Reducing Ethnocentric Belief
(Slide intro)
ED 636
English for Graduate Students
Professor Birte Bolte-Chuychunu
Topic: Reducing ethnocentric belief and increasing intercultural communication
Ethnocentric beliefs does not cook rice, nor does it boil potatoes, neither steams up noodles, nor simmers corn. However variety does spicy up life.
Think of your ethnocentric beliefs as a take away meal. After consuming it throw away all the packages. Your body only needs the nutrients and disposes the waste material.
Now when was the last time you had Chinese noodles, Thai soup, European sausage or American-“French” fries?
How do you perceive the people of the Unites States of America?
Now what’s your bias against the people of the USA?
Introducing Osama Bin Laden
If you hold certain ethnocentric beliefs against the USA then why not consider to stop drinking Coca Cola and eating Mac Donalds. Throw out your ethnocentric belief and check this out:
Defining Ethnocentric belief
Greek ethnos= nation + -centrism
The term was popularized by the sociologist William Graham Sumner and often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups.
Within this ideology, individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behaviour, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.
The danger of negative ethnocentric beliefs
A sense of (racial) superiority over the other might lead to a general acceptance of crimes against the inferior counterpart and thus may trigger ethnic cleansing
Defining Ethnic cleansing:
The persecution through imprisonment, expulsion, or killing of members of an ethnic minority by a majority to achieve ethnic homogeneity (eg, Nazi campaign from the 1930s through WWII;
ED 636
English for Graduate Students
Professor Birte Bolte-Chuychunu
Topic: Reducing ethnocentric belief and increasing intercultural communication
Ethnocentric beliefs does not cook rice, nor does it boil potatoes, neither steams up noodles, nor simmers corn. However variety does spicy up life.
Think of your ethnocentric beliefs as a take away meal. After consuming it throw away all the packages. Your body only needs the nutrients and disposes the waste material.
Now when was the last time you had Chinese noodles, Thai soup, European sausage or American-“French” fries?
How do you perceive the people of the Unites States of America?
Now what’s your bias against the people of the USA?
Introducing Osama Bin Laden
If you hold certain ethnocentric beliefs against the USA then why not consider to stop drinking Coca Cola and eating Mac Donalds. Throw out your ethnocentric belief and check this out:
Defining Ethnocentric belief
Greek ethnos= nation + -centrism
The term was popularized by the sociologist William Graham Sumner and often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups.
Within this ideology, individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behaviour, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.
The danger of negative ethnocentric beliefs
A sense of (racial) superiority over the other might lead to a general acceptance of crimes against the inferior counterpart and thus may trigger ethnic cleansing
Defining Ethnic cleansing:
The persecution through imprisonment, expulsion, or killing of members of an ethnic minority by a majority to achieve ethnic homogeneity (eg, Nazi campaign from the 1930s through WWII;