Our framework defines global as both a local and international phenomena. Many people in our local communities have deep international connections. Global interchange is not new, but it is complicated by how compressed and accelerated our interactions are in modern times. If we want our interactions to go well, they are likely to require more time and determination, as well as new awareness, communication and behavioral skills. (To read more click: Global Interchange  — Not new just really intense these days. )

In the modern era, it is increasingly challenging to not be in direct contact with people of cultures different from one’s own.  Perhaps there may still be some very remote places from which people have not ventured out or to which new people have not gone in recent times. Perhaps the wealthiest in the world can isolate themselves on an island completely dis-engaged from others.  For the most part, we encounter people of different cultures in every realm of our lives:  our families, our neighborhoods, our commercial centers, our government agencies, our recreational centers, our schools, our work environments, our media.  As we interact with others in our day to day lives, we are increasingly likely to be engaged in multiple intercultural interactions.  That is, we will engage in interactions with people who have a first language, communication style, concept of personal space, beliefs and values, perception of time, and countless hidden or visible behaviors different than our own.   If we want these intercultural interactions to go well, they are likely to take additional time and determination as well as additional awareness, communication and behavioral skills that we may not have readily available to us.  This set of skills have been referred to as intercultural sensitivity when emphasizing awareness, intercultural communication when featuring  communication, and intercultural competence when highlighting behaviors.  

This intercultural skill set , even at the most basic level of awareness, does not yet come naturally to humankind.   We inevitably approach others with our own cultural lens and may not even recognize the ways in which a particular interaction is intercultural. (Click here to read more about )

We affirm through our Global Intercultural Circle work that we are not hopelessly unaware or in denial of the intercultural dynamics within our personal relationships  and our communities. Intercultural sensitivity — along with curiosity, courage, attentive listening, humility, and openness to change — can be cultivated.  While it is a slow process, we are discovering that we each have the capacity to develop our awareness, follow our curiosity, buttress our courage, enhance our power of observation, refine our listening, extend our humility, and open ourselves to experience interconnectedness with those who are culturally different.  We can develop our intercultural communication skills and expand our concept of self and community.   We can think about intercultural work as a journey.  A journey that begins with awareness of ourselves as a cultural person, shaped and influenced by the culture(s) of our parents and of the other significant people with whom we engaged in our formative years.   This awareness is most likely to be retroactive.  Those of us who are of a majority culture in a given context are not likely in our formative years to come to the realization that we are products of that culture unless our parents were intentional about bringing this to our attention.  Without such intentionality, we are not likely to recognize that we are of a culture until we have an experience with people from a different culture and are prompted to reflect about this experience.