Humanities Principles of Intercultural Competence

Question :

Explain the Principles of intercultural competence.

Answer :

It is the ability of an individual to interact with people of different cultures effectively. There are four components of intercultural competence such as awareness of one's own cultural worldview, attitude towards cultural differences, cross-cultural skills, as well as knowledge of different cultural practices and worldview (Arasaratnam-Smith, 2017). Developing cultural competence helps in improving the ability of an individual to understand different cultures and effectively communicate with people across cultures.

Thus, understanding and developing intercultural competence will help me as well to understand the world around me, and interacting with people of different cultures effectively. The principles of intercultural competence will help me to improve my ability to communicate or interact with people of different cultures effectively. The principles of intercultural competence will not only allow me to understand the culture of others but I will also be aware of my own culture. It is necessary to understand own culture in order to have a better picture of different cultures. Thus, I will focus to understand my own culture, values, and practices. It will help me to get insight into the cultural practices of different cultures. It will also entail an awareness about my own perspective, my views on myself, others, as well as the world around me.

The principles of intercultural competence help me to identify and analyze the challenges as well as the benefits of intercultural communication, alliances, and relationship. As I will recognize the challenges of intercultural interaction and relationships, I can work on finding solutions to deal with the challenges and interact with the people of a different culture. I can communicate with people of different cultures effectively and understand the values and cultural practices of other cultures. It is important to gain respect because interacting with people of a different culture will allow understanding the perspective of people towards certain things (Deardorff & Arasaratnam-Smith, 2017). Thus, the perspective of people can be changed or altered. I can also develop different core skills such as the ability to observe, listen, analyze, interpret things, etc.

Intercultural alliance for social justice 

Intercultural alliances for social justice are being significantly used by people in the United States. Intercultural alliances are used by people to negotiate the issue of power as well as a privilege. It is used to improve interpersonal communication as well as relationship. It helps in challenging prejudices as well as stereotypes. Most importantly, intercultural alliances enhance social justice within society or across society. With the help of it, a sustained alliance is created across ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural differences that threat economic, social, and political system that has significantly divided as well as isolated groups (Lawless, 2016). Using intercultural alliances helps in mitigating this threat and integrating people of different cultures. It promotes equity as well as liberty across cultures. Underprivileged groups are being uplifted socially and economically. They are also getting space to actively participate in the political system. 

References

Arasaratnam-Smith, L. A. (2017). Intercultural competence. Intercultural competence in higher education: International approaches, assessment, and application.