Culture is
something that each individual would have been exposed to from birth. It is
shaped from the environment we surround ourselves with – our country, our
society, our family; even the friends we associate with influence one’s
culture. It is not surprising therefore, to have conflict between individuals
from the same country, let alone the same age group.
Back in my
gymnastics days, a potluck gathering was held at a teammate’s house. There were
a total of two Muslims in the team, and we reminded everyone to ensure that the
food they brought was halal. Assuming the team understood what that meant, we
came to the gathering with confidence that we could enjoy the food available.
Midway through the gathering, my Muslim friend approached me asking “Nazyra,
did you eat the nuggets?”. Naturally, finger food would be one of the first
things to consume in a gathering like this. I nodded, and she remarked, “Don’t
eat it! It’s not halal!”. Confused, I asked her what she meant. Apparently, she
came to the gathering earlier to help the hostess to prepare, and she saw that
the hostess’ helper had fried those said nuggets. The packaging however, did
not have a halal certification on it. I wanted to confirm this and I approached
the hostess. She replied saying, “Don’t worry. It’s chicken, not pork. It’s
halal”.
This conflict
occurred due to the misconception that people have of halal food. Many people
are of the opinion that halal just refers to “no pork, no lard, no alcohol”.
However, there is a deeper meaning to halal food in which the animal has to be
slaughtered in a way that causes the animal minimal amount of pain, in a swift
manner, under God’s name. Only then would food be considered halal. This is a
classic example of intercultural conflicts that arise due to the lack of
knowledge regarding one’s culture, in this case, religion. Below, is a video by
HSBC that shows other examples of differences in culture that could lead to
intercultural conflicts or misunderstandings.
The bottom line is:
the best way to avoid intercultural conflicts is to be armed with knowledge.
I agree with you Nazyra but isn't it also true that intercultural communication is two-way and that the onus is on everyone of us regardless of how diverse we may be from the next person culturally to not assume that they would know about our culture. As a result in many instances we may actually have to explain why certain beliefs or practices are the way that they are instead of expecting the other party to know this. For example, as someone who is a vegetarian from birth, I won't eat vegetables if they have been fished out of a meat dish- which is something a restaurant in Turkey offered me when I was travelling. They assumed that since I would be eating vegetables, it wouldn't matter that they had been cooked in a meat dish?? So I had to politely say- 'no' that's not vegetarian. :)))
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