A gathering together of a diversity of individuals to discuss intercultural communication. The event took place at Omahksipiitaa (Big Eagle) in the new extension at Medicine Hat College (MCH) on Wednesday evening.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
About 20-25 people got together at Omahksipiitaa (Big Eagle) in the new extension at Medicine Hat College on Wednesday evening to discuss intercultural communication.
Yusuf Mohammed, a director of the Connection Intercultural Association, said, “With the world coming together we’ve seen a huge gap because we don’t assess cultural intelligence, so we are struggling in organizations and academia, or in any sphere of society that has people from all over the world. We’ve not put the effort into training people to understand cultural dimensions.”
One of the goals is to create a more welcoming place in Medicine Hat and area. The Connection has been assisting newcomers to Canada for the past 14 years, holding social events and running programs to help them integrate into the community.
“We’ve worked very closely with MHC international education to help integrate international students into the community,” said Mohammed. “Over the years we’ve learned lots about intercultural communication. We feel there is a need to share some of the knowledge and experience to the community and continue to have these discussions for people to understand how to work with people from other cultures.”
MHC often partners with the Connection, which holds events to help international students integrate. Presently, MHC has about 250 international students and is continuing to slowly build its numbers up following the pandemic. Director or International Education and Diversity at MHC Hadija Drummond said, “We can share our knowledge to help people have a better understanding of how culture impacts communication, both at work and in the classroom.”
The evening began with a foundational discussion about culture and how it affects how people were raised. From there the discussion turned to cultural perceptions, not only at an individual level but also an organizational one.
“One of the aspects of culture people struggle with is cultural self-awareness,” added Drummond. “We are going to do an activity to help people understand their own culture and how the different experiences they have shape their culture. We are going to look at different dimensions of culture and how dimensions of culture impact interactions.”
Over the past 20-30 years, a considerable body of research has accumulated concerning the dimensions of culture. Communication in the workplace, academia and day-to-day life varies between different cultures and can often be a barrier or stumbling block.
The aim of the evening was to improve the cultural competence of those who attended.
“We are hoping people will have the motivation to learn about culture, to start building a knowledge base but, most importantly, the motivation to pursue more knowledge around intercultural experiences,” said Mohammed.
