"Culture bumps" and adjusting to a different culture
"Culture bumps" can happen at any time, when your expectations for how people should act or react in certain situations are different than what actually happens. It can be easy to react when things do not go as expected, or to get angry at people who say or do things that are not anticipated.
Cana found this out during her summer study abroad program in Ghana. She and a group of U.S. American students had arrived at a restaurant to eat with some Ghanaian students. When she handed the menu back to the waiter, the waiter gave her a very strange look. Twenty minutes later, when she passed a dish to a Ghanaian student, that student gave her a similar strange look. Cana was shocked and dismayed, wondering what she had done to provoke these looks. She was in the middle of a culture bump.
But Cana took advantage of this opportunity to learn from her mistakes. She asked the Ghanaian student what she had done. He told her that she had given him the dish using her left hand, and that in his culture using the left hand was considered a cultural taboo.
Cana later wrote of this experience: "I sat there puzzled and feeling terrible. Why did I not know about this huge cultural difference? As far as I know, I had been using my left hand that entire trip, clearly offending everyone I encountered. I wanted to leave the table. I felt so bad that I had committed a cultural sin without even knowing it. Looking back at the situation, I can see that unawareness, ignorance, and a hesitation to ask questions led to this cultural misunderstanding. ... I wish I had asked more questions to understand why things were done in a certain way to have a better understanding and appreciation for the culture." [Read Cana's full description and profile in Preparing to Study Abroad: Learning to Cross Cultures, pp. 118-119]
In Chapter Eight of Preparing to Study Abroad: Learning to Cross Cultures, Steven Duke discusses several strategies for adjusting to a different environment and coping with cultural patterns that are different than what one might expect.
Cana found this out during her summer study abroad program in Ghana. She and a group of U.S. American students had arrived at a restaurant to eat with some Ghanaian students. When she handed the menu back to the waiter, the waiter gave her a very strange look. Twenty minutes later, when she passed a dish to a Ghanaian student, that student gave her a similar strange look. Cana was shocked and dismayed, wondering what she had done to provoke these looks. She was in the middle of a culture bump.
But Cana took advantage of this opportunity to learn from her mistakes. She asked the Ghanaian student what she had done. He told her that she had given him the dish using her left hand, and that in his culture using the left hand was considered a cultural taboo.
Cana later wrote of this experience: "I sat there puzzled and feeling terrible. Why did I not know about this huge cultural difference? As far as I know, I had been using my left hand that entire trip, clearly offending everyone I encountered. I wanted to leave the table. I felt so bad that I had committed a cultural sin without even knowing it. Looking back at the situation, I can see that unawareness, ignorance, and a hesitation to ask questions led to this cultural misunderstanding. ... I wish I had asked more questions to understand why things were done in a certain way to have a better understanding and appreciation for the culture." [Read Cana's full description and profile in Preparing to Study Abroad: Learning to Cross Cultures, pp. 118-119]
In Chapter Eight of Preparing to Study Abroad: Learning to Cross Cultures, Steven Duke discusses several strategies for adjusting to a different environment and coping with cultural patterns that are different than what one might expect.