Cultural intelligence
Talking to a fellow cultural advocate, I would like to amplify in this column the topic that we have discussed. My intention of doing so owes to the fact that the significance of this topic is either overlooked or flippantly discussed for the understanding of the general public.
In academia, much has been talked about intelligences. The past has focused on the mental and emotional intelligences. Emerging theories have expanded the scope of intelligence. There is intelligence that I would like to bring into the picture that has not been given much attention to, the cultural intelligence. Primarily used in business, education, government, and academic research, cultural intelligence or cultural quotient (CQ) is a term which refers to one's capability to relate and work effectively across cultures. It is a kind of intelligence that one has the knowledge, skills and appreciation of everything we have making us as a people. This includes who we are and what we have, such our shared practices, rich culture, and traditions. But occasionally an outsider has a seemingly natural ability to interpret someone's unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures in just the way that person's compatriots and colleagues would, even to mirror them.
Culture is so powerful. It can affect how even a lowly insect is perceived. It becomes complicated when one uses his own culture to interpret certain phenomena that can be viewed differently by others. It should come as no surprise that the human actions, gestures, and speech patterns a person encounters in a foreign setting are subject to an even wider range of interpretations, including ones that can make misunderstandings likely and cooperation impossible.
Cultural intelligence is related to emotional intelligence, but it picks up where emotional intelligence leaves off. A person with high emotional intelligence grasps what makes us human and at the same time what makes each of us different from one another. A person with high cultural intelligence can somehow tease out of a person's or group's behavior those features that would be true of all people and all groups, those peculiar to this person or this group, and those that are neither universal nor idiosyncratic. The vast realm that lies between those two poles is culture. In other words, one is culturally intelligent when he perceives, understands and regards diversity of views, practices, ways, and behaviors as parts of the entire weave of humanity.
Christopher Earley's Cultural Intelligence which appeared in the Harvard Business Review stated that "People who are somewhat detached from their own culture can more easily adopt the mores and even the body language of an unfamiliar host" which I find partially true. It comes with the understanding that one who is fully rooted in his culture and open to understanding of various cultures in his attempt at cross-cultural interactions. In the final analysis, for a wider perspective, one should not be confined to his immediate environment as it would only offer limited opportunities for personal and social growth.
In our desire to cross boundaries, which is by and large inevitable, it is our cultural intelligence that would allow us to thrive in multiple cultures. We need not regard heterogeneity as threatening but rather see it as creative, exciting, inspiring and enriching. In the context of artistic and cultural understanding, it is important to consider expanding one's horizon and in the process, we become tolerant to diversities, a prerequisite in attaining understanding and peace.
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