FINAL BLOG POST

Since I've had the opportunity to travel to so many different places, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of people. But surprisingly the most interesting intercultural relationship I have is with a person that I met in Nebraska. Kevin Kamseu is not only my fraternity brother but he is also my line brother, which means that we went through the process of joining the fraternity together. During that process we both had to rely on each other to succeed and it helped us to see each other as actual brothers.

Kevin and his family moved to the U.S. from Cameroon, Africa less than 10 years ago, so he hasn't had much time to adapt to American culture. But even with his lack of familiarity with American culture, Kevin and I had no real challenges forming a relationship. Kevin and I immediately became close and to this day we have yet to even have an argument. The only challenge that I can think of was the language barrier. English isn't Kevin's first language, but it's not his second or third either. Kevin's home countries language is so similar to Spanish and French that he is also fluent in both languages as well. With Kevin knowing so many languages and having such a strong Cameroonian accent, it was often hard understanding some of the things he would say. But with time that quickly disappeared and now I'm one of the few people that always knows what Kevin is talking about...even when his accent gets the best of him.

In comparing our relationship to Baxter's (1993) dialectical model explaining relationships, there are a few dialectics that we could relate too. One would be the benefit of acquiring knowledge about the world. There was so many things I was ignorant too about African culture before I met Kevin. Him being a close friend I have been able to ask him even the most awkward questions that a lot of people would be afraid to ask. I know a lot more about African culture and Cameroon then I ever would have if I wasn't friends with Kevin. Kevin also was able to break a few stereotypes I had about Africa. In my mind Africa was a poor place with none of the delicacies we as Americans have. I found out that I was completely wrong and that Africa is a beautiful and prosperous place.

Never in my life would I have imagined having a friend like Kevin. We each come from such different backgrounds that it'd be easy to assume that we'd not be able to relate., but it was the exact opposite. Kevin and I not only are brothers, but best friends, and our relationship helps me appreciate not only intercultural relationships but also intercultural communications.

CAPS #5

 What we see in the media can effect us in many ways, some that we aren't even aware of. The media not only has the power of effecting people's mindsets and forming peoples opinions, but also has the ability to create and reinforce stereotypes to a mass audience in a matter of seconds. For example, the TV show How I Met Your Mother, reinforces multiple stereotypes in our society. Being a fan of the show, it is easy to fall into the story and believe that some of the ridiculous circumstances that take place on the show actually take place in real life. I will focus on the three stereotypes depicted in the show that stand out most to me: 

1. Guys will do ANYTHING for sex.
2. Pretty girls are dumb and gullible.
3. Good guys finish last.

Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris, is one of my favorite characters in the show. He lives a perfect bachelor's lifestyle, has a beautiful apartment, wears nothing but the most expensive suits, is rich and powerful and hooks up with hundreds of beautiful women. But what makes Barney so intriguing is how he goes about getting women to sleep with him. Barney is the definition of a womanizer and is proud of it. He represents an exaggerated stereotype that men will lie, cheat, and do whatever else it takes to get "the one thing every man wants"...SEX. 

 

How I Met Your Mother- Barney's Playbook 

The YouTube clip above, shows Barney's Playbook which is filled with hundreds of ridiculous ways to take a woman home. These "plays" are a perfect example of how this particular media outlet reinforces a cultural stereotype. Everyday woman accuse men of lying to get sex and this show has shown every possible way how through Barney. Resistance could take place in this instance because men know that this depiction of a Bachelor is an hyperbole. I also feel that women would agree that men aren't that bad but the majority of a woman's resistance would be driven by the second stereotype reinforced by this show.

Barney Stinson Picks up Girls as the Terminator 

The YouTube clip above shows another one of Barney's ridiculous plans to pick up a woman. This plan show's no creativity and is pretty dumb right? But then how does it work? How does any of his ridiculous plans work? Its simple, because the women in the show are just as dumb, if not dumber then the plans. Of course the woman are gorgeous with perfect bodies, but it ends there. HIMYM show's all of these beautiful women as dumb and naive, which is a stereotype that people have. Some people look at pretty women and think that they use their looks and bodies to succeed, instead of having to be smart and use their minds. HIMYM supports that stereotype perfectly. I feel that all women would resist this stereotype because they know that in the real world being pretty isn't always enough.


HIMYM-lot of alcohol drinking

The above link shows a video of the shows foundation; drinking. Every single episode of HIMYM has at least one scene of the friends at a bar drinking and having a good time. The main apartment for the show is even connected to the groups favorite bar. If you knew nothing about American culture and watched this show I can guarantee that you would think all American's do is drink. And sadly that is a stereotype that a lot of people hold. I personally resist this notion because even though I am a college student surrounded by alcohol on a regular basis, I don't drink and although with that mindset I'm a minority, I'm not alone. I think that many American's would resist this stereotype because there's a lot more to our culture then beer and liquor.

 

Although HIMYM is one of my favorite shows, I do recognize that there are some stereotypes that the show reinforces. With that being said I don't feel that this show is detrimental to our society because the way they portray these stereotypes are so intense that it's more funny then offensive. 

Concept Applications Blog-C.I.P

For this blog report, we were asked to discuss a specific course concept, then explain how we could use that concept to help us better understand the culture group that we are studying. The cultural group that I chose, Arab-American, have such strong values and traditions that the most logical concept for me to focus on is Arab-American's cultural values. Cultural values are defined by the worldview of a cultural group and its set of deeply held beliefs (Martin and Nakayama p. 100). Based on the definition, one would believe that every member of a particular culture group would have the same cultural values...that is not the case. 
To someone that has no knowledge of Arab-American culture, the idea that they all have the same cultural values would sound correct. With my research I have found that the cultural values and personal values of some Arab-Americans are actually vastly different.
Being half-way through this semester and this course, it is evident that communication and culture go hand and hand. I plan to gain the majority of my knowledge of Arab-American culture by conduction interviews and communicating with individuals of that culture. Each Arab-American I plan to interview have learned the "traditional" cultural values, but has chosen which values they agree with. Some follow all of the traditional values of Arab culture and others have only incorporated a few of those values in their lives. I also plan to interview a white Arab-American; someone who chose to convert and has adopted the Arab values.
I feel that in comparing all aspects of Arab-American culture and their values, I can truly understand this intriguing cultural group.

CAPS4

Our class was asked to read three different articles that depicted stories of refugees that live in Lincoln and what adapting to American culture is like. We were then asked to pick one concept on intercultural transitions that could be used as a lens for understanding the articles. There is no better concept to use then the U-curve theory. The U-curve theory is a theory of cultural adaption positing that migrants go through fairly predictable phases—excitement/anticipation, shock/disorientation, and adjustment—in adapting to a new cultural situation (Martin & Nakayama p.337). All of the phases of the U-curve model can be used in understanding the feelings of the immigrants talked about in these articles. 

                                  

The anticipation phase is the first phase of the U-curve model and is based of the idea that when a migrant first enters a new cultural context, he or she may be excited to be in the new situation and only a little apprehensive. Although none of these articles directly say the immigrants were excited at arriving to the U.S., it is safe to assume that they were. As a refugee anything is going to be better then the country you are fleeing. Yes, you are leaving your home, but knowing that you are going to a place that’s safer for you and your family is always going to leave a little room for excitement. For some people that have never been to America before; America is a place of opportunity and a chance at a fresh start. One of my closest friends is a refugee and he told me that the excitement he felt arriving to America was unparalleled.

The second phase, culture shock, is shown in all three of these articles and happens to almost everyone in intercultural transitions. Culture shock is a relatively short-term feeling of disorientation and discomfort due to the lack of familiar cues in the environment (Martin & Nakayama p.338). All three of the refugee’s admitted to struggling with learning the culture especially English. Moe Free, from Burma, said, “My family and me too, no speak English. Shopping, talking, somebody come to my house and I couldn’t understand. It was very, very hard work for me. I know that I don’t know the language. No speak English. I don’t really know English.” You can even see the struggles of grasping the English language in the context of the quote. What would be harder then being in a place where it is almost impossible to directly communicate to someone?

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The third phase, Adjustment, is where migrants learn the rules and customs of the new cultural context. Khu Say, a 14-year-old freshman at Lincoln High School, has only been speaking English for three years. Khu Say said that when he does have a question, he opens the dictionary; a perfect sign of adjusting. His older brother, Khu Htoo, shows another sign of adjustment by asking his teachers for help. “When I don’t understand something,” Khu Htoo said, “I will stay after class and ask the teacher.” If his question will take some time to answer, he said he sets up times with teachers before and after school to meet. With these adjustments, immigrants can better adapt to the obstacles of being from another country.

The interpretive perspective may be the best way to inform the process of refugee resettlement in Nebraska and intercultural transitions overall, because that perspective holds that communication not only reinforces culture but influences it as well. The more that immigrants communicate with citizens of the U.S. the better they will understand our culture.

Bryan Colbert: The Power of Language

Whenever i heard the 'sticks and stones' saying growing up I always laughed at the ridiculous rhyme. Words are possibly the most powerful way to hurt somebody. In our society you can say whatever you want with almost no fear of repercussions. You can't go to jail for what you said to somebody and you can't be told what to say and what not to say. But do we take account how many people have committed suicide off of just being mocked and teased? Being somebody that was picked on as a kid, I know how powerful words can be. There would be days i wouldn't even want to leave my room because I knew what the day had in store for me. I was never touched, but it didn't matter because the words hurt that bad. Sometimes I would've even preferred being hit with a stick. The only way I knew how to deal with the banter was to do it to others before they did it to me. Not only was I bullied, but i saw myself become a bully as well. I knew how to make people hate themselves just by my words, I could make people cry within seconds and never lift a finger... I was proud of that. To this day people I grew up with tell me how much I made their lives hell...and the sad thing was I don't remember saying any of it. But they remembered, just like I remembered what my bullies said to me. And that's the power of words, they remain within you throughout your whole life. Whether it's negative or positive, a mere sentence can dictate how you view people, society and even yourself.

Although I attend UNL, i had never heard about the UNL Haters Tumblr account, but what i saw when i visited the page was sadly not surprising at all. Viewing my class mates blog post, it seems like the majority of people were surprised that our campus was filled with such ignorance and hate. But these tweets and posts were no news to me; having to deal with racism and hate a great deal on this campus. I've had people tweet to me and my friends that we were NIGGERS and even had white guys tell us they don't like us because we "take all their women".

My eyes were even opened when I saw people I knew on it. It made me question me and those peoples relationships, because who knows what they really think about me. Granted some of the posts are meant as jokes and only as jokes, but they're still unacceptable because something that may be funny to some, could offend a lot of people. This is an example of one of the components of language: Pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of how meaning is constructed in relation to receivers, how language is actually used in particular contexts in language communities (Martin and Nakayama p. 225).

Whatever the case for the hatred towards other races, sexes and genders at UNL, I am pleased that UNL Haters are exposing it. I think it's important that peoples eyes are opened to the ignorance that some people on our campus still have. I think that this UNL Haters will help calm down the ignorance displayed on social network sites and I am glad they're helping.

Intro to Cultural Report Project (Bryan Colbert)

Webster defines culture as: "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time [or] the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization"
  
With these definitions in mind I have decided to focus my report on the Arab-American culture. I think that some people would find it surprising how many Arab-Americans there are, not only on our campus, but in Nebraska. As many places as I've lived I've always seen and been amazed by the Arab culture. Their views and beliefs seem so profound and to carry a lot of history; i think that I will learn a lot from my planned studies. 

I plan to interview multiple Arab-Americans that I see hanging out at the Multicultural Center. I have already asked a few of them if they will assist me and they were more than happy to help. What makes this subject even more interesting to me is that my sister minored in Arabic when she went to Texas A&M. She would tell me stories about when she lived in Morocco and the culture has fascinated me ever since. But i feel that the American Arab will be even more interesting to learn about. To incorporate both of those cultures into your everyday life would be interesting to say the least. I'm excited to learn more about this culture.   

Taking an Interpretive Perspective to Intercultural Communication (Bryan Colbert)

When I first watched the movie crash I loved it. It was action packed, had great actors and an interesting story...what's not to like?? But when I watched it a second time I realized what the movie was actually portraying. This movie hit some of the most polarizing cultural patterns in our societies history; racism, womanizing and religion.

Racism was the cultural pattern that stood out most in the movie. It wasn't the fact that there was racist acts in the movie but the way they were depicted that made the racism stand out. One of the first scenes of the movie is shown below...

Crash (1/9) Movie CLIP - Car Jacking (2004) HD

"Anthony: Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gang-bangers? Huh? No. Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared around here, it's us: We're the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So you tell me, why aren't we scared?
Peter: Because we have guns?Anthony: You could be right."    

This scene really got to me, because although Anthony was making a valid point, but his words became invalid because of his actions. He claimed to have received bad service because he was black and the waitress assumed blacks didn't tip, but instead of proving her wrong and tipping her, Anthony did exactly what she thought he would. The same thing happened when he noticed the white woman holding her husband close when she saw him. Yes she was wrong to assume that because they were black that they had ill-intentions, but they actually did. Anthony's words were said to defend and uplift black people, but his actions created the opposite effect.

Another sign of racism cultural pattern in this movie is when the racist cop pulled over the interracial couple.

Crash (3/9) Movie CLIP - Pat Down by the Police (2004) HD

This scene was possibly the most powerful one in the movie. Not only did the cop disrespect the man because he was black, but made him watch as he fondled his wife. Who knows how many types a horrid act like this happens in every day life, but I'm almost certain it happens more than we would expect. This is also a clear sign of womanizing. The cop took advantage of her not only because he was a cop that could do whatever he wanted but he saw the woman as weak and helpless. 

Religion also plays a role in this movie. Although its a small role anything dealing with religion is powerful. Below shows a scene in the movie that shows the power religion can have over a persons mindset and emotions. 

Crash - Best scene in the movie [copyright Lions Gate Films]

When the girl is shot but nothing happens to her, the once infuriated Persian shop owner, began to cry. Not because he felt bad about what he did, but because he believed that the girl was an angel sent to give him a message. The man went from angry enough to kill somebody to emotional all because of religion. I can't think of a better depiction of this particular cultural pattern.