Cross-Cultural Skills for Community Service

This course provides basic cross-cultural skills for relationship building, community development, and conflict management in the cross-cultural and intercultural contexts. Through discussion of cultural values and world view differences, behavior norms, and conflict management styles, the student will gain basic theoretical understanding for work and service in the urban context. Through in-class exercises, students will develop beginning skills for adjusting behavior in a variety of cultural contexts. Readings, experiential activities and reflection paper required.

Course Objectives

• Explore the concept of worldview, culture and ethnicity and resulting behavioral norms
• Define concepts of culture, community, and ethnicity
• Present basic cultural values communication principles for culture
• Understand the basic principles of conflict resolution
• Reflect on the cross-cultural nature of one’s world-view within cultural frameworks

Student Learning Outcomes

• Describe multi-cultural frameworks and strategies for building relationships and community.
• Define the concept of world-view, its impact on personal, family and community, and its implications for effective urban service.
• Explain how each group responds and relates to the urban worker based upon social organization and cultural norms.
• Assess the practitioner's culture and values and how these contrast and interact with the culturally different client and community.
• Demonstrate strategies for dealing with cross-cultural conflict.