At the Heart of Cross-Cultural Praxis

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Holistically oriented cross-cultural educators at the front line of globalizing initiatives demand sustainable transactional processes, underpinned by dialogical ethics in which everyone has equal responsibility. However, mainstream cross-cultural education systems, their viewpoints and static (deterministic) rules that are underpinned by the static (deterministic) idea that ‘people are nothing but a pack of neurons’ create barred enclosures that alienate alternative viewpoints and approaches. They also create ethical dilemma in those who operate within the system to earn an income, but are of themselves creative people who pioneer new approaches and believe in conflict as a constructive force. My research shows that the ‘pack of neurons’ notion subliminally effects people’s individual and collective psyche in disastrous ways that, in turn, results in stronger feelings of diaspora and pathos, with the subsequent longing for unison, which makes people easy targets to be preyed upon and dominated by entropic forces that are usually not open to public view.
The documentary in this presentation forms a visual manifestation of how some holistically oriented cross-cultural educators cope with mainstream ideology, and challenges previous polarizations of individual and cultural identity whilst alluding to a sense of place that may be seen as transcendental and alludes to another sense of being ‘at home’. After the documentary-presentation there will be space for dialogue.

Stream: Cultural Sustainability

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Jose is a teacher/researcher in Expression & Communication/Human Dynamics/Cross-Cultural Education. Her PhD in cross-cultural education focused on the mainstream’s pre-occupation with ‘uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005) that is demonstrated in linear theories and (research) practices, where individual and group phenomena are compared and contrasted as if they are static (unmoving, unvarying) objects and/ or objects in ‘real-time’. Her thesis described that due to discard of groupthink and of sensations, the belief persists that the ‘external world’ is different to, and separate from the ‘internal world’. As a result, cultural clashes continue to occur. Jose's research also showed that the word ‘cross’ is often associated with ‘suffering’ which may be why the word ‘cross’ is increasingly ‘blanked out’ in cultural education and research. Her documentary was made to show that the archetype ‘cross’ is a powerful symbol and when brought into focus, actually generates an opportunity to move beyond ‘static’ frameworks and evokes dialogue.