Cultural humility, in my experience, is often developed through getting to know people in another cultural situation than myself. It all starts with asking each other questions: Who are you? What do you like doing? What is your everyday life like? I have friends from Uganda, Japan, Great Britain, Denmark, USA, Ghana, India, Burundi, Italy ... All their cultures make sense once you get to know them a little. They are not like my culture, whatever that is, but their lives make sense even though they are different from my own. Nancyruth Leibold

Hi NancyRuth,

How do you define cultural humility? Having an operational definition, could help answer your question.

Thanks!

Cultural humility, in my experience, is often developed through getting to know people in another cultural situation than myself. It all starts with asking each other questions: Who are you? What do you like doing? What is your everyday life like? I have friends from Uganda, Japan, Great Britain, Denmark, USA, Ghana, India, Burundi, Italy ... All their cultures make sense once you get to know them a little. They are not like my culture, whatever that is, but their lives make sense even though they are different from my own. Nancyruth Leibold

By respecting and accepting cultural diversity with neutral mindset, while putting aside all the concepts of prejudice, hatred, racism,.....

Is it “cultural humility” or understanding culture is relative? One should be proud of their culture, but at the same time, understand over the last century the world morphed into a local neighborhood due to technology. All cultures have common elements that should embrace unity rather than humility, such as language, a moral code, economics, traditions, etc.

Since the world morphed into a local neighborhood the evolution towards a global culture is on the horizon in units of generational time. This is not to imply a global government, but it is a historical reality that social evolution happens during war and peace. Perhaps, focusing on the machinery of evolution may enhance peace rather than war.

Good point, Larysa V. Lysenko There are several definitions but the definition I identify with is from Foronda et al., (2016):

Cultural humility is a lifelong process that includes openness, self-awareness, being egoless, self-reflection, and critique, including supportive interaction with diverse individuals (Foronda, Baptiste, Reinholdt, & Ousman, 2016).

Cultural humility is important for nurses because not only is it important to know one's own culture, but it is important to be aware of cultural differences in patients as this impacts their healthcare.

Reference

Foronda, C., Baptiste, D., Reinholdt, M. M., & Ousman, K. (2016). Cultural humility: A concept analysis. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 27(3), 210-217. doi:10.1177/1043659615592677

Kjartan Skogly Kversøy I like the lifelong openness to others that you describe in your answer! Thanks for your reply as it helps me think through this concept more!

Thank you for the definition, Nancyruth Leibold . There is certain ambiguity around the concept of "cultural humility", no? It is related to more "traditional" ones such as cultural competence, cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, etc but cannot be used interchangeably with them. To me "commitment to self- critique", acknowledging that I do not know and cannot know everything/enough about somebody else's culture is the distinguishing feature. As for your question, mindfulness techniques (evidence-based?) can help develop cultural humility since mindfulness is a capacity to experience without mental filters, self-narratives and judgments. Yaeger & Bauer-Wu provide a neat, athough brief, summary of research on mindfulness practices. According to them, other strategies include building relationships ( Kjartan Skogly's questions make a lot of sense) ; understanding past and present; breaking down stereotypes.

Yes, cultural humility is an abstract concept, Larysa V. Lysenko !! I am a nurse and believe cultural humility is important for nurses as we care for a wide variety of individuals, families, and communities! I am embarking on more work in this area that focuses on cultural humility and want to thank you for pointing out the most obvious place to start! The definition of cultural humility! I like the conceptual analysis study by Foronda et al., (2016) and think it has great applicability for nursing practice. This was the definition I used in my last project as well.

I am an avid user of mindfulness, and hold a certificate in mindfulness. I believe mindfulness is applicable in many areas of life. The development of cultural humility certainly seems like a good fit for mindfulness!

Hi Nancyruth Leibold , I did not mean "preaching to the converted" :) for me as an immigrant, the "cultural humility" theme seems relevant. Although "cultural humility" is too high (unattainable?) a goal, max I could expect from the system is rather basic/some cultural sensitivity :) Well, I extend this expectation to my own behaviour - I find it quite difficult to generate consistently though.

Anyway, here is a very recent paper I came across focusing on the strategies to build alliances/ fight cultural mistrust. I thought you may find it useful (let me know if you cannot access it)

Trinh NH.T., Cheung CY.J., Velasquez E.E., Alvarez K., Crawford C., Alegría M. (2019) Addressing Cultural Mistrust: Strategies for Alliance Building. In: Medlock M., Shtasel D., Trinh NH., Williams D. (eds) Racism and Psychiatry. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, Cham

Best,

Larysa V. Lysenko, once again you offer food for thought and I appreciate learning of your ideas about this topic! Perhaps cultural humility is a concept of the continuum on a lifelong learning status. I will look for the paper! Thanks!

Thanks for your ideas Michael T Takac about cultural humility and cultural understanding. I appreciate your scholarly post as I think more about this concept!!

Thank you Nancyruth Leibold for those kind words.

Thinking about the physics of evolution and how it relates to the “concept” of social evolution is my interest. Your work on “Cultural Humility” is part of that social evolution, and for many, do strive helping to make this world a better place to live.

But, how well do we understand the machinery of evolution that crosses all domains? Would a better understanding help research in one’s domain? The following is an overview of my interest:

https://www.academia.edu/37021128/Scientific_Proof_of_Our_Unalienable_Rights

Those are great points, Michael T Takac and thank you. Also thanks for sharing your work! I will read your paper. Social evolution is an area of consideration! Thanks!