Stage #2: Multicultural Awareness

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." ~ Margaret Mead

Strategies: Effective Ways to Boost Multicultural Awareness

Watch films and read books.

Explore topics and works from countries or cultural communities different from your own. Watching a foreign language film with sub-titles can help build experiential knowledge of what it feels like to be in another person's shoes. Reading a book written in a different cultural setting, by an author with a different cultural perspective, can be enlightening.

Travel or live abroad.

Although beach vacations at all inclusive resorts can be lovely, branch out if or when possible. The more places you go and the more people you meet, the more open your mind will be.

Taste different cultures through food and drink.

Step out of your usual comfort zone and try foods and drinks from different cultures. If you go to new restaurants in different neighbourhoods than your own, you may be very pleasantly surprised by the diverse experiences you can have. Even if you can not travel abroad, exploring within your own city, town or community can open up a variety of new cultural experiences for you to sample.

Festivals and Events.

Go and take part in local festivities. You may gain valuable exposure to things like food, music, dance, and shopping. Different cultural traditions are usually on display, and if you are willing to engage, most people are very happy to share information about their own culture with other, open-minded people.

Talk to people.

Be welcoming. Smile. Make eye contact with different people. Engage with people in appropriate, respectful ways, but there is nothing wrong with starting a conversation when you hear a fabulous accent or notice an interesting fruit or vegetable being picked up in the produce section. ""Intercultural competence involves being able to understand oneself and our own ability to feel comfortable in ‘doing difference’. Viewing difference as ‘a bad thing’ leads to doing difference that can look like racism, but doing difference can also lead to doing curiosity and kindness, the latter building social cohesion" (Toohey, n.d.). You just never know where your genuine, curiosity may take you.

Case Study #2: Kenojuak Ashevak, Inuit Artist

Kenojuak Ashevak, Inuit Artist

Become aware of how others view themselves and their place within the world. Observe, ask questions, be respectfully curious. Doing so may provide you with greater awareness and insight about your own perceptions.

Left: My Birds, circa 1975, stonecut, Inuit, 1927-2013.

https://moa.ubc.ca/linktree/screen-shot-2021-03-11-at-9-40-20-am/

View the Film: Eskimo Artist, Kenojuak

John Feeney, National Film Board of Canada, 1964

Q: This film is now over 50 years old. In what ways do you think life in Cape Dorset (‘Kinngait’) is the same or different today?
See 20th Anniversary of Nunavut and Other Inuit Links below for additional resources.

*Note: the term 'Inuit', meaning 'people' in their own language, is now the preferred term used in Canada to refer to this group of indigenous peoples.

Inuit History, Culture and the Formation of Nunavut- A Discussion with Piita Irniq, Inuit Elder

20th Anniversary of Nunavut

April 1, 2019

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Nunavut, we are sharing an interview with Piita Irniq, a highly respected Inuit Elder, a prominent spokesperson for the Inuit community and the second commissioner of Nunavut. Piita was kind enough to chat to us while onboard the Akademik Sergey Vavilov in the Canadian Arctic, providing insight into Inuit history, traditions and community.

Q: How have things changed for the Inuit People in the last 50 years?

Q: How might these lifestyle changes affect personal perspectives?

Viewing Extensions: National Film Board of Canada: Other Inuit Links

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