The Intercultural Praxis approach is active in comparison to other models of intercultural practice that I’ve experienced throughout my life. Something else I find interesting is that the intercultural praxis approach strives for a dialogue based approach of increasing understanding between people of different cultures. Although this sounds like a goal that would be obvious to intercultural practice, but it is one that was not really used much when I was younger; it was about being respectful and only being active when you were told to do so, instead of being aware of the transformative capacity of one’s own actions within a larger goal to increase intercultural understanding amongst all.
When I was younger, I was certainly taught to empathize with other people, but I wasn’t taught to reframe and recontextualize my own reality to further understand those of other cultures. The prevailing ideology of learning to empathize with people different from oneself when I was in elementary and middle school asked us to respect other cultures, to not appropriate other cultures, and to try to help people who, because of varying cultural differences, did not have access to the same resources as myself, as someone who although has distinct cultural practices is in many ways a part of the dominant culture of the United States.
I think that although this approach that I was taught is helpful, it still has this lingering sentiment of separation from people of other cultures. The intercultural praxis theory, although it does emphasize the importance of acknowledging differences, emphasizes reflecting on how our actions can help create a world where communities acknowledge cultural differences and make socially conscious decisions with a process of dialogue and communication. The practice of dialogue is a two way exchange of meaning between people, who are both willing to be changed by each other. This does differ from my upbringing, where I wasn’t even taught to engage in dialogue with people of different cultures than me, but to merely respect and acknowledge our differences. Teaching that we as human beings can genuinely learn from each other, that we can acknowledge our differences while working together to create a mutually beneficial society, is important to incorporate into the education of youth. We can use dialogue about cultural differences to understand how and why we need a society shaped to meet the needs of everyone.
