It amazes me that this is accepted politically-correct terminology with wide academic usage. It is such a poor construct because it leaves out the necessary core semantics which are about "cross-cultural" interaction. In some ways it's an elitist term -- because it "belongs" to a special discourse community.
Hi - check out
P. Christopher Earley & Soon Ang (2003). Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures
or David Livermore " LEading with Cultural Intelligence."
and cross-cultural competence was defined by Hammer, 1987
I also thought of Earley & Soon Ang's Cultural IQ.
I have tried to create a scale myself, using various elements bringing cultural competence such as learning a foreign language, visiting the country, working with nationals, living in the country, etc till acquiring the nationality of another country but I gave up!
It's very difficult to map, but the concept surely exists. I guess we all agree that following a class of cross-cultural communication increases your score!
Mokhtar, thanks for that. It's always interesting to learn of terms used in different countries or language groups. There's always further nuance! I understand the intended meaning of "cultural competence" to be related to how effectively a person interacts with people from other cultures. I think the intended meaning is OK but the term is the problem. Perhaps just placing "inter" in front of cultural solves the problem.
Hi John,
I have always had that issue with the term. I use different terms depending on my need and the specific context - so for I might use 'culturally responsive' to describe a practice, intervention or research or I may use a common term 'intercultural effectiveness' when discussing broad abilities to interact with diverse others.
Laura, your approach offers a better way to refer to the key issues .... & of course context will always be a factor. That's possibly another reason why "cultural competence" grates so much when I hear it because it's often used without regard to context, as something (a competency) that someone achieves.
Why not return to the original term: "humanism"( see Goethe and Edward Said for example) A term fiercely combated by postmodernist and post structuralist thinkers such as Michel Foucault. After all their nihilist theory is losing luster these days.
It seems to me that these are two different constructs (i.e., "cultural competence" and "ability to interact with others of another country."). I think the term "cultural competence" makes most sense when it applies to professionals. The ability to interact with others of another country (or culture) would be one aspect of cultural competence. However, being able to "interact with others of another country" wouldn't alone make someone culturally competent. As a construct related to professional practice (in the broadest sense), cultural competence does suggests that there is a minimum competency or threshold that should be met. In my field of social work, we expect professionals--whether they are practitioners, policy-makers, educators or researchers--to have achieved cultural competence in terms of values/attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Of course, one's level of competence continues to change (hopefully). I use the terms "intercultural competence" and "culturally-responsive" in my teaching and research, and increasingly in my interactions with professionals and "everyday people." Fortunately, in my field there has been a lot of thinking and writing about cultural competence and multicultural competence. I know this is true for other fields as well... I'm just best able to speak about what goes on in social work.
Devon, thanks for your input on this. I certainly appreciate how the term has gained traction & I understand your distinction in semantics - it's just that I think "cultural competence" is a poor choice with limited real-world utility.You may be right in suggesting it is most appropriate in professional contexts. The terminology you suggest "intercultural competence" and "culturally-responsive" are far more useful.
I totally agree about the term having limited real-world utility. I'll have to check with my students to see if/how it comes up with their clients. You make really good points. Now I'm wondering if the issue is the term or the concept. Thanks for posing the question Jon!
What about the system of terms of CEFR? Pp. 9-10 and following? Cultural-intercultural-transcultural-intracultural-... as components of terms have very wide meanings.
In Australia, this terminology is now completely normalised. The impact on my thinking has been a shift in my own attitude to accepting the term -- but I still think that while the intentions around its usage are admirable, it is still elitist in conception & a loaded construct.
see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI9J4NxQ-Zc
https://cultural-competence.com.au/home
I like Intercultural competence or Cross-cultural competence.
See this Table 1 in this article for a way of understanding the various levels or stages of Intercultural competence.
Article Developing Intercultural Competence via Social Media Engagem...
Intercultural competence is the term I have seen used most of the time.
hi, using cultural literacy including intercultural and intra-cultural awareness is better because literacy is a more comprehensive term covering national and international knowledge and awareness.
Cultural competency is an OLD term amongst those beginning to working in cross cultural health care contexts - medicine in particular. As clearly noted by Tervalon and Murray-Garcia. One cannot be competent in all ~ and 1 or 2 is insufficient in a multicultural world. In addition, competence seems to reinforce a one way hierarchy. Other, more process focused and INTERPERSONAL terms are: cultural literacy, intercultural competence or, another I use, is cross-culturally, informed or responsive. BOTH descriptors lend at least an essential two way process - and where one is on the process is determined through listening and the acknowledgement by all parties of the need to learn about each other. I and a team of researchers defined culture for health research ~ a suggested read re: the complexity that is lost in the concept of "cultural competence" (Technical Report The cultural framework for health: An integrative approach f...
). Lawrence Kirmayer wrote an article in 2012 in Transcultural Psychiatry outlining underlying power dynamics of the use of the concept of cultural competency from a social political stance. "Rethinking Cultural Competence"- Badges
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