- Email: [email protected]
Culture clash: Managing in a multicultural world
Pergamon
Int. J. Interculmal Rel. Vol. 20. No. 3/4, pp. 493-518, 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain. 0147-1767/96 $15.00 + 0.00
BOOK REVIEWS
CULTURE CLASH: MANAGING IN A MULTICULTURAL WORLD H. Ned Seelye and Alan Seelye-James
Lincolnwood,
IL: NTC Publishing Group, 1995, 198 pp., $27.95 (cloth), $17.95 (paper)
In a conversation with James Baldwin in 1971, poet Nikki Giovanni (1973) commented that, if you do not understand yourself, you do not understand anybody else. Learning about self in learning to understand others is no news to those who spend their lives assessing misunderstanding, but probing intercultural faux pas can be painfully self-revealing. Misunderstanding, it is believed, is causally linked to miscommunication; but what is really known about communication? Von Foerster (198 l), addressing communication’s relation to understanding, states that the interaction between two persons “becomes communicative if, and only if, each of the two sees himself through the eyes of the other” (p. 27). Although the possibility and probability of ever being able to successfully creep inches or sprint miles in another’s moccasins is laboriously studied and heatedly debated, developing skills for attempting to see the world through another’s eyes by examining one’s own assumptions about communication and interaction - then practising ongoing shifts in mindsets and broadened perceptions-is the underlying epistemological significance of H. Ned Seelye and Alan Seelye-James’ Culture Clash: Managing in a Multicultural World.
Seelye and Seelye-James, however, will not tell you that, not directly, anyway, and not with academic preponderances under the rubric of “epistemology”. Seelye and Seelye-James are soigne’ storytellers, and they prefer to show you, engage you, pull you in to real experiences with real people so that you as the reader see, hear, feel, wince, admonish, and shout “Eureka!” then thank them for making painfully obvious egg on the character’s (and possibly your) face as clear as the nose on the other guy’s, So skillfully do they make offers of insight that you cannot refusestamping your cognitive and affective passport into 33 different countries 493
494
Book Reviews
through 41 vivid case studies and dozens of vignettes- that their approach to increasing an intercultural knowledge base makes “you had to be there” a moot point. The authors pronounce as subtly and clearly as satirist Jonathan Swift (1704/1986) declared loudly that “Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath”. Herein lies one unequivocal value of Culture Clash: the authors show how something is not only going on with whomever is perceived as the “other” person, but something equally significant is going on with you (identifying with the character). Couched beneath the spinning wheel of intercultural exchanges in education, business, technology, healthcare, consulting, and living in host countries for most of their lives, one of the best types of teaching possible underwrites every page: the authors have been there, swallowed hard in their own learning, laughed at laterrevealed assumptions, and lived to pass along their learning and their laughter. In passing on skills and methods for “seeing through another’s eyes”, one of the most difficult tasks facing any writer is avoiding the pitfalls of doing the readers’ thinking for them by telling, rather than letting readers “see” for themselves. The rule is show, do not tell (Noble, 1991): “Writing is not a mirror that picks up every facet of our lives; it is a telescope which focuses on certain experiences and then molds them” (p. 24). To this end, the authors’ abilities as story-tellers and writers deserve as much praiseworthy comment as the book’s contents; their story-telling ability is what truly makes the book a relevant, readable departure from ordinary and useful but often ho-hum cross-cultural, multicultural, and intercultural texts and handbooks. (Everybody loves a good story; this book allows everyone to love good story-tellers.) Witty titles of chapters and subsections are inviting (e.g., “To McSmile or Not to McSmile, That Is the Question” (p. I 18) -a McDonald’s erroneously perceived customer service McProblem (read “assumption”) in opening their first location in Russia), and the entire book is a captivating telescopic narrative of showing-not-telling communicative instruction. As an overview, Culture Clash devotes two chapters to culture shock, three chapters explore accuracy and communication, three are devoted to the importance of establishing rapport, and three chapters examine persuasion and sustainable change. Six pages of “References and Further Reading” extend and support their thesis, a well-organized index facilitates finding central themes, and a paginated order of appearance, listing scenario case study titles and countries, provides at-a-glance recall and easy access. Chapter 1, “Coping with Culture Clash”, defines and describes the phrase and condition, laying the foundation, feeling and format for the remaining chapters. Immediately, the reader is introduced to a consistent
Book Reviews
495
organization style and presentation of information. First, a simple world map occupies the upper half of a page, signaling a “case study” situation, and a magnified inset of the country, in which the case study takes place, locates the reader visually. Next, a lively story briefly told sets the scene for a major point being made, introduces a real person(s) and his [her, or their] dilemma, telling the story from the point of view of the character experiencing the difficulty. Finally, a four-part-question-based analysis concludes the case study: (I) What happened? (the outcome is stated); (2) What really happened? (intercultural theory explains and broadens the view by introducing other perspectives, points of view and unchecked assumptions); (3) What can [the person] do now? (multicultural problemsolving where more information is added to understanding from more than one perspective); and (4) How can this misunderstanding be avoided in the future? (transfer and extension of learning and application). The authors ask, then discuss forthrightly, “Whose Reality Are We Talking About?“. Eleven points describing “The Strains of Culture Clash” close the chapter, and a few paragraphs reiterate what often proves to be the most challenging aspect of improving intercultural competence - enduring the fatigue of newness 24 hrs per day and being patient enough with yourself to allow shifts in perception and eventual changes in behavior to become part of your “normal” everyday life. “The stage is where we do our work, and the story is what we try to develop”, Noble (1991, p. xi) says of writers and writing. Seelye and Seelye-James keep the stories on stage and their audience emotionally involved. Chapter 2, “Leaping the Language Barrier,” opens with The Saga ofJuan Gurie’rrez - to us, one of the most memorable - “one story, perhaps not completely true”, the authors acknowledge, but one which “will set the stage for a discussion of the travails of communication through interpreters” (p. 9): A Mexican bandit rides across the Rio Grdnde and robs a bank in a sleepy Texas border town, then heads back to Mexico. Bank officials rush to find the marshal, but he is out of town. The deputy marshal is located, told of the crime, and given a description of the bandit: brown eyes, medium height, wearing a black poncho and, incongruously, a white ten-gallon hat. He was riding a dapple gray horse. “Look!” the bank clerk shouted. “There he goes now. You can still see him in the distance!!” The deputy rides out of town in pursuit. He crosses the Rio Grande, rides over the hill and dale, but can’t seem to close the gap separating him from the bandit. He loses sight of the bandit when the culprit enters a small Mexican town. Twenty minutes later the deputy reaches the town. There, in front of the cantina,a lone horse is tethered. A dapple-gray. From the sweat, he could tell that the horse was recently “rode hard”. The deputy pushes the swinging doors aside and enters. Leaning against the bar is a brown-eyed Mexican cowboy of medium height, dressed in a black poncho. His head is capped by a white ten-gallon sombrero. The deputy strides up to the lone patron and asks him whether he speaks English. “No seiior,” responds the perspiring patron. “Bartender,” asks the deputy, “do you speak English‘?”
496
Book Reviews
“Si sefior,” responds the bartender. “Ask this man whether he has just returned from Los Mudos, Texas.” The bartender translates. “No,” replies the perspiring patron. “He say, ‘No”‘, translates the bartender. The deputy unholsters his Colt, presses the barrel against the profusely perspiring patron’s temple, and addresses the bartender. “You tell him that if he doesn’t tell me right now where the money is hidden, he will never live to enjoy another tequila sunset.” The bartender translates. The bandit, shaken, tells the bartender that he hid it behind doiia Rosa’s house, in the woodpile. The bartender turns to the deputy and translates, “He say, ‘Juan GutiCrrez is prepared to die.“’
In addition to addressing dilemmas, pitfalls, and problems occurring with translation, limited shared proficiency, no proficiency, and learning another language (each of which the authors reinforce in subsequent chapters), chapter two introduces another consistent organizational component: “Toolbox”. Toolboxes are bullet-point, chart, or table “how to’s” and self-checks used as self- and situation-assessments specific to a chapter theme. Twenty-one Toolboxes (Chapters 2 through 11) enhance messages of case studies and vignettes, and are followed by narratives that include supporting anecdotes and clearly stated (and cited) applicable intercultural theory. At this point, laundry-listing the remainder of the book chapter by chapter would, at best, be a hollow exercise in space-limited summarial tedium: the authors amazingly manage to cover, in addition to language and newcomer problems, virtually every imaginable basic sociological and ethnocognitive principle that is or should be familiar to intercultural researchers, teachers, trainers, and experienced sojourners (e.g., high and low context, in-group/out-group, ethnocentrism, time and space variances, authority positions and cultural roles, individualism and collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and tolerance for ambiguity, introductions and protocol, etc.), concepts that need to be read (not summarized) by those who are not familiar with them; at worst, reducing each chapter to a few sentences would spoil the party by tipping you off and ruining the delight. It is useful, however, to highlight the book’s subtle and not-so-subtle strong points. First, a simple statement of the obvious but an intercultural “truth” easily lost in flurries of efforts to “achieve” intercultural communication competence - “There is no way to avoid misunderstanding” (p. 39) - is a crucial and much-needed reminder for organizations that continue to ignore intercultural realities that are documented in tons of tomes across scores of disciplines. Accepting that some misunderstanding is going to occur-regardless of experience or preparation-legitimately questions the ineffective buzzword ballyhoo about the want of developing “global
Book Reviews
497
mindsets”. Three main points emphasized in Chapter 3 and weaved throughout the book (understand the dynamics, understand yourself, and adjust your mindset) do not magically develop overnight or through 1-day consultants and single afternoon seminars. Seelye and Seelye-James clearly demonstrate that one does not and cannot arrive at intercultural communicative competence once and for all (as though one could eat once and for all and be done with it) and they show why. Second, Culture Clash is a consultant’s goldmine-especially if one is just beginning to work internationally. For persons who are in or who have come through traditional business schools and for those looking at careers in international business, Culture Clash’s style is a refreshing change from impersonal, dry approaches to doing business as usual when the contexts are not. At the same time, the book also challenges unchecked assumptions of persons who have not traveled outside of their native countries or who have had minimal contact with cultural differences where what they thought and how they acted “mattered”. It is not unusual, for example, for uninformed or misinformed persons to walk away from irreparably destroyed accounts not knowing why they lost contracts or that anything ever went wrong other than they were turned down. That they could have been successful if only a measure of intercultural communicative competence had played a part in their contacts and attempted transactions -not just textbook “good” business sense can be, as the authors repeatedly show, costly in more ways than one. Culture Clash should be mandatory reading for companies whose employees and employees’ families go overseas. Third, the intelligent sense of humor that the authors maintain and weave throughout the book and the overall healthy sense of self that they pass along to the readers is almost unmatched in what one expects to find in instructive resources. Seelye and Seelye-James’ framework of analysis is realistic and filled with conversational candor; they do not need to softpeddle potential embarrassment or frustration because their stories are about real people in real situations, and sensitivity to differences as ordinary occurrences (not “problems”) provides a clear distinction between unchecked assumptions being the problem and differences being the problem. Fourth, the jacket on the hardcover includes the authors’ pictures. Although this may seem like small Irish potatoes or nothing out of the ordinary, it does facilitate visual learning, makes the reading personal, and enhances the author-reader relationship by making it more concrete. In this case, author photos are especially important: folks who miss the humor or who believe that every aspect of intercultural competence is grim and “serious”, rather than the enjoyed lived experience the authors portray naturally, might be persuaded to re-evaluate their own positions. Seeing who it is that compels you to read an entire book in one sitting, helps.
498
Book Reviews
Fifth, unlike other books that serve up lots of theory, but include merely one or two contrived examples and expect readers to connect ambiguous dots in difficult places, Culture Clash neither generalizes cultural differences to a state of “all-encompassing” nor reduces encounters to suggest isolated incidents. The approach and content facilitate many forms of learning, teaching and training-most notably, experiential and participatory styles rather than top-down didactics. Culture Clash could easily be used as an introduction to “things your mother never told you” (and probably would not or could not) about intercultural communication and interaction, as a primer for secondary and post-secondary students studying for or contemplating international careers or job markets out of their home countries, as an intermediate level exposure to unexpected real life situations, as a training resource for creating problem-solving activities by gleaning new examples from actual life experiences, or as simply a good read for the more advanced and experienced interculturalist. Finally, the resounding message of Culture Clash is that there simply are no pat answers and there are no formulae guaranteed to “work” in every situation; in fact, there are more exceptions than rules, a basic tenet of the multicultural nature of intercultural communication. There are, however, “general” guidelines and broad cultural models upon which to draw (Chapter 5) identifiable categorical styles of learning and relating (Chapters 6 and 8) and deliberate ways of practising how to have fun with all of it (specifically Toolbox, Chapter 1I) by making good use of leisure and non-work time. Culture Clash, then, can be described only as a successful team effort of elucidating simple-to-complex persuasive messages about self and others that authentically addresses the multicultural nature of multicultural encounters. The authors expand your range of skills by narrowing the scenario, integrate your part into the total system and encounter without asking you to sacrifice your own identity, have an inspirational impact without distancing themselves from the learning experience like a forgotten bead from a broken string, and give you a sense of place and a sense of purpose by weaving welcomed threads of communicative strands with other people who may or may not resemble your own familiar friendly face. Seelye and Seelye-James help you rotate the kaleidoscope of human variety, sort out the colors, arrange them in an alternative pattern of making sense, and recognize a new and different order. Most importantly (as the authors illustrate vividly), learning about another’s culture is not the same as learning within another’s culture: whether for short-term business purposes or long-term relocation in a host country, getting along with others while getting on with life depends on two things: (1) understanding one’s own cultural norms and frames of reference, and (2) understanding the norms and frames of reference of others.
499
Book Reviews
The Introduction promises that “anyone working or living in mixed cultural space-no matter what your level of multicultural experience has been-will find in this book something amusing and something thoughtprovoking” (p. xix, emphasis in the original). Seelye and Seelye-James honor not only their promise but also the sheer number of examples (and a remarkable ability to recall them), organization of analysis weaved in sociohistorical background, framing of misunderstanding as problemsolving self-learning, and their steading personal voices make Culture Clash a genuine bargain; seldom does one find overwhelming richness of presentation so equally appealing and instructive. The authors shownot tell-that, within the context of intercultural relationships, as French biologist Jean Rostand (1939/1962) commented “one must either take an interest in the human situation or else parade before the void” (p. 82). The best part of Seelye and Seelye-James’ enchanting enchiridion for improving competency in intercultural encounters is that, when the reader comes to page 198, she or he sighs a little and smiles a lot; closes, then fondly pats the cover to preserve an emotional resonance lingering in an around-the-world journey of newly created memorable images comforting, like a rune or something to hold on to; immediately recalls the Saga of Juan Gutiirrez, and laughs out loud. The worst part of Culture Clash is that it ends. REFERENCES GIOVANNI, N. (w. James Baldwin) (1973). A dialogue [from a conversation, 4 Nov. 1971, in London]. In J. Baldwin (Ed.), Giovanni’s room. New York: Dell Books. NOBLE, W. (1991). Show, don’t tell: A writer’s guide. Middlebury, VT: Paul S. Eriksson. ROSTAND, J. (1939). Pet&es d’un biologiste. The substance ofman. (Reprinted, 1962). (pp. 3-174). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. SWIFT, J. (1704). The tale of a tub. (reprinted, 1986). Oxford: Oxford World Classics. VON FOERSTER, H. (1980). Epistemology of communication. In K. Woodward (Ed.), The myths of information: Technology and postindustrial culture (pp. 18-27). Madison, WI: Coda Press, Inc.
Mary Elizabeth McEntee CrossCultural Solutions Ltd Ann Arbor, Michigan and
The University
Leslie J. Thornton II School of Education of Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, Michigan
Int. J. Interculmal Rel. Vol. 20. No. 3/4, pp. 493-518, 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain. 0147-1767/96 $15.00 + 0.00
BOOK REVIEWS
CULTURE CLASH: MANAGING IN A MULTICULTURAL WORLD H. Ned Seelye and Alan Seelye-James
Lincolnwood,
IL: NTC Publishing Group, 1995, 198 pp., $27.95 (cloth), $17.95 (paper)
In a conversation with James Baldwin in 1971, poet Nikki Giovanni (1973) commented that, if you do not understand yourself, you do not understand anybody else. Learning about self in learning to understand others is no news to those who spend their lives assessing misunderstanding, but probing intercultural faux pas can be painfully self-revealing. Misunderstanding, it is believed, is causally linked to miscommunication; but what is really known about communication? Von Foerster (198 l), addressing communication’s relation to understanding, states that the interaction between two persons “becomes communicative if, and only if, each of the two sees himself through the eyes of the other” (p. 27). Although the possibility and probability of ever being able to successfully creep inches or sprint miles in another’s moccasins is laboriously studied and heatedly debated, developing skills for attempting to see the world through another’s eyes by examining one’s own assumptions about communication and interaction - then practising ongoing shifts in mindsets and broadened perceptions-is the underlying epistemological significance of H. Ned Seelye and Alan Seelye-James’ Culture Clash: Managing in a Multicultural World.
Seelye and Seelye-James, however, will not tell you that, not directly, anyway, and not with academic preponderances under the rubric of “epistemology”. Seelye and Seelye-James are soigne’ storytellers, and they prefer to show you, engage you, pull you in to real experiences with real people so that you as the reader see, hear, feel, wince, admonish, and shout “Eureka!” then thank them for making painfully obvious egg on the character’s (and possibly your) face as clear as the nose on the other guy’s, So skillfully do they make offers of insight that you cannot refusestamping your cognitive and affective passport into 33 different countries 493
494
Book Reviews
through 41 vivid case studies and dozens of vignettes- that their approach to increasing an intercultural knowledge base makes “you had to be there” a moot point. The authors pronounce as subtly and clearly as satirist Jonathan Swift (1704/1986) declared loudly that “Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath”. Herein lies one unequivocal value of Culture Clash: the authors show how something is not only going on with whomever is perceived as the “other” person, but something equally significant is going on with you (identifying with the character). Couched beneath the spinning wheel of intercultural exchanges in education, business, technology, healthcare, consulting, and living in host countries for most of their lives, one of the best types of teaching possible underwrites every page: the authors have been there, swallowed hard in their own learning, laughed at laterrevealed assumptions, and lived to pass along their learning and their laughter. In passing on skills and methods for “seeing through another’s eyes”, one of the most difficult tasks facing any writer is avoiding the pitfalls of doing the readers’ thinking for them by telling, rather than letting readers “see” for themselves. The rule is show, do not tell (Noble, 1991): “Writing is not a mirror that picks up every facet of our lives; it is a telescope which focuses on certain experiences and then molds them” (p. 24). To this end, the authors’ abilities as story-tellers and writers deserve as much praiseworthy comment as the book’s contents; their story-telling ability is what truly makes the book a relevant, readable departure from ordinary and useful but often ho-hum cross-cultural, multicultural, and intercultural texts and handbooks. (Everybody loves a good story; this book allows everyone to love good story-tellers.) Witty titles of chapters and subsections are inviting (e.g., “To McSmile or Not to McSmile, That Is the Question” (p. I 18) -a McDonald’s erroneously perceived customer service McProblem (read “assumption”) in opening their first location in Russia), and the entire book is a captivating telescopic narrative of showing-not-telling communicative instruction. As an overview, Culture Clash devotes two chapters to culture shock, three chapters explore accuracy and communication, three are devoted to the importance of establishing rapport, and three chapters examine persuasion and sustainable change. Six pages of “References and Further Reading” extend and support their thesis, a well-organized index facilitates finding central themes, and a paginated order of appearance, listing scenario case study titles and countries, provides at-a-glance recall and easy access. Chapter 1, “Coping with Culture Clash”, defines and describes the phrase and condition, laying the foundation, feeling and format for the remaining chapters. Immediately, the reader is introduced to a consistent
Book Reviews
495
organization style and presentation of information. First, a simple world map occupies the upper half of a page, signaling a “case study” situation, and a magnified inset of the country, in which the case study takes place, locates the reader visually. Next, a lively story briefly told sets the scene for a major point being made, introduces a real person(s) and his [her, or their] dilemma, telling the story from the point of view of the character experiencing the difficulty. Finally, a four-part-question-based analysis concludes the case study: (I) What happened? (the outcome is stated); (2) What really happened? (intercultural theory explains and broadens the view by introducing other perspectives, points of view and unchecked assumptions); (3) What can [the person] do now? (multicultural problemsolving where more information is added to understanding from more than one perspective); and (4) How can this misunderstanding be avoided in the future? (transfer and extension of learning and application). The authors ask, then discuss forthrightly, “Whose Reality Are We Talking About?“. Eleven points describing “The Strains of Culture Clash” close the chapter, and a few paragraphs reiterate what often proves to be the most challenging aspect of improving intercultural competence - enduring the fatigue of newness 24 hrs per day and being patient enough with yourself to allow shifts in perception and eventual changes in behavior to become part of your “normal” everyday life. “The stage is where we do our work, and the story is what we try to develop”, Noble (1991, p. xi) says of writers and writing. Seelye and Seelye-James keep the stories on stage and their audience emotionally involved. Chapter 2, “Leaping the Language Barrier,” opens with The Saga ofJuan Gurie’rrez - to us, one of the most memorable - “one story, perhaps not completely true”, the authors acknowledge, but one which “will set the stage for a discussion of the travails of communication through interpreters” (p. 9): A Mexican bandit rides across the Rio Grdnde and robs a bank in a sleepy Texas border town, then heads back to Mexico. Bank officials rush to find the marshal, but he is out of town. The deputy marshal is located, told of the crime, and given a description of the bandit: brown eyes, medium height, wearing a black poncho and, incongruously, a white ten-gallon hat. He was riding a dapple gray horse. “Look!” the bank clerk shouted. “There he goes now. You can still see him in the distance!!” The deputy rides out of town in pursuit. He crosses the Rio Grande, rides over the hill and dale, but can’t seem to close the gap separating him from the bandit. He loses sight of the bandit when the culprit enters a small Mexican town. Twenty minutes later the deputy reaches the town. There, in front of the cantina,a lone horse is tethered. A dapple-gray. From the sweat, he could tell that the horse was recently “rode hard”. The deputy pushes the swinging doors aside and enters. Leaning against the bar is a brown-eyed Mexican cowboy of medium height, dressed in a black poncho. His head is capped by a white ten-gallon sombrero. The deputy strides up to the lone patron and asks him whether he speaks English. “No seiior,” responds the perspiring patron. “Bartender,” asks the deputy, “do you speak English‘?”
496
Book Reviews
“Si sefior,” responds the bartender. “Ask this man whether he has just returned from Los Mudos, Texas.” The bartender translates. “No,” replies the perspiring patron. “He say, ‘No”‘, translates the bartender. The deputy unholsters his Colt, presses the barrel against the profusely perspiring patron’s temple, and addresses the bartender. “You tell him that if he doesn’t tell me right now where the money is hidden, he will never live to enjoy another tequila sunset.” The bartender translates. The bandit, shaken, tells the bartender that he hid it behind doiia Rosa’s house, in the woodpile. The bartender turns to the deputy and translates, “He say, ‘Juan GutiCrrez is prepared to die.“’
In addition to addressing dilemmas, pitfalls, and problems occurring with translation, limited shared proficiency, no proficiency, and learning another language (each of which the authors reinforce in subsequent chapters), chapter two introduces another consistent organizational component: “Toolbox”. Toolboxes are bullet-point, chart, or table “how to’s” and self-checks used as self- and situation-assessments specific to a chapter theme. Twenty-one Toolboxes (Chapters 2 through 11) enhance messages of case studies and vignettes, and are followed by narratives that include supporting anecdotes and clearly stated (and cited) applicable intercultural theory. At this point, laundry-listing the remainder of the book chapter by chapter would, at best, be a hollow exercise in space-limited summarial tedium: the authors amazingly manage to cover, in addition to language and newcomer problems, virtually every imaginable basic sociological and ethnocognitive principle that is or should be familiar to intercultural researchers, teachers, trainers, and experienced sojourners (e.g., high and low context, in-group/out-group, ethnocentrism, time and space variances, authority positions and cultural roles, individualism and collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and tolerance for ambiguity, introductions and protocol, etc.), concepts that need to be read (not summarized) by those who are not familiar with them; at worst, reducing each chapter to a few sentences would spoil the party by tipping you off and ruining the delight. It is useful, however, to highlight the book’s subtle and not-so-subtle strong points. First, a simple statement of the obvious but an intercultural “truth” easily lost in flurries of efforts to “achieve” intercultural communication competence - “There is no way to avoid misunderstanding” (p. 39) - is a crucial and much-needed reminder for organizations that continue to ignore intercultural realities that are documented in tons of tomes across scores of disciplines. Accepting that some misunderstanding is going to occur-regardless of experience or preparation-legitimately questions the ineffective buzzword ballyhoo about the want of developing “global
Book Reviews
497
mindsets”. Three main points emphasized in Chapter 3 and weaved throughout the book (understand the dynamics, understand yourself, and adjust your mindset) do not magically develop overnight or through 1-day consultants and single afternoon seminars. Seelye and Seelye-James clearly demonstrate that one does not and cannot arrive at intercultural communicative competence once and for all (as though one could eat once and for all and be done with it) and they show why. Second, Culture Clash is a consultant’s goldmine-especially if one is just beginning to work internationally. For persons who are in or who have come through traditional business schools and for those looking at careers in international business, Culture Clash’s style is a refreshing change from impersonal, dry approaches to doing business as usual when the contexts are not. At the same time, the book also challenges unchecked assumptions of persons who have not traveled outside of their native countries or who have had minimal contact with cultural differences where what they thought and how they acted “mattered”. It is not unusual, for example, for uninformed or misinformed persons to walk away from irreparably destroyed accounts not knowing why they lost contracts or that anything ever went wrong other than they were turned down. That they could have been successful if only a measure of intercultural communicative competence had played a part in their contacts and attempted transactions -not just textbook “good” business sense can be, as the authors repeatedly show, costly in more ways than one. Culture Clash should be mandatory reading for companies whose employees and employees’ families go overseas. Third, the intelligent sense of humor that the authors maintain and weave throughout the book and the overall healthy sense of self that they pass along to the readers is almost unmatched in what one expects to find in instructive resources. Seelye and Seelye-James’ framework of analysis is realistic and filled with conversational candor; they do not need to softpeddle potential embarrassment or frustration because their stories are about real people in real situations, and sensitivity to differences as ordinary occurrences (not “problems”) provides a clear distinction between unchecked assumptions being the problem and differences being the problem. Fourth, the jacket on the hardcover includes the authors’ pictures. Although this may seem like small Irish potatoes or nothing out of the ordinary, it does facilitate visual learning, makes the reading personal, and enhances the author-reader relationship by making it more concrete. In this case, author photos are especially important: folks who miss the humor or who believe that every aspect of intercultural competence is grim and “serious”, rather than the enjoyed lived experience the authors portray naturally, might be persuaded to re-evaluate their own positions. Seeing who it is that compels you to read an entire book in one sitting, helps.
498
Book Reviews
Fifth, unlike other books that serve up lots of theory, but include merely one or two contrived examples and expect readers to connect ambiguous dots in difficult places, Culture Clash neither generalizes cultural differences to a state of “all-encompassing” nor reduces encounters to suggest isolated incidents. The approach and content facilitate many forms of learning, teaching and training-most notably, experiential and participatory styles rather than top-down didactics. Culture Clash could easily be used as an introduction to “things your mother never told you” (and probably would not or could not) about intercultural communication and interaction, as a primer for secondary and post-secondary students studying for or contemplating international careers or job markets out of their home countries, as an intermediate level exposure to unexpected real life situations, as a training resource for creating problem-solving activities by gleaning new examples from actual life experiences, or as simply a good read for the more advanced and experienced interculturalist. Finally, the resounding message of Culture Clash is that there simply are no pat answers and there are no formulae guaranteed to “work” in every situation; in fact, there are more exceptions than rules, a basic tenet of the multicultural nature of intercultural communication. There are, however, “general” guidelines and broad cultural models upon which to draw (Chapter 5) identifiable categorical styles of learning and relating (Chapters 6 and 8) and deliberate ways of practising how to have fun with all of it (specifically Toolbox, Chapter 1I) by making good use of leisure and non-work time. Culture Clash, then, can be described only as a successful team effort of elucidating simple-to-complex persuasive messages about self and others that authentically addresses the multicultural nature of multicultural encounters. The authors expand your range of skills by narrowing the scenario, integrate your part into the total system and encounter without asking you to sacrifice your own identity, have an inspirational impact without distancing themselves from the learning experience like a forgotten bead from a broken string, and give you a sense of place and a sense of purpose by weaving welcomed threads of communicative strands with other people who may or may not resemble your own familiar friendly face. Seelye and Seelye-James help you rotate the kaleidoscope of human variety, sort out the colors, arrange them in an alternative pattern of making sense, and recognize a new and different order. Most importantly (as the authors illustrate vividly), learning about another’s culture is not the same as learning within another’s culture: whether for short-term business purposes or long-term relocation in a host country, getting along with others while getting on with life depends on two things: (1) understanding one’s own cultural norms and frames of reference, and (2) understanding the norms and frames of reference of others.
499
Book Reviews
The Introduction promises that “anyone working or living in mixed cultural space-no matter what your level of multicultural experience has been-will find in this book something amusing and something thoughtprovoking” (p. xix, emphasis in the original). Seelye and Seelye-James honor not only their promise but also the sheer number of examples (and a remarkable ability to recall them), organization of analysis weaved in sociohistorical background, framing of misunderstanding as problemsolving self-learning, and their steading personal voices make Culture Clash a genuine bargain; seldom does one find overwhelming richness of presentation so equally appealing and instructive. The authors shownot tell-that, within the context of intercultural relationships, as French biologist Jean Rostand (1939/1962) commented “one must either take an interest in the human situation or else parade before the void” (p. 82). The best part of Seelye and Seelye-James’ enchanting enchiridion for improving competency in intercultural encounters is that, when the reader comes to page 198, she or he sighs a little and smiles a lot; closes, then fondly pats the cover to preserve an emotional resonance lingering in an around-the-world journey of newly created memorable images comforting, like a rune or something to hold on to; immediately recalls the Saga of Juan Gutiirrez, and laughs out loud. The worst part of Culture Clash is that it ends. REFERENCES GIOVANNI, N. (w. James Baldwin) (1973). A dialogue [from a conversation, 4 Nov. 1971, in London]. In J. Baldwin (Ed.), Giovanni’s room. New York: Dell Books. NOBLE, W. (1991). Show, don’t tell: A writer’s guide. Middlebury, VT: Paul S. Eriksson. ROSTAND, J. (1939). Pet&es d’un biologiste. The substance ofman. (Reprinted, 1962). (pp. 3-174). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. SWIFT, J. (1704). The tale of a tub. (reprinted, 1986). Oxford: Oxford World Classics. VON FOERSTER, H. (1980). Epistemology of communication. In K. Woodward (Ed.), The myths of information: Technology and postindustrial culture (pp. 18-27). Madison, WI: Coda Press, Inc.
Mary Elizabeth McEntee CrossCultural Solutions Ltd Ann Arbor, Michigan and
The University
Leslie J. Thornton II School of Education of Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, Michigan