Episode 46 – Beyond WEIRD (Part 1): Approaches to Intercultural Education

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 46 - Beyond WEIRD (Part 1): Approaches to Intercultural Education
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Intercultural education is sometimes criticized as being too WEIRD–Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. But what does that mean? In this two-part episode, Joseph Shaules, Ishita Ray and Emre Seven trace the origins of the term WEIRD to the work of Joseph Henrich. He argues that people from WEIRD countries are psychological outliers. We hear Liu Liu reflect on the challenges of adjusting to WEIRD psychology, and discuss how intercultural education has been influenced by its WEIRD roots.

Episode 45 – Who Needs Intercultural Education?

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 45 - Who Needs Intercultural Education?
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Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray argue that the deeper goal of intercultural education is to see that our minds are shaped by culture. They explore natural biases, such as ethnocentrism and stereotypes, and the psychological impact of foreign experiences, including Oz moments and cultural shock. Emre Seven tells of his discovery that not everyone sees the world as he does.

Episode 44 – Gender and Culture: Expectations

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 44 - Gender and Culture: Expectations
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Is gender cultural? Oddly, gender is rarely mentioned in intercultural education, even though expectations about being a man or woman vary widely around the world. Join Joseph Shaules, Yvonne van der Pol and Ishita Ray as they explore cultural assumptions about gender. Emre Seven and Zeina Matar share their experiences navigating different gender worlds, and we also learn about research into gender attitudes.

Proxemics–Your Space or Mine?

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Proxemics--Your Space or Mine?
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Do people touch a lot or hardly at all? Do you show guests the kitchen? Do you speak to the stranger sitting next to you? In this episode, Joseph Shaules and Liu Liu explore proxemics–the study of the human use of space. We learn about Edward Hall’s pioneering work in this area, and cultural differences in body language, physical space, and life spaces. Podcast team members share stories of navigating these differences, and explain that they reflect cultural patterns we are just now starting to understand. 

Episode 42 – Cultural Intuitions and the Feel-good Fallacy

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 42 - Cultural Intuitions and the Feel-good Fallacy
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In this episode, Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray explore cultural intuitions–the ability to “read the air” and interpret our environment. Research into intuitions–the feeling of knowing–helps us understand why developing new cultural intuitions is so challenging. We discuss the feel-good fallacy–the idea that having the right attitude is not enough to avoid cultural misunderstanding. Ishita recounts the “body shock” she experienced in France the first time she experienced a bise . . . a kiss on the cheek, and Yvonne van der Pol and Emre Seven share stories of the dilemmas they faced because of mismatched cultural intuitions.