Group+3!

**Cultural and Social Competence**



* What is culture? Understanding this is required. * What is competence? * It is important to be able to interact with people from different cultures. * An example of post-Fordism, spreading the professional and personal etiquette that is required of people in the workforce in this society. * Being able to understand cultural differences and their relationship to own culture. A willingness to //try// to get it. * Stepping back and looking at the norm - knowing why the norm is what it is. * Understanding the context that people from lower SES might present a more difficult transition. * Sub-groups - understanding that there are sub-groups of whom we have to be appreciative. * The notion of discourse - power is built upon the primary form of discourse. * Powerful vs. non-powerful. * Understanding what a discourse is. * Etiquette and style will give them the cultural capital they need. * Diversity as a term has expanded to include organizational culture and the intersections of power, structure and communication - these can all impede or contribute to diversity initiatives. * Achievement gap between cultural minority and majority students. * Cultural mismatch between students and teachers. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">* Importance of communities - understanding identities within communities. Identity is created by the intersection of these lifeworlds / communities. Lines are getting blurred. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">* Culture vs. competence - cultural are the actual behaviors of the group. Competence allows one to function appropriately within that culture.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Quote from the article stating a practical example, "In Transformed Practice, in one activity we try to re-create a discourse by engaging in it for our own real purposes. Thus, imagine a student having to act and think like a biologist, and at the same time as a biologist with a vested interest in resisting the depiction of female things - from eggs to organisms - as "passive." The student now has to both juxtapose and integrate (not without tension) two different discourses, or social identities, or "interests" that have historically been at odds. Using another example, how can one be a "real" lawyer and, at the same time, have one's performance influenced by being an African American. In his arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court for desegregating schools, Thurgood Marshall did this in a classic way. And, in mixing the discourse of politics with the discourse of African American religion, Jesse Jackson has transformed the former. The key here is juxtaposition, integration, and living with tension.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">media type="custom" key="19007132" <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**//Phil Borges on the importance of preserving cultures and fostering cross-cultural ties//**