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Encountering the Culturally DiverseEmpathy and Dialogue in Intercultural
Spiritual Care
Adriana P. Cavina2014
Part One:Living Human Documents and the Global Society:Developing Pastoral Competencies from an Intercultural
Worldview Part Two:
Finding Our Place:Self, Story and Context in the Global Society
Part Three:Empathy and Cross-cultural DialogueConnecting Across the Bridge of Intercultural
Communication
Table of Contents
Globalization and its impact on education The relationship between globalization and the
multicultural society Pastoral competencies in multicultural contexts Supervisory competencies in multicultural
pastoral education The place of self and story in intercultural
empathy The new paradigm of “inter-subjectivity”
What we will be focusing on
Part One:
Spiritual Care in the Global Society Developing Pastoral Competencies from an
Intercultural Worldview
Living Human Documents and the Global Society
The study of “living human documents” is the “careful and systematic study of the lives of persons struggling with the issues of the spiritual lives in the concreteness of their relationships” to the aim of “restoring the connection between the language of theology and the language of human experience”
Charles Gerkin, The Living Human Document
What changes in this definition today?Today we would need to add: ...“the language of human experience in a society where relationships take place in a digital, virtual, mediatic, global, multilayered context ”....
We live most of our relational lives through social media in the context of global markets and global political scenarios
Living Human Documents in an Intercultural Perspective
Sherry Turkle, cultural analyst, sociologist and psychologist, teaches at the MIT. She argues that
“the social media we encounter on a daily basis are confronting us with a moment of temptation. Drawn by the illusion of companionship without the demands of intimacy, we confuse postings and online sharing with authentic communication. We are drawn to sacrifice conversation for mere connection.
Technology promises to let us do anything from anywhere with anyone. But it also drains us as we try to do everything everywhere. We begin to feel overwhelmed and depleted by the lives technology makes possible. We may be free to work from anywhere, but we are also prone to being lonely everywhere. In a surprising twist, relentless connection leads to a new solitude. We turn to new technology to fill the void, but as technology ramps up, our emotional lives ramp down”.
Social Media and the Search for Connection
Turkle affirms: “In constant digital contact, we feel ‘Alone Together’ ”She explains: “These days cultural norms are rapidly shifting. We used to equate growing up with the ability to function independently. These days always-on connection leads us to reconsider a more collaborative self. All questions about autonomy look differently now if, on a daily basis, we are together even when we are alone.”
Sherry Turkle. Alone Together. Why We Expect More From Technology And Less From Each Other. New York, Basic Books, 2011.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together
A New Maturity in Interpersonal Relationships?
What does it mean to have a conversation in today’s world?
How do you carry on a conversation in today’s world?
....I’d rather text than talk...
Question for the group
The second feature of our time, beside social media, is the world wide web, that takes to us to look at globalization. Globalization is not a concept; it is something we observe and experience; it is the heart of the society we live in.
Society moves at the speed of possible communication and spread of information.
In a society that becomes global, the question to ask is: Is education in rhythm with the movement of people
and ideas in today’s world?
Global Society and Culture
1. Development of global financial markets, growth of transnational corporations, and their increasing domination over national economies. (tight economic definition)
2. Globalization of information and culture, spread of TV, internet, social media, digital and other forms of communication, and the increased mobility and commercialization of ideas. (broad social definition)
George Soros, On Globalization
Two Views of Globalization
“What happens when the movement of people, goods, or ideas among countries and regions accelerates.
While human lives continue to be lived in local realities, these realities are increasingly being challenged and integrated into larger global networks of relationships”
Suarez-Orozco, Globalization. Culture and Education in the New Millennium
Globalization, a definition
The world is “flat” (Thomas Friedman) because:• events happen on the simultaneous world wide
web of global communication• (artistic, commercial, industrial) production takes
place through simultaneous processes in different world locations
A “flat” world requires new skills, and new paradigms for teaching and learning.
The question that challenges us is: How to study a “living human document” in a flat,
globalized world?
The World is Flat
The Endless Knot of ourLiving Web
Our differences are inextricably woven together
We live on the same planet and share the same resources, breathe the same air
We are connected physically, and also emotionally and spiritually
In our pastoral/spiritual assessment work, we are confronted with a question:
How to place people (individuals and groups with their private suffering)
in context (socio-economic, cultural, global context)?
Suffering always takes place in a context that can support the
suffferer but also contribute to the suffering
The Domain of Difference and the Domain of Complexity“All modern nations contradict themselves: they contain multitudes” Clifford Geertz
Managing differences has become one of the greatest challenges worldwide in multicultural countries
It requires a “global intent”, the world-encompassing mental process that changes our awareness of how the local and the distant are connected in a global (universal, world-wide) reality
It requires also that we rethink what we mean with “identity” globally.
The process of creating an “Us”.....should it inevitably involve creating a “Them” –those not like us.
The Two Domains of Globalization
Negotiating differences requires energy and a special attitude:
the ability to consider multiple perspectives and worldviews
to reverse mental routines of thought and to consider multiple hypotheses
to embrace different cultural views and practices to argue freely and respectfully within a framework of
difference to integrate personal and collective identity with
restraint, respect, humility; avoiding the “narcissism of small differences”
Negotiating Differences
In summary:Across the globe, there is an increasing amount of
intricate demographics, economies, political processes, media and information
The revolution of the World Wide Web, the global diffusion of social media, the spread of information in the fastest and easiest of times characterize the way we live and relate to one another
This creates the need for a different paradigm of teaching and learning
We are all part of this global system. It is not something we have to study. It is an identity we already have and that we need to assume consciously.
We are local citizens of a global society
Complexity in the Global Society and Intercultural Practices
What is required of a new educational paradigm:Individuals who are cognitively flexible, culturally
sophisticated, and able to work collaboratively in groups made up of diverse individuals
Competencies required of students increase exponentially generation after generation
We are asked to expand our scope of teaching and learning, at the same
time placing our educational work against the background of
its specific context, a paradox we need to live in
Education in the “www.com” society
Howard Gardner affirms that the global society requires certain new skills, abilities, and understandings; among which:
1. Understanding the global system2. Ability to think analytically and
creatively within disciplines, and to tackle problems and issues that do not respect disciplinary boundaries
3. Knowledge of, and respect for, one’s own cultural tradition as well as other cultures and traditions.
Howard Gardner, How Education Changes
Education and Globalization
A set of individual attitudes and communication and practice skills that enables the nurse to work effectively within the cultural context of individuals and families from diverse backgrounds
Diana Gustafson, Transcultural Nursing Theory from a Critical Cultural Perspective. In: Advances in Nursing Science, Vol.28, 2005, 2-16
Cultural Competence
An attitude of respect when approaching people of different cultures, which entails engagement in a process of self-reflection and self-critique requiring an ability to move beyond one’s own biases
ACPE 2010 Standards, Definition of Terms
Cultural Humility
Attitudes, values, opinions, concepts, and philosophy of life, built within the viewpoints of one’s cultural upbringing and adjusted to individual personality and lifestyles.
“Every standpoint or worldview shapes what is possible to see and what is obscured. Each standpoint is based on a set of assumptions that structures how one sees and interprets the world”.
Gustafson
Individual Worldviews
Universality and Particularity
Every human being operates in the world by expressing:
What is universal (consciousness of self, ability to make use of symbols, having a body, going through a lifecycle, experiencing emotions, -fear and joy, anger and pain, etc..)
What belongs to his/her group (norms, customs, beliefs, socio-cultural location, role and gender expectations, etc..)
What is unique of him/ her as an individual (unique genetic endowment, personal experiences, character and personality, etc..)
David Augsburger
No person is an island. We are always “situated” (culturally, historically,
geographically, relationally)We belong to several groups, that are separate from
others, overlapping others, containing others, and contained by others.
We are all embedded, both culturally and contextually, and moving though successive phases of being “rooted out” , “staying put” for a while, and “embedded’ again.
Robert Kegan
How then can I know you....... if not in a context? How do I know at all ……if not out of my context?
Not Just Cultural Beings, and Yet….Mostly Cultural Beings
Two pitfalls to avoid:being “encapsulated” in one ethnocentric view of
life that veils and obscures the other, and misses both the individual context and the global connection.
being blinded by “universalism”
Becoming aware of socio-cultural complexity is the first step. Then we become sensitive to cultural differences, which is preliminary to acquiring cultural competence.
There are no shortcuts
Steps to Acquire Cultural Competence in a Global Society
When we talk about being culturally and spiritually sensitive, we start with ourselves and our own personal assumptions.
We have a life-long unconscious framework of our world. This framework of values influences all we do.
1. The first invitation is for us to become aware of our own assumptions before we can appreciate the cultural and spiritual values and customs of others.
2. The second invitation is to acquire clarity of the context in which the cross-cultural encounter takes place: both the specific local context and the global society context, both the spiritual care context and the technological and digital context
Start where you are
End of Part One
Part Two:Self, Story and Context in the Global
Society
Encountering and engaging with diversity
In our increasingly more complex personal and professional formation, our educational “tool bag” should include some specific tools:
Cultural awareness of our own personal story Specific knowledge of cultural dynamics, and
especially when a power differential is in place A receptive attitude to intercultural exploration Cross-cultural skills in communication and
dialogue Genuine passion for multicultural settings and
intercultural exchangesand it will not be enough, if we do not learn
to dance……….
The Process of Building Multicultural Competencies
Intercultural communication:a circle-dance movement
Sharing our storiesSharing our values and beliefsSharing our personal contexts
Building a new story
A new story is built every time the cross-cultural encounter modifies both partners. Differences remain but they are engaged openly, trustfully, fully. There is a common ground we share with all:
The process of formation of our cultural identity (though not, its content).
Building a new story
Different Worlds, Worlds of Difference
To extend our professional care to others or educate others, we need to enter into another person’s unique world of meaning, but meaning is based on a world-view and
world-views, worlds of meaning, are socially constructed and maintained
This process of socialization of worldviews is the common ground we all share
...We may begin to see its connection today with the global society we live in....
Attitudes, values, opinions, concepts, and philosophy of life, built through the lenses of one’s cultural upbringing
There are no value-free worldviews and lifestyles. Every choice we make, every dream we dream, every action and commitment of ours, are based on a specific set of values, beliefs and norms that are deeply embedded in a specific culture.
Since I belong to a culture, to connect cross culturally I need to start with me. How am I a cultural being? What is my culture? What should I know to enter someone else’s cultural world?
World-Views
The way we understand others and the world around us is by way of three central ideas:
Categorization, or “analogical understanding”, understanding myself and others
by applying categories, or measuring blocks (may lead to build walls of separation…)
Identification,or looking for the “places of belonging”, of similarities,
defining people on the basis of where they belong (may lead to feelings of isolation…) Social comparison,
or “how similar/different am I from the other(s)?”, “where am I located in the general context?” (may arise feelings of inferiority or superiority…)
Personal Identity and Understanding Others
The prism of cultural identification
Cultural identity is a rainbow
How many ethnic/ cultural traits do you recognize in yourself?
Reflect on your roots, family, generations, travels, places, encounters, studies, new and old values, habits, etc…
What is your present culture composed of?
WE ARE MANY CULTURES IN ONE PERSON
The characters of my life story
Whose voices sit in the circle of my life and identity?
parents, teachers, extended family, friends, mentors….
socio-political events and conditions
cultural norms, values and beliefs
geography and placePut some word for
each chair …….
This is a personal exerciseTake time to reflect and write down 5 things that you
know you have because were handed down to you by your family of origin, the society you lived in, the school, etc..
They may be values or beliefs or something really important for you.
Then, find one person in the group whom you do not know well, and share it with him/her, taking turns
10 minutes
How do I come to be who I am?
How could one tolerate a foreigner if one did not know one was a stranger to oneself? Julia Kristeva
Whether you are aware of it or not, you are the product of your environment, your time and place, the family who raised you, the society you lived in
If we do not explore the forces that have shaped our own identity and all the forces that shape other people’s identities,we may not avoid the “unintentional racism” that is born out of cultural blindness
We need three qualities to accompany this process of recognition:
Humility, compassion, critical thinking
We are all culturally “situated”
Humility: the capacity to regard oneself in the company of others as one, but not more than one
Compassion, or an attitude of charity towards others: to regard our neighbor as ourselves, as fully as oneself, and appreciate those who challenge my beliefs and values
Critical thinking: the capacity to see things as they really are, to continually question my assumptions, and look for explanations that go beyond what appears self-evident
Pamela Hays
The virtues of a culturally responsive pastoral caregiver
Through observation and the exercise of wonder
• I suspend what I know so that I might discover what I could not see before.
• Both set the stage for perceiving familiar things in radically new ways; both raise the possibility of new understanding.
• From wonder I can move to the nature of interior landscapes, the sensory parameters of world views, and the search for the unique essence of another
Alfred Margulies, The Empathic Imagination
How does one approximate the cultural experience of another?
Let us take a clear look at how social media characterize interpersonal communication: it must be
Immediate (what is going on with me now)Shared (bouncing information with the largest group people across distances)Public (the concept of “private” has undergone huge change)Narcissistic (my little world is of interest for everyone)Visual (photos, images, videos)Entertaining (the world is my stage)
The observation of social media
Intercultural Process in a Global Society is a Möbius band
The consequence of all this is that personal boundaries have acquired different meaning; and that they are flexible and permeable; there is a new practice of interchange that cannot be ignored.
The complexity that lives in me
Our basic nature as human beings is a combination of sameness and differences
I am me, and you are you, but actually, in some way, I am also you and you are also me. And we both belong to a larger “we”….So,…
Who am I? Who are you? And what does “we” really mean?
An “interpersonal identity dance ”
In a two-person interaction, the “I” and the “You” move fluidly as in a dance, change position, their worldviews come together and influence each other
In viewing the world through your eyes, I am not just enriched, I am transformed
We have co-created a new reality
Relationship is viewed as a two-person co-construction of reality, as opposed to the view of two isolated subjects each regarding the other as an object.
Self and the other become intertwined in the relational matrix
This is the space of Intersubjectivity, the “shared wisdom” through which we come to know one another
Pamela Cooper-White, Sacred Wisdom. Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling
The New Relational Paradigm in Pastoral Care
The new paradigm advocates for a complex relational structure in which two subjects are understood as reciprocal subjects.
Aspects of selfness and of otherness both appear in the relational space in between two subjects, as the relationships unfolds and is co-created.
There is no more a “subject/object” mode of relating, but a shared process of reciprocal relating.
Reality is perceived and lived through a co-construction operated by a complex connectivity of different worldviews
Intersubjectivity and Complexity in Pastoral Care
Inter-subjectivity is the space where cultural humility meets cultural competence
In meeting you, I recognize that my inner worldview is influenced and changed by your internal and external world
The same happens to you. I know my self and your self as I observe the
reciprocal influences in the space in between us.We “make meaning” in a relational context
Intersubjectivity and Cultural Humility
First requirement to fully engage in the dance of intersubjectivity is self-awareness:
To write a personal cultural historyThe elements: Identity formationSocial location, or socio-cultural contextFamiliarity with multilayered contexts, such
multifaith, multispiritual, different avenues of global information and communication
Writing our personal cultural history
Seeing my personal development as part of a larger process of cultural and ethnic identity formation
Recognizing the influence of cultural conditioning in shaping relational attitudes and power dynamics
Becoming conversant with issues of prejudice, bias and power as related to identity
Seeing my place in the wider context of global connectivity
Recognizing the place of global information in the shaping of my worldviews
Steps of the Interpersonal Intercultural Dance
End of Part Two
Part Three:
Empathy and Connection Across the Bridge of Intercultural Communication
Multicultural Competencies in Clinical Pastoral Education
Developing Competencies: Empathy and Care in Multicultural
Encounters
Empathy is the ability to feel with, to enter in,
the affective and cognitive world of another,
and to provide a sustained emotional presence.
Interpathy is the ability to enter into a second culture cognitively, affectively and respectfully, and to bridge over different worldviews to provide an empathic presence.
Defining Empathy
Cultural Issues in our Clinical Pastoral Environment
Dynamics of personal cultural awareness, cross-cultural skills, empathic connection and intercultural engagement appear in the Student-Patient relationship
as well as in theSupervisor-Student relationship
as well as in theInstitutional context
as well as in the Patient-Institutional context
The Clinical Rhombus
“People fail to get along because they fear each other.
People fear each other because they don’t understand each other.
They don’t know each other because they have not properly communicated with each other.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Failed communication is based on ignorance that gives birth to insensitivity.
We begin with acquiring Cultural awarenessThen we move toCultural sensitivityAnd finally we get toCultural competence
Dynamics of Cultural Insensitivity
Empathy is a disposition, a willingness to stay open and available in the inter-subjective space
Empathy is an integrated set of skills of participant observation, artful inquiry, imagination, intuition, tolerance, interpersonal dance
Empathy is a space for story-telling, where different experiences and different worldviews can meet
Empathy is an embodied experience where connection occurs in body, mind and spirit
The Nature of Empathic Encounters
To connect cross-culturally in awareness,we need to be open to enter cultural borderlands, the area where differences and similarities overlap, and then
develop a tolerance for ambiguitycreate a space for not-knowing
where we can remain open to the other, whatever the other cultural and spiritual identity may be. Empathy can grow when cultural identity and diversity find recognition, acceptance and celebration
Tools for acquiring awareness
A profound, sincere, open-minded, curiosity for the diversity of human nature.
Tools for acquiring sensitivity
The ability to provide accurate and effective pastoral/spiritual assessment that includes:
Cultural influences and valuesSocial locationIssues of racial-ethnic identityGeographical, generational, linguistic context
within the framework of a solid awareness of, and familiarity with, the same elements in myself
Tools for acquiring competence
Therefore, a culturally competent chaplain/CPE student needs to be able to: Provide appropriate and specific-to-the-case guidance,
support and presence with an awareness of cultural and contextual issues
Understand cultural identities with their norms and behaviors, values and beliefs, different worldviews and different spiritual frames of reference, such as: Relation of individual and family to community Social location Different use of time and space Different communication patterns Locus of identity validation and socially accepted ability
to make independent choices
Culturally competent chaplains/CPE students
CPE is a not a US “local reality”Worldwide developments in pastoral care have opened the doors to the globalization, internationalization, and indigenization of pastoral care and counselingEmmanuel Lartey, in: Pastoral Care and Counseling. Redefining the Paradigms, 87-108
The results of this process for the pastoral formation involve the necessity of :
Understanding the importance of socio-cultural location in the identity formation of every individual, and of cultural worldviews in the modality with which every individual copes with suffering and loss
Seeing intercultural dialogue as the paradigm of every intersubjective encounter and affirming its crucial importance for personal and interpersonal growth
New Paradigms for CPE
In our global, interdependent world, we realize that we cannot understand the world, nor exist as whole persons in it, without understanding its pluralism.
We do not have the option of ignoring the diversity around us.
We learn about who we are in the process of learning about others.
Kathleen Talvacchia, Critical Minds and Discerning Hearts
A central truth in multicultural teaching and learning
A critical mind understands that social location and culture define identity and that identity is linked with social structures of power and inequity on a global scale, …and integrates all this in teaching
A discerning heart understands that learners are more than their socio-cultural context, that there are contradictions and differences between our experiences, and yet that we are deeply embedded in our story,…and integrates all this in teaching
What are the consequences of the new paradigm for CPE supervisors?
Preliminaries for the “global citizen” of CPE:
Staying humble while thinking critically Viewing our place in the global network Daring to add complexity to our professional
practices Recognizing the obstacles to cultural competence:
confusion, defensiveness, fear, ignorance, pain, the attachment to one’s particular view, bias and power with its correlated systems of oppression
Being willing to embrace the new in supervision Learning to engage in an intercultural dance that is
spiritual, emotional, and deeply challenging
Becoming Interculturally Competent
The capacity to know and explain one’s own “cultural set”, one’s own spiritual and cultural foundation
The capacity to identify experience and information that are outside of one’s own spiritual/cultural frame of reference or world-view, and to learn about “otherness”
The capacity to demonstrate multicultural attitude and approach, and dialogical cross-cultural communication skills
The capacity to identify contextual and relational barriers, as well as one’s limitations in communication practice, and to demonstrate respect for otherness
What measures our cultural competence?
Cultural competence in pastoral practice is a process that requires both competence and humility.
As reflective practitioners: We engage constantly in self-reflection and self-
critique, and try to redress power imbalance by giving voice to those with less power
We are able to say that we do not know when we truly do not know, and to access resources that might enhance our understanding
Culturally competent or culturally humble?
“Being more inclusive of diversity is not simply a matter of assimilating different voices: it means rethinking how we supervise, taking into account those contributions from different perspectives”
H. Anderson, Pastoral Supervision at the Crossroads:, JSTM 20, 2000, 8-12.
Integrating diversity calls for a prophetic voice; it requires that we work for justice and equality in building curricula, defining tasks, choosing themes, establishing goals; it makes us to prefer connection over privilege and habit; and it keeps us open to change, new learning and ongoing negotiation.
Rethinking diversity in pastoral supervision
End of presentation
We touched the meaning of:InterculturalInterspiritualIntersubjectivityGlobal SocietySocial MediaWorld Wide WebNew paradigms of teaching and learning........but the unifying circle of all remains the human experience of love and loss that characterizes living across all cultures and places and makes us truly human...
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