One World Week: Do such events promote new ways of thinking and acting?

1. One World Week:Do such events promote new ways of thinking and acting? Helen Spencer-Oatey Stephen Williams

2. Background The study Reflections Overview

3. “Most cross-cultural exploration begins with the annoyance of being lost.” Edward T Hall 1976: 46 Fundamental Question: What encourages people to learn about a new culture or to develop intercultural competence? Background

4. Common Recommendation: More intercultural contact Culturally mixed accommodation Culturally mixed classes Special events, e.g. One World Week Question: To what extent does One World Week promote new ways of thinking & acting? Background

5. What is One World Week? Background To stimulate personal development and inspire a view based on acceptance and appreciation of the World's Mosaic of Cultures. To encourage awareness of and positive action on issues which affect our One World.

6. What is One World Week? Background FORUM FESTIVALSPORTSNIGHTS Key Facts: 9 days 283 volunteers 20,000 participants

7. Evaluations of One World Week: “the danger with such events is that they can promote a notion of fixed identity of the ‘saris, samosas and steel bands’ model of multiculturalism.’” Equality Challenge Unit 2009: 47 Background

8. Evaluations of OWW (1): Print Media “As preparations for the 16th annual One World Week get underway, support for the event appears to be mixed following last year’s controversy surrounding the event’s sponsorship and management . . . A further source of contention was the allegedly stereotypical, excessive and glamorised representation of cultures.” (Extract from One World Week Goes Back to Basics, Warwick Boar, 19/10/2010) Background

9. Evaluations of OWW (2): Facebook ‘Warwick students fed up with One World Week’ Facebook group set up in January 2010 342 members 75 posts and 173 comments on Wall (26/01 – 17/02/2010) One discussion (20 posts; 27/01 – 01/02/2010): “How to make One World Week Better?” Background

10. Evaluations of OWW (3): Facebook post, January 27, 2010 at 12:41am “It seems to be just like what they have in international schools on 'International Day' or 'UN Day', where all the kids bring a 'native' dish from home, dress up in their national costumes and paint each other's faces . . . but at University, you really expect more. I suppose one of the purposes of OWW was to be an opportunity for the majority English students to learn about the foreign cultures represented on campus. Instead, it has made these cultures look stale, distanced many English students and just given the ‘coordinators’ plenty of things to write about on their CVs. How can that be correct? When will I not have to explain where Bangladesh is to a University student?” Background

11. OUR STUDY

12. Overarching Research Question: To what extent did OWW promote intercultural dialogue and growth? Our Study

13. Research Design: Questionnaire based on Global People competency framework: 4 clusters of intercultural competencies: Learning about people from different backgrounds Communicating with people from different backgrounds Relating to people from different backgrounds Developing new personal qualities Our Study

14. Research Design Types of questions: Rating questions e.g. How many new acquaintances did you make during OWW with people from different backgrounds from yourself (i.e. people you exchanged contact details with and intend to get in touch with)? 1 = none; 6 = 9 or more. Open questions e.g. What difficulties did you experience in making new acquaintances? Our Study

15. One World Week Participants: Core planning team (68 students) Helper team (215 students) Attendees Questionnaire was put online and planning team + helpers were emailed, asking them to complete it. 26 Responses: Core planning team = 17 Helpers = 9 Our Study

16. Our Study

17. Give two examples of something new that you learned (1) E3 I learnt about the similarities between Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland politically and also I learnt a lot about Bahrain from a team member who lived there. I never actually knew it was a country before that. E4 People don't always conform to cultural stereotypes and can surprise you. E5 I learned about the international school system, as many people on OWW were from such schools, and what is what like to grow up in a different country, often not the same as that of which you were born. Our Study

18. Give two examples of something new that you learned (2) E1 Manga is not considered as cool as we think in Japan - there are a lot of overlaps between traditional games of people from Brunei, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. E6 Different concepts of the same words (i.e. beautiful does not mean the same for different people because of colours and settings people are used to) How much religion plays a very important part in some people's lives. Our Study

19. Give two examples of something new that you learned (3) H1 (a) I learnt more about the international community at Warwick University (b) I learnt more about the culture of the region I was involved in - I wanted to be on the Festivals team because I had been to Brazil but I ended up learning about the other countries too.  H7 As a foreigner, I learned more about how different people from different areas see themselves as.  H8 Other people have a wider perspective and seeing the bigger picture better, handling situations differently. Our Study

20. Did you notice any changes in your speech during your conversations with people from different backgrounds? (1) E12, 13, 14, H3 No E11 I was mainly listening and asking questions so I didn’t notice any changes E9 Well, having been brought up in an international school in Singapore, my accent often changes slightly according to the person I am speaking to... It often happens without me noticing E3 I probably am used to slowing down my speech and using less colloquial Irish terms. Also there are a lot of pop cultural references I would use when talking to home students which the majority of International students may not understand. This limits my ability to be funny when with them. Ha! Our Study

21. Did you notice any changes in your speech during your conversations with people from different backgrounds? (2) E2 I exaggerated and utilized body gestures a lot more. I also slowed down and enunciated my speech. E15 When speaking with team-members, I try to be more friendly and joke around, to consciously try not act "bossy". My speech doesn't change much when talking with anyone else. Our Study

22. Did you notice any changes in your speech during your conversations with people from different backgrounds? (3) E16 Yes, simple things can make huge differences: I don't think the first approach with Warwick Latin American Society went really well so I put in a lot of effort in improving the relationship, and small things like making the effort to speak in Spanish can change a lot. Our Study

23. What qualities do you feel you experienced personal growth in? (1) E4 better listener, tact, empathy. E5 I think I was more friendly and open to people, just because in general I have a tendency to be reserved when meeting new people. E6 Organisation, management, coordination, understanding, flexibility.  E9 Patience, tolerance of how other people work. Our Study

24. What qualities do you feel you experienced personal growth in? (2) E12 More flexible in an international workplace having had experience of a culturally diverse working environment. E4 Will help when working in an international company to not make judgements. Our Study

25. What qualities do you feel you experienced personal growth in? (3) H8 Handling situations under time pressures, time management, seeing the bigger picture, communicating effectively. E3 Over my 4 years in OWW I believe I have developed as a person, a team leader and an event organiser to a huge degree and have picked up numerous transferable skills and unforgettable memories and experiences along the way. But the quality I value most is my increased outlook and openness to the World, and the people within it. Our Study

26. What experiences did you go through that helped you grow in these ways? (1) E4 Working with people, listening to their problems and helping them to find a solution, managing large teams. E5 Having to talk to new people and work with them under pressure forced you to deal with them and be honest and to the point. Our Study

27. What experiences did you go through that helped you grow in these ways? (2) E9 Working with a team leader who works in a very different way to me. I was the deputy. We made a great team, but it is always good to learn how to use each other's qualities to make things better rather than clash. E12 Leading a team that was sometimes uncooperative. Our Study

28. What experiences did you go through that helped you grow in these ways? (3) E3 It really is the entire process to be honest. From working in inter-cultural teams, to leading those same diverse teams and being on the exec with lots of different personalities and being amazed at the wide range of ideas and new ways of thinking that I was exposed to. Working as a group under extreme pressure to achieve a shared goal and vision, and then sharing success with a team which has worked so hard to achieve is a truly unique experience and I believe it has made the entire OWW experience for me worthwhile. Our Study

29. REFLECTIONS

30. Positive responses from most respondents, re what they had learned; Learning extended beyond the ‘saris, samosas and steel bands’ model of multiculturalism’ to many personal qualities; Reflections

31. Did you notice any changes in your speech during your conversations with people from different backgrounds? (3) E16 Yes, simple things can make huge differences: I don't think the first approach with Warwick Latin American Society went really well so I put in a lot of effort in improving the relationship, and small things like making the effort to speak in Spanish can change a lot. Demonstrates GP Competencies: Flexible behaviour; Language learning Reflections

32. Positive responses from most respondents, re what they had learned; Learning extended beyond the ‘saris, samosas and steel bands’ model of multiculturalism’ to many personal qualities; BUT … Learning derived to a large extent from the demands of team working. Reflections

33. Fits in with theories of cultural growth which stress the importance of overcoming obstacles and handling stress (e.g. Anderson 1994, Kim 2001) “What follows the dynamic stress-adaptation disequilibrium is a subtle growth.” Kim 2001: 56 Reflections

34. More research needed, because: Sample size too small (not suitable for carrying out sophisticated statistical tests); Difficulty of collecting data; Attendees not probed; Longer term impact of learning/growth is unknown. Reflections

35. Worthwhile Questions to follow up: Is active involvement in the running of OWW a critical element for achieving growth? If so, what are the implications for the planning of OWW? Do ‘mere’ attendees also experience growth? If not, what are the implications for facilitating the growth of IC competence? Reflections

36. Thank you! Any Questions?