Comentario de alumnos del curso de verano 2017:

Excelente clase, el mejor eje de debates que llevé. Buen acompañamiento de la profesora, una clase muy flexible y dinámica. La dinámica de que sea en línea creo que va en sincronía con la materia, pues permite que estudiantes en distintas ubicaciones trabajen juntos. Me motivaron siempre las dinámicas que organizó la profesora y agradezco que tomara el tiempo de retroalimentar los trabajos a fondo. En toda mi carrera universitaria sólo tuve dos profesores que supieron retroalimentar con interés los trabajos. Cosa que, creo, es tremendamente motivante como alumno, porque no es solamente decir que un trabajo está bien o no, es valorar y complementar la profundidad de los modos en que se trataron los temas en el trabajo. Es responderle al alumno con el mismo interés, con la misma dedicación, que el alumno o alumna puso en el trabajo. Gracias.

INTERCULTURALIDAD Final reflection

July 13, 2017Camila A. Rubio Leave a comment As an arts and cultural manager (gestora cultural) I have been close to the notions of culture, identity, habitus, cultural heritage, and other concepts that have been touched in this class. Nonetheless, when we talk about this ideas in my career we often relate to them from a position of power, meaning that, consciously or subconsciously, we place ourselves as some sort of directors who theoretically would know how “these things work”. In the practical sense, this relationship of power would show through the creation of public policies, the production of private or public projects, the implementation of social programs, etc. And this is not necessarily wrong, since after all, we have and are still learning, from cases and personal experiences, the scope and incidence regarding cultural projects and their importance in society. However, in Interculturalism online, i’ve had the opportunity to relate to and reflect about culture from an individual, personal perspective, meaning that through shared experiences and case studies I have seen the influence of culture in the interpersonal level: whereas in my career we tend to focus on the macro level of societal interactions, I perceived that in class we focused in micro and personal level, and naturally, those would have a broader impact. That being said, I can not emphasize enough the importance of a course like this in our times. Learning how to be an intercultural communicator is so fundamental in every sense since not only does it open our personal horizon through the expansion of our awareness about the different ideas of reality, but it also strengthens our capacity to visualize possibilities for ourselves and also, professionally, it expands our capability to work crossculturally whether it is for trade, for intercultural proyects, for tech development, etc. When thinking about this, my dad’s business comes to mind: recently they hired a French employee that has previously worked for the company in Brazil and in Miami. In Intercontinental Hotels Group (the company that my dad represents) they look for people who have this kind of profile, since being in the tourism industry, it is fundamental to have an intercultural profile not only in terms of where they have lived or how many languages they speak (although these comes naturally with the latter) but also in how they are able to integrate this knowledge and experiences into the way they communicate with colleagues and clients. Having awareness of Interculturalism also becomes important when talking about self knowledge and the strengthening of our own identity: through the recognition of our tastes, traditions, abilities and struggles, and how they distinguish from others, we are able to position ourselves more strongly in the world, individually and collectively, albeit not from a place of superiority, but of integration. It is only through knowing ourselves as individuals and as a culture that we can truly create and make an impact in whatever we have to do: by recognizing our weaknesses and strengths as a culture (and as individuals), for example, we can be more assertive when considering how other cultures might enrich our own processes and therefore making partnerships and alliances that can be mutually fertile.

I truly enjoyed reflecting about this subject; there can be so many perspectives as there are cultures. Interculturalism testifies that the definition of reality is so diverse depending on our baggage and nonetheless, there is a innate drive to communicate, to share stories and to bond, which is the very reason for interculturalism in the first place. I hope I can keep collecting stories not only through theory but also from experience.