Helping Participants Challenge Cultural Expectations and Stereotypes
Introduce yourself using your pronouns (she/her, he/him, they/them, etc.). Invite participants to do the same whenever they interact with you or each other, if they are comfortable doing so. This ensures a safe environment for people of all gender identities. Learn the difference between sex, gender identity, attraction, and presentation. There’s a helpful interactive activity by Trans Student Educational Resources called the Gender Unicorn.
When communicating with diverse audiences, participants will often need to reflect on their own beliefs and values about different cultures; consider the new information that you have just shared with them, and then allow time to apply this to their own lives. You may encounter confusion, resistance, and frustration as people reflect on their own experiences and learn to think about new ways to communicate. Experiential exercises, utilizing videos, first person experiences, and/or probing questions, with small sub-groups in breakout rooms, offers opportunities for participants to explore their feeling.
One way of initiating conversations about stereotypes is to make connections to pop culture (e.g., movies, TV shows, advertisements, song lyrics, and music videos) and explore the way people of all cultures are portrayed. You could ask: “How are we expected to act, speak, dress, and conduct ourselves based on our assigned sex at birth?” During the discussion, you can say something like: “Cultural expectations may limit our confidence in speaking openly about what we need in a workspace or personal relationship.”
It is also valuable, as a facilitator, in advance of the sessions, to have considered these stereotypes and how they have applied to you, and you have applied them, as a means to begin and motivate open and comfortable discussion with, and between, the participants. You may want to discuss topics such as verbal vs. non-verbal communication, power dynamics (“What might you say/do if the person asking a question is a classmate, a supervisor, a family member or a friend?”)
During discussions about Transcultural Communications in our society, acknowledge and help participants to understand the intersecting oppressions faced by LGBTQ2IA+, people of colour and those who are disabled and Indigenous. There is considerable benefit to be gained by ensuring that participants understand that the word ‘culture’ does not only represent where we come from or our cultural heritage.
Encourage participants to share their understanding of Transcultural Communication by reflecting on their values, beliefs, and cultural expectations. Some may share how the observed behaviors of new Canadians conflict with their own belief system and may cause confusion, misunderstanding and/or bias.
Some new Canadians may find it difficult to speak English and not have the vocabulary to convey their emotions, feelings, and needs. Or, they may be uncomfortable with saying “no” or in expressing themselves. It is critical to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to speak or is invited to speak.