pot. In order for the native people and the immigrant population to blend and create a thriving and successful atmosphere both sides need to develop some sort of intercultural tolerance and understanding of the differences that may exist between them. An example of poor intercultural understanding, or one based simply on stereotypes, is offered by the town of Herouxville in Quebec, Canada.

A declaration issued by the town in January 2007, which was designed to inform immigrants, “that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here, (i. e. Herouxville)”. It then went on to state that the immigrant population would therefore have to refrain from their cultural norms and activities such as to“kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them, etc. ”

The declaration paints a rather sad picture of the officials that administer the town and highlights not only their rather insular outlook but a world view of“others”based on crass and frankly incorrect stereotypes. To simply consider that anyone from another country (in this case more than likely a Middle Eastern or Asian one) regards the stoning of women and burning them alive as part of daily life derives from crude, and media led, stereotypes of other peoples.

Stereotypes are at their most basic level a set of assumed characteristics about a certain group of people whose actual beliefs, habits and realities more often than not disagree with the imposed assumptions. Stereotypes are usually based on factors such as exaggeration, distortion, ignorance, racism, cultural factors or even historical experiences. Stereotyping is therefore rightly seen as a negative way of seeing people. This is even true of what are called“positive stereotypes”. A positive stereotype is where we use a blanket expression for a whole people, i. e. all the Chinese are great at maths, all Germans are well organized or all English people are well mannered. Although the intent behind the statement is positive, it still does not reflect the truth.

What we have witnessed in Herouxville should not be seen as an isolated incident. Such assumptions about foreigners exist all over the planet. However, this does not make it right or excusable. The message it does give is that there is a lot of work to be done in order to educate people to become more culturally competent.

Cultural competency is a term used to describe the ability to work, communicate and live across cultures and cultural boundaries. One achieves this through an instilled understanding of cultures on a general level as well as an informed one about specific cultures on a more detailed level. As well as knowledge it has to work in tandem with behavioral and attitudinal changes.

Cultural competency is important in this day and age for exactly the reasons cited in this article. We, as citizens of planet earth, are no longer confined to our national and cultural borders. We mix with people from different cultures, ethnicities, religions and colors on a daily basis. In order to make this intercultural experience work on all levels from education to business to government, people have to develop basic skills in intercultural communication and understanding.

(Excerpted from http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/stereotypes-intercultural.html)

Questions for Discussion or Reflection

1. What can you learn from the example of Herouxville in terms of intercultural communication?

2. What does the term“stereotype”mean? What kind of impact can stereotypes have on individuals?

3. How can we break negative stereotypes?

For Fun

Herouxville: It is 160km (100 miles) north-east of Montreal with a population of about 1,300. In January 2007, its council published the new rules on the town's website: “We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here. ”“We consider it completely outside norms to. . . kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc. ”This declaration put Quebec into a huge debate on integrating immigrant cultures.