Bafa Bafa Discussion Qs

Each Group alternate What words would you use to describe the other group? How did Betas/Alphas appear to Alphas/Betas when they visited your culture? Each group describe your thoughts when you visited the other cultural group

Alpha member explain Beta culture Beta member explain Alpha culture Alpha member explain Alpha culture Beta member explain Beta culture

Which culture would you prefer to live in, why? In the game, you are not allowed to tell the rules of the other culture. How similar is this to the real world where you cannot ask rules of the other culture?

Is it possible to talk about another culture without using evaluative terms? Is it meaningful or helpful to avoid evaluation?

If culture “z” met the needs and aspirations of its members better than culture “y” met the needs of its members, would culture “z” be a better culture than culture “y”?

Suppose the members of culture “m” believed that it was good to mutilate young female children and their cultural norms and mores made it possible for this “good” to be realized. Would it be a better or worse culture than culture “o” in which all members of the society were encouraged to grow intellectually, socially and physically as mush as they could and the cultural norms and mores made it possible for these goals to be realized?

How should a visitor react to culture “m”? Try to reform it, adapt to it, tolerate it? Does prolonged contact with another group increase understanding and appreciation between various groups?

Suppose one were assigned the responsibility of preparing people to go to another culture or work with members of a subculture. What would be the specific objectives of such a program and how would they recommend that it be accomplished?

Conclusions What seems logical, sensible, important and reasonable to a person in one culture may seem irrational, stupid, and unimportant to an outsider. Feelings of apprehension, loneliness, lack of confidence are common when visiting another culture.

When people talk about other cultures, they tend to describe the differences and not the similarities. Differences between cultures are generally seen as threatening and described in negative terms.

Personal observations and reports of other cultures should be regarded with a great deal of skepticism. One should make up one’s own mind about another culture and not rely on the reports and experience of others.

It requires experience as well as study to understand the many subtleties of another culture. Understanding another culture is a continuous and not a discrete process. Stereotyping is probably inevitable in the absence of frequent contact or study.

The feelings which people have for their own language are often not evident until they encounter another language. People often feel their own language is far superior to other languages.

It is probably necessary to know the language of a foreign culture to understand the culture in any depth. Perhaps a person can accept a culture only after he or she has been very critical of it.