World View

 

WORLDVIEW AND ITS LINK TO INTERCULTURAL INTERACTION
BY: BACS/NRB/2137/17
        BACS/NRB/2285/17

When we meet other people from other communities we notice  that we are similar yet so different in so many ways. We may wonder about the relationship between ourselves and other people of different colour, culture and speech.Our daily interaction with other people reveal other people behave and hold certain values that are different from our own. Therefore, one may ask themselves, are there and universal standards of behaviour?

Our diverse experiences in this universe urge us to form opinions about the word’s basic make-up. People have varied assumptions about the same reality because of differences in worldview.So what exactly is this worldview? And what is its link to cultural interactions?

The concept of worldview is seen as a window for looking at culture. It helps us distinguish or tell the difference between one culture and another. One’s personal worldview  serves as a guide as they answer questions related to death, pain, suffering, the meaning of life and other philosophical consideratons.(McDaniel et. Al, 2012) It basically helps members of that culture make sense of the world. Worldview takes a variety of forms. These include: metaphysical (ultimate nature of reality), epistemology (ultimate knowledge and truth) and axiology (standards of behaviour).

Different groups of people in the world have different worldviews. Even speakers of the same language could have different ways of explaining life that would make them complete foreigners to each other. As much as worldview is acquired collectively, specific individuals have their own worldview (personal worldview). In this paper we will be discussing worldview and its link between cultural interactions.

Craig(2016) says that worldview is a comprehensive system of beliefs with a wide range of questions about humans, the reasons for being here, our purpose, goals for life, our values and the certainity of our knowledge. He adds that worldview also has questions about God’existence, characteristics, His relationship with the universe and so much more. He says that we should look at practical applications of how worldview affects decisions in our everyday life, for individual and societies.

Worldview comes from a German word weltanschauung.There are many definition scholoars have come up with to explain the term worldview. Charles Kraft in Ngabo(2015), a Christian writer defines it as,

The central systematization of concepts of reality to which the members of a culture assent  (largely  unconsciously)  and  from  which  stems  their  value  system.  The worldview  lies  at  the  very  heart  of  culture,  touching,  integrating  with,  strongly influencing  every  part  of  culture.

Ishii, Cooke and Klopf in McDaniel et. Al (2012) give this definition “Worldview is a culture’s orientation toward God, humanity, nature, questions of existence, the universe and cosmos, life, moral and ethical reasoning, suffering, death, and other philosophical issues that influence how its members perceive their world.”

Therefore, worldview is basically a culturally conditioned mindset or framework of thought which is used to give or assign meaning to the reality around us. One invokes this inbuilt mental frame of reference so as to make sense of or perceive things or issues in the world around us.

A person’s worldview is formed through cultural socialization, upbringing, media and other environmental encounters.(Ngabo, 2015) An individual’s worldview is formed from a combination of what a person believes to be true. This becomes a driving force behind the outward emotions, behaviours and decisions displayed. This personal worldview influences one’s response to every area of life.

In order for one to understand people’s worldview, one must examine the various aspects of life in which people’s assumptions and beliefs are conveyed. The various aspects include language, rituals, myths, wisdom literature, narratives, aesthetic culture and evaluative ideals. They are referred to as worldview indicators. (Ngabo, 2013)

Language is a system of communication used when speaking and writing used by a people of a certain community. Therefore, the study of language enables one to know what people are thinking. People’s perception of reality is basically filtered through language. Their choice of words reflect people’s assumptions.  The words that one utters can easily show what kind of values one upholds.

Rituals is another way to understand a people’s worldview is to look at the kind of rituals they perform. These ceremonial performances communicate the deep beliefs, intense feelings and values of a society in the form of symbolic codes. They also help in rekindling people’s commitment to certain aspects of their worldview, mark social transitions of individuals.

Another ways of understanding people’s worldviews is to study their myths, wisdom literature and narratives. Myths give the central aspects of worldview. They function to explain the nature of phenomena. Wisdom literature (in the form of songs, proverbs, poetry, riddles and stories) on the other hand, captures the tested truths of life. Nrratives use the characters in a stary to pass on the narrators preferred values.

Additionally, are aethetic culture and evaluative ideals. Aesthetic culture are the expressive aspects such as art, drama. Dance and music. These would highlight the community’s values, history and heroes. Evaluative ideals involves the study of the heroes and villans of a community. Heroes can tell us the preferred values and the oppposite is true about villans Therefore the study of the two helps one understand the societal norms of a community.

THE CULTURAL ICEBERG MODEL

In Edward T. Hall  book Beyond Culture (1976), Edward T. Hall developed the iceberg analogy of culture. He suggests that there are two parts to culture, internal and external. The external culture is part of the concious mind while the internal culture is part of the subconcious mind.

This cultural iceberg theory suggests that like the small portion of an iceberg, there are some aspects of culture which are visible or which lie above the water surface. This is referred to as the external culture. This can include behaviours of a society, language, food, greetings, music, art,rituals, dressing and so many others. They are the more straightforward displays of culture. As we have seen in the above examples they are easy to see, taste or hear. However, according to Hall’s theory they are just the ‘tip of the iceberg.’

The bulk of culture like the iceberg that lies beneath the surface of water. These are referred to as internal culture which is hidden. They can include: worldview, religion, spiritual beliefs, decision making models,though patterns, concepts of time justice and so on. These aspects are the underlying displays of culture. They are cpable of exerting influence on behaviour, values feelings and thoughts.

Hall suggests that the only way to learn the worldview, beliefs and values that make up the internal culture of a different society, for instance, one needs to actively participate in their culture. One only gets to observe the other cultures behaviours at first but as one spends more time interacting with others in their new culture, then that which is hidden beneath the surface begins to present itself. In other words, the more immersed we are in a cultural environment, the more these hidden aspects are revealed to us.

REFERENCES

 [Constant Foreigner]. (2013, June 5). Edward T. Hall’s Cultural Iceberg. Retreived from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6aeqXaXOSg

Craig, R.  (2016, May 30). What is Worldview –Definition and Introducton. Retreived from: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/views/index.html

[GCPE BCGov]. (2016, April 20). Cultural Ice berg. Retreived from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woP0v-2nJCU

McDaniel, E.R, Porter, R.E. and Samovar, L.A. (2012). Intercultural Communication: A Reader. United States: WasworthCenage Learning.

Ngabo, O, (2015) UCC 101 Full Mailing-CWV. St. Paul’s University (SPU)