KATHERINE~ chapter 11 response~

Chapter 11 is about describing intercultural encounters, how they appeared in different situations and how to avoid them. Intercultural encounters are defined by the author as the “unintended cultural conflict”, meaning that unlike “intended cultural conflicts” for example wars; they happen although nobody wants them and all suffer from them (p.383). These kind of intercultural encounters appear in school, tourism, business cooperation, political cooperation and so forth. However, the most common form of intercultural encounter is the cultural shock, which emerges when an individual comes into a new cultural environment. It is one of the components of an “acculturation curve”, the other parts of this curve are the periods of euphoria acculturation and stable state. As for local people in the new environment, their reactions to foreigners may go through the process of firstly curiosity, then a sense of ethnocentrism and finally polycentrism. But there is also possibility that polycentrism will eventually become Xenophilia.

Although intercultural encounters are inevitable, as for foreigners “it’s unlikely that he or she can recognize, let alone feel, the underlying values” (p.387), there are still methods to fix them. Communication technologies, including television, e-mail, the Internet, mobile phones and social welfare, help us to cope with intercultural encounters, as they bring people around the world together and let them know more about cultures in other parts of the world. That could make communication with foreigners much easier in various aspects.