Assignment 4

In Assignment 4, we looked at ads from North America and another culture. We analyzed the perception of men in women in both cultures. The second culture I chose was Chinese culture. We also discussed the implications of the depiction of gender in the advertisement. I learned that there were a lot of similarities in the way both cultures show gender in their advertisements.

This assignment reminded me of a project we had in high school. A part of that assignment was to look at beauty standards across countries. The teacher showed us a graphic that had many women labeled with the country whose ideal woman she represented. In some of the countries, the preferred women were heavier set while there were others where the women were small and thin. It showed how different cultures have different standards of beauty; there is no universal standard of beauty. The ads in countries with heavier set women as the ideal women probably show women that way in their advertisements.

This assignment is relevant to me because I consume ads. As a person who uses the internet, it is common that I come across ads. This assignment had me reflect on the representation of gender in different ads. In the future, I will be more aware of these depictions. Additionally, analyzing how another culture represents gender in their ads shows how marketing can be similar across cultures. People of different cultures can use the same marketing techniques and influence us in similar ways.

Assignment 3

In Assignment 3, we analyzed a blog from a student who studied abroad. The person whose blog I read went to Dunedin, New Zealand. Her blog was very reflective, and she expressed how much New Zealand had changed her way of thinking. In this assignment, I learned how enlightening studying abroad can be.

This assignment reminded me of when I was studying Spanish in high school. Two of my Spanish teachers would tell us about their times studying abroad in Spain. Both of them emphasized how being apart of the culture made learning the language easier. They also told us many stories that made the trip sound like crucial experiences in their life. When looking for a blog to do the assignment on, I found one that talked about learning a new language. In that blog, the student had traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, and had to learn French. She did not know French but was a fluent Spanish speaker. Someone was trying to communicate with her in French, so she told them that she could not understand them. Then they asked her if she could speak Spanish, so she told them yes and had the conversation in Spanish. She was able to find a means of communication. My Spanish teachers told us similar stories to this. Communication in foreign countries can be difficult, but it can be done.

This assignment was personally relevant because it made me think about what it would be like to go to another country. Since the pandemic, I have had very few thoughts about leaving my neighborhood let alone the country. Looking at someone else’s blog where they reflect on their experiences in a new country rekindled my hope and desire to one day travel. The way she talked about New Zealand and her experiences made me think about how I might experience another country. Travel blogs like hers can provide insight into traveling outside of the United States.

Assignment 2

In Assignment 2, we read L. Robert Kohls’s article “Values Americans Live By” and reflect on the values he describes. He wrote his article in 1984, and many of the values he mentioned still ring true today. The value that stood out the most to me was time and its control. For my assignment, I choose to focus and reflect on the value Americans put in time, how this has presented in my life, and how other cultures might react to this value.

When I was thinking about the value of time, I remembered something I learned in my physiological psychology class. In our chapter on sleep, we learned how many Americans have unhealthy sleeping habits, and there are plenty who are sleep deprived. This problem was attributed to the belief that those who spend a lot of time sleeping are lazy. Because work cannot get done in our sleep, many people will put off sleeping in favor of getting work done. However, this action has consequences on their health. The value of time in America is influential that people are not taking proper care of themselves.

This assignment was personally relevant to me because it made me consider my values. It has been a while since I last reflected on my values, so it was good to remind myself of them. This assignment also made me consider and reflect on the values of those around me. Knowing these common American values can help me understand other Americans and how my actions based on American values could affect people from different cultures.

Assignment 1

In Assignment 1, we were asked to reflect on what stage we fell under in Bennet’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In doing so, I learned that Bennet’s stages: denial of difference, defense against difference, minimalization of difference, acceptance of difference, adaptation to difference, and integration of difference. The differences in stages are based on how an individual reacts to culture. Interactions start as oblivious, progress towards fear and hatred, then eventually into acceptance and understanding.

This assignment reminded me of something I learned in my sociology class. There was a sociologist that was trying to get the perspective of black Americans in a particular city so he asked them “what is it like to be black in America?” They just laughed at him, humored him and told him the truth, and invited him to follow them around. His survey ended up turning into a case study as he repeatedly got to know these people. A simple naive question that was supposed to have a simple answer gave him a lot to reflect on. After following them for days and getting to know them, he could answer the question: what is it like to be black in America?

This assignment was personally relevant because I never really thought about my intercultural interactions. This assignment forced me to reflect on intercultural interactions I have had and how those interactions went. Being mixed raced and growing up with exposure to different cultures, I never really thought about it and just accepted it as it was. However, I know this is not the case for everyone. I can take this information with me and use it to consider other people’s interactions with cultures.