Intercultural Dialogues in Third Spaces: A Study of Learning Experiences of Museum Visitors

Bodo (2012) called for the need of museum exhibitions to create “third spaces” where individuals can cross the boundaries of belonging (both physical and psychological) to engage in intercultural dialogues. The imaginary cultural space of museum has propelled us into a realization that we are in an era where interculturality, transculturalism, and the eventual prospect of identifying a cosmopolitan citizenship can become a reality. Predicated on a five-month ethnography work at a provincial museum in British Columbia, Canada, this research explores the following questions: how have cultural and historical museum exhibitions put us in contact with the other and foster an understanding of the other? And how has transculturalism led to the establishment of a cosmopolitan citizenship? This study lends support to the potentiality of a cultural and historical museum transforming into “third spaces” where visitors may actively engage in exploration of complex multitudes of cultural identities and cosmopolitan citizenship. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on “third spaces” and transculturalism by providing an empirical study of learning experiences of visitors in museums. It reaffirms the notion of transculturalism by proposing a new humanism in recognition of the other, and in expressing oneself in a conscious subjective manner with cultural empathy. From a practical perspective, it suggests that in order to encourage international visitors to cross the cultural and psychological boundaries and engage in dialogues, the museum professionals may design interactive programs in a creative manner. It also suggests that museum administrators improve their services to more diverse groups of visitors to enhance inclusiveness.

Preparing Special Education Teachers to Affirm LGBTQ+ Students and Themselves

Within their work, special education teachers are tasked with being knowledgeable on a wide array of human diversity. Although attitudes have been changing rapidly toward sexual and gender minorities in recent years, data from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) most recent National School Climate Survey indicated that 52.4% of students reported hearing homophobic remarks and 66.7% of students reported hearing negative remarks about gender expression from their teachers or other school staff (Kosciw et al., 2020). This article identifies three areas in which special education teacher educators can interact with their teacher candidates to support learning about the LGBTQ+ community and equip them to work with their future students who identify as a sexual or gender minority. Techniques included address the use of qualitative assessment through discussion and journaling; building cultural empathy via affective learning, perspective taking, acceptance of cultural differences, awareness, and appropriate responding via an understanding of intersectionality and intention versus impact.

Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Competency Research: The Revision and Expansion of the Sociocultural Adaptation Construct

<p>International migration trends have heralded a marked increase in intercultural contact, creating a greater need for effective cultural competency in both inter- and intra-cultural situations. The current research programme, positioned within the field of acculturation psychology, examined a specific behavioural aspect of cultural competency known as sociocultural adaptation. Defined as an individual’s acquisition and expression of culturally appropriate behavioural skills used to negotiate interactive aspects of a new cultural setting, an in-depth examination of the sociocultural adaptation construct was provided. Three studies addressed issues concerning the review, revision, and expansion of work on the topic of cross-cultural behavioural competency. Study 1 offered a meta-analytic review of the correlates or antecedents of sociocultural adaptation. Results emphasised the importance of individual differences, such as personality characteristics and motivation, in relation to adaptation difficulties. Suggestions were also provided for future theoretical and applied research regarding how demographic (e.g, age, gender), situational (e.g., language proficiency), and individual differences (e.g., cross-cultural empathy) components relate to and influence an individual’s successful cross-cultural adjustment. Study 2 examined the operationalisation of behavioural competency through revision of an existing measure of sociocultural adaptation (the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale or SCAS) and investigated five adjustment domains: Ecological, interpersonal, personal interests and community involvement, language, and professional/work adjustment. The final study sought to corroborate the factor structure of the revised SCAS and explored the effects of migration motivation and perceived discrimination—two underrepresented variables in the acculturation literature—in relation to cross-cultural adjustment using path analysis techniques. Direct linkages were found between migration motivation and positive psychological outcomes, and behavioural competency and discrimination were found to have significant mediating effects on the relationship between these two variables. The limitations and contributions of these studies are discussed in relation to the existing acculturation psychology literature, and new avenues for theoretical and applied applications of the findings are suggested.</p>

Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Competency Research: The Revision and Expansion of the Sociocultural Adaptation Construct

<p>International migration trends have heralded a marked increase in intercultural contact, creating a greater need for effective cultural competency in both inter- and intra-cultural situations. The current research programme, positioned within the field of acculturation psychology, examined a specific behavioural aspect of cultural competency known as sociocultural adaptation. Defined as an individual’s acquisition and expression of culturally appropriate behavioural skills used to negotiate interactive aspects of a new cultural setting, an in-depth examination of the sociocultural adaptation construct was provided. Three studies addressed issues concerning the review, revision, and expansion of work on the topic of cross-cultural behavioural competency. Study 1 offered a meta-analytic review of the correlates or antecedents of sociocultural adaptation. Results emphasised the importance of individual differences, such as personality characteristics and motivation, in relation to adaptation difficulties. Suggestions were also provided for future theoretical and applied research regarding how demographic (e.g, age, gender), situational (e.g., language proficiency), and individual differences (e.g., cross-cultural empathy) components relate to and influence an individual’s successful cross-cultural adjustment. Study 2 examined the operationalisation of behavioural competency through revision of an existing measure of sociocultural adaptation (the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale or SCAS) and investigated five adjustment domains: Ecological, interpersonal, personal interests and community involvement, language, and professional/work adjustment. The final study sought to corroborate the factor structure of the revised SCAS and explored the effects of migration motivation and perceived discrimination—two underrepresented variables in the acculturation literature—in relation to cross-cultural adjustment using path analysis techniques. Direct linkages were found between migration motivation and positive psychological outcomes, and behavioural competency and discrimination were found to have significant mediating effects on the relationship between these two variables. The limitations and contributions of these studies are discussed in relation to the existing acculturation psychology literature, and new avenues for theoretical and applied applications of the findings are suggested.</p>

Children’s narratives on migrant refugees: a practice of global citizenship

Globalisation has brought about great social and economic impact, as well as great challenges. Major developments have taken place in the mobility of capital and, to a lesser extent, of goods; not so in the mobility of people seeking asylum due to persecution and war. This article approaches the phenomenon of migration, particularly of refugees, as learning content for early childhood. The research is presented from a qualitative approach based on the results of a project on this topic implemented in a rural school in Spain. The results of the data analysis reveal that children attribute external reasons, of survival, to the refugees’ forced departure from their country of origin. The children’s imaginary reproduces the social construction of adults on the status and situation of refugees, and they also show a critical attitude towards the violation of human rights and the abuse of fellow children. Finally, respect, cultural empathy and social commitment in the face of injustice are presented as fundamental values for education in global citizenship from the earliest stages of schooling.

Design Thinking with Appropriate Technology for Improving Social Sustainability: Critical and Comprehensive Criteria

Current appropriate technology promoting social sustainability for rural, underprivileged populations is often plagued by lack of affordability, maintenance, and personal training, and is also empathetically disconnected from local people and culture. This study proposes criteria for balancing design thinking processes and appropriate technology for social sustainability. In this study, we concretized five assumptions for design thinking processes: user-oriented design with mass productivity; reiterative nature through user satisfaction surveys; affordability for purchase, maintenance, and repair services; local appropriateness; and eco-friendliness with environmental sustainability. Next, we applied the criteria to 28 representative cases from the water, energy, health, shelter, and transportation fields. The cases were evaluated using qualitative content analysis. Findings show that the criteria are necessary for setting economic, social, and environmental development goals for underprivileged regions after considering local contexts. Cultural empathy and collaboration with locals are key for finding practical solutions and co-creating options iteratively. Further, the cases were compared quantitatively using radar diagrams, histograms, and graphs showing average values and standard deviations, providing an objective measure for appropriate technology. Notably, both qualitative and quantitative approaches can serve as useful guidelines for designers, developers, and local users when developing appropriate technology for social sustainability in underprivileged regions.

Doppelganger-Inspired Change Effect Model of Faculty Global Cultural Competency

Our student populations' diversity now includes more than just African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos. We are now more representative of a wider range of cultural backgrounds. This shift brings fresh challenges of educator unpreparedness to identify with the unique cultures of international students. The cultural dissonance that international students face compounds this challenge. The cultural unawareness and misconceptions may be generated from both educators and students. The DICE model is inspired by an extensive review of the literature and a qualitative case study methods application. It is a process of fostering global cultural empathy and preparedness of educators by linking such preparedness to evaluating negative attitudinal influences that may block people from changing their thinking, which in turn will negatively impact global empathy preparedness. This is a valid linkage given the influence culture has on attitudes and vice versa and is true in the context of developing global empathy.

The Effect Of Intellectual Humility, Multicultural Personality, and Religious Orientation Toward Religious Tolerance On Students Of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta

This study aims to determine the influence of intellectual humility, multicultural personality (cultural empathy, open-mindedness, emotional stability, flexibility, and social initiative), religious orientation (quest religiousness, intrinsic religiousness, and extrinsic religiousness) toward religious tolerance on students of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta. Participants in this study involved 360 students using non-probability sampling as a sampling technique. As for religious tolerance measuring instrument uses a measuring instrument from RT Witenberg`s theory with modified into the scale. The intellectual humility variable uses the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale (CHIS), the multicultural personality variable uses the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire Short Form (the MPQ-SF) and the religious orientation variable uses the Introduction to the New Indices of Religious Orientation (NIRO). The findings show a significant influence between intellectual humility, multicultural personality, and religious orientation toward religious tolerance with a proportion of variance of about 51%. The four significant variables are intellectual humility, cultural empathy, open-mindedness, intrinsic religiousness. While the influence of emotional stability, flexibility, social initiative, quest religiousness, and extrinsic religiousness has no significant effect. multicultural personality and religious orientation toward religious tolerance with a proportion of variance of about 51%. The four significant variables are intellectual humility, cultural empathy, open-mindedness, intrinsic religiousness. While the influence of emotional stability, flexibility, social initiative, quest religiousness, and extrinsic religiousness has no significant effect. multicultural personality and religious orientation toward religious tolerance with a proportion of variance of about 51%. The four significant variables are intellectual humility, cultural empathy, open-mindedness, intrinsic religiousness. While the influence of emotional stability, flexibility, social initiative, quest religiousness, and extrinsic religiousness has no significant effect.