The clear stance of being aware of positionality, or where one stands in society, is not an ability that one is born with. Positionality is something human beings will eventually come to learn through growth and experience. Noteworthy, is the idea that positionalities and standpoints change from culture to culture due to a wide variety of norms regarding gender, age, socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, etc. As people come to understand their standpoint and their positionality, it is easier for them to understand how one’s position in society influences how and why they communicate with others the way they do. A better understanding also affects the ways in which this influence can be changed to better interact with those of other cultures,
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19). When reflection takes flight, there is an opportunity to perform actions that will work “to make a difference in the world-to create a more socially just, equitable, and peaceful world,” (Sorrell, 2013 p. 19). The process of reflecting and taking action, to become better at understanding others and their standpoints, has both positive and negative impacts.
Some clearly positive impacts include understanding other people better, being able to use different communication styles in order to communicate with those of other cultures, and the ability to integrate intercultural praxis or “a process of critical, reflective thinking and acting that enables us to navigate the complex and challenging intercultural spaces we inhabit interpersonally, communally, and globally,” (Sorrell, 2013, p. 15). These abilities are incredibly crucial in a world where intercultural communication is happening daily in environments such as work, school, …show more content…
These impacts include understanding the usual standpoint of only one culture and favoring them over another, speaking for a culture as if the person from the majority group shares the same standpoint as the people from a minority group, and using power over the minority individual or group with the minority’s standpoint in mind. Darling-Wolf explains, “if our position can render even well-intended and carefully crafted speech epistemologically dangerous and place it beyond our control, attempts to speak for others motivated by self-interest and/or ignorance can conceivably have even more damaging consequences. Consciously or not, our speech might be as well intended as we claim,” (1998, p.414). This is incredibly noteworthy as people work on becoming better intercultural communicators. Those that are part of the majority cannot always speak for minorities simply because the people of the majority believe they understand the standpoints of those in the minority groups or cultures. The idea of power also plays a key role in all of this because even if the power is not necessarily abused, it is still generally present for those that are part of the favored culture. Of this, Rolins says, “because relations of power can be used to dominate people, they are likely to mobilize a complex set of motivations that prompt potential informants to either conceal
19). When reflection takes flight, there is an opportunity to perform actions that will work “to make a difference in the world-to create a more socially just, equitable, and peaceful world,” (Sorrell, 2013 p. 19). The process of reflecting and taking action, to become better at understanding others and their standpoints, has both positive and negative impacts.
Some clearly positive impacts include understanding other people better, being able to use different communication styles in order to communicate with those of other cultures, and the ability to integrate intercultural praxis or “a process of critical, reflective thinking and acting that enables us to navigate the complex and challenging intercultural spaces we inhabit interpersonally, communally, and globally,” (Sorrell, 2013, p. 15). These abilities are incredibly crucial in a world where intercultural communication is happening daily in environments such as work, school, …show more content…
These impacts include understanding the usual standpoint of only one culture and favoring them over another, speaking for a culture as if the person from the majority group shares the same standpoint as the people from a minority group, and using power over the minority individual or group with the minority’s standpoint in mind. Darling-Wolf explains, “if our position can render even well-intended and carefully crafted speech epistemologically dangerous and place it beyond our control, attempts to speak for others motivated by self-interest and/or ignorance can conceivably have even more damaging consequences. Consciously or not, our speech might be as well intended as we claim,” (1998, p.414). This is incredibly noteworthy as people work on becoming better intercultural communicators. Those that are part of the majority cannot always speak for minorities simply because the people of the majority believe they understand the standpoints of those in the minority groups or cultures. The idea of power also plays a key role in all of this because even if the power is not necessarily abused, it is still generally present for those that are part of the favored culture. Of this, Rolins says, “because relations of power can be used to dominate people, they are likely to mobilize a complex set of motivations that prompt potential informants to either conceal