1. Tenzin Dorjee, Ph.D. California State University, Fullerton Second North American Tibetan Language Conference and Workshop August 25, 2012 @ Dhezhi Phunstokling, TANC, Northern CA *Power Points in English, Oral Presentation in Tibetan Language

2.  CONTEXTING: TIBETAN DIASPORA IN NORTH AMERICA  IDENTITY PERSPECTIVES  CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES  COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVES  COMPARING COMMUNICATION STYLES  LANGUAGE IDENTITY AND TIBETAN AMERICANS: A DESCRIPTIVE MODEL  CONCLUSION  QUESTION AND ANSWER OVERVIEW

3.  AS A COMMUNITY WE FACE TWO MAJOR CHALLENGES IN NORTH AMERICA.  ONE, INTERCULTURAL ADAPTATION (e.g., KIM, 2001)  TWO, TRANSMITTING AND PRESERVING TIBETAN CULTURE AND IDENTITY (e.g., DORJEE, 2006; DORJEE, GILES, & BARKER, 2012). CONTEXTING: TIBETAN DIASPORA IN NORTH AMERICA

4.  QUESTIONS: WHO AM I? WHO ARE WE?  AVOWED IDENTITY (WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE OR WHO WE THINK WE ARE).  ASCRIBED IDENTITY (WHO OTHERS THINK YOU ARE OR WHO OTHERS THINK WE ARE).  THESE PERSPECTIVES HELP US UNDERSTAND OUR YOUNGER GENERATION’S IDENTITY STRUGGLES. IDENTITY PERSPECTIVES

5.  INTERGROUP PERSPECTIVE: PERSONAL IDENTITY AND SOCIAL IDENTITY (SEE GILES, REID, & HARWOOD, 2010)  PERSONAL IDENTITY = INDIVIDUAL UNIQUENESS OR IDIOSYNCRASIES (e.g., PERSONALITY TRAITS)  SOCIAL IDENTITY = GROUP MEMBERSHIP (e.g., CULTURAL IDENTITY, LANGUAGE IDENTITY, ETHNIC IDENTITY, RELIGIOUS IDENTITY, AGE IDENTITY, NATIONAL IDENTITY, PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY) IDENTITY PERSPECTIVES

6.  WHAT IS CULTURE? MANY DEFINITIONS.  IT IS A LEARNED SYSTEM OF MEANINGS ABOUT PATTERNS OF TRADITIONS, BELIEFS, VALUES, NORMS, AND SYMBOLS (TING-TOOMEY & CHUNG, 2012).  FOR EXAMPLE, AN ICEBERG METAPHOR  MULTIPLE LEVELS: SURFACE, INTERMEDIATE, DEEP, AND UNIVERSAL NEEDS. CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

7.  CULTURAL VARIABILITY DIMENSIONS (e.g., HOFSTEDE, 2001; HOFSTEDE & McCRAE, 2004):  INDIVIDUALISM-COLLECTIVISM  POWER DISTANCE: SMALL OR LARGE  UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE: WEAK OR STRONG  GENDER ROLES: MASCULINE OR FEMININE VALUE PATTERN  I WILL FOCUS ON THE FIRST TWO OF THESE DIMENSIONS. CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

8.  INDIVIDUALISM REFERS TO CULTURAL PATTERN THAT EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY OVER GROUP IDENTITY, INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS OVER GROUP RIGHTS, AND INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OVER GROUP NEEDS.  FOR EXAMPLE, U.S.A. & WESTERN EUROPEAN CULTURES.  COLLECTIVISM REFERS TO CULTURAL PATTERN THAT EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE “WE” IDENTITY OVER “I” IDENTITY, GROUP RIGHTS AND NEEDS OVER INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND NEEDS (2/3 RD OF WORLD CULTURES).  FOR EXAMPLE, ASIAN CULTURES INCLUDING TIBET’S CULTURE. CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

9.  POWER DISTANCE REFERS TO HOW POWER IS DISTRIBUTED WITHIN A CULTURE.  SMALL POWER DISTANCE CULTURES TEND TO VALUE EQUAL POWER DISTRIBUTIONS, EQUAL RIGHTS AND FAIRNESS. FOR EXAMPLE, U.S.A. AND WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.  LARGE POWER DISTANCE CULTURES TEND TO ACCEPT UNEQUAL POWER DISTRIBUTIONS, HIERARCHICAL RIGHTS, AND ASYMMETRICAL ROLE RELATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, MOST ASIAN CULTURES. CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

10.  COMMUNICATION IS THE RELATIONAL AND TRANSACTIONAL PROCESS OF ENCODING (CREATING) AND DECODING (INTERPRETING) VERBAL AND NONVERBAL MESSAGES THAT ELICIT A RESPONSE WITHIN A CONTEXT (SEE GRIFFIN, 2009).  ITS KEY ELEMENTS ARE:  1) RELATIONAL AND TRANSACTIONAL PROCESS  2) MESSAGES (NEGOTIATE MEANINGS)  3) REACTION (THE EFFECT OF THE MESSAGE)  4) CONTEXT (INTERPERSONAL, ORGANIZATIONAL, MEDIA, INTERGROUP/INTERCULTURAL, & OTHERS) COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVES

11.  HALL (1976) DISTINGUISED BETWEEN LOW AND HIGH CONTEXTS OF COMMUNICATION.  LOW CONTEXT EMPHASIZES EXPLICIT EXPRESSION OF THE INTENTED MESSAGES. FOR EXAMPLE, I NEED HELP, CAN YOU HELP ME? “SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, MEAN WHAT YOU SAY.” OTHER EXAMPLES?  HIGH CONTEXT EMPHASIZES IMPLICIT EXPRESSION OF THE INTENDED MESSAGES. FOR EXAMPLE, LET’S MEET NEXT WEEK. “READ BETWEEN THE LINES.” OTHER EXAMPLES? COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVES

12.  COMPARING COMMUNICATION STYLES BETWEEN MAINSTREAM AMERICANS AND TIBETANS:  MAINSTREAM AMERICANS VERSUSTRADITIONAL TIBETANS  LOW CONTEXTHIGH CONTEXT  DIRECT INDIRECT  INFORMALFORMAL  TALKINGLISTENING  SELF-ENHANCEMENT STYLESELF-HUMBLING STYLE  LINEAR THINKINGWHOLISTIC THINKING COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVES

13.  A PROPOSED DESCRIPTIVE MODEL  1. THOSE WHO SPEAK TIBETAN & REGARD IT AS MOST IMPORTANT TO THEIR IDENTITY (MORE TIBETAN THAN AMERICAN).  2. THOSE WHO DO NOT SPEAK TIBETAN BUT REGARD IT AS IMPORTANT TO THEIR IDENTITY (BICULTURAL IDENTITY).  3. THOSE WHO REGARD OTHER ASPECTS OF TIBETAN CULTURE AS IMPORTANT TO THEIR IDENTITY (STRONG TIBETAN IDENTITY BUT LANGUAGE MAY NOT BE IMPORTANT TO THEM).  4. THOSE WHO MAY NOT CARE ABOUT TIBETAN LANGUAGE (ASSIMILATED TIBETANS; MORE AMERICAN THAN TIBETAN). LANGUAGE IDENTITY AND TIBETAN AMERICANS

14.  BICULTURAL = IDENTIFY WITH BOTH TIBETAN AND AMERICAN CULTURES.  THEY ARE BOTH INDIVIDUALISTIC AND COLLECTIVISTIC IN THEIR CULTURAL ORIENTATIONS.  THEY ARE BOTH LOW AND HIGH CONTEXTS COMMUNICATORS.  THEY MAY REGARD TIBETAN LANGUAGE IS IMPORTANT TO THEIR IDENTITY REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY SPEAK IT OR NOT.  THEY MAY SEE THEMSELVES AS “T-PLUS” (TIBETAN PLUS WHATEVER). TIBETAN AMERICANS COULD BE …

15.  CONTEXTING: TIBETAN DIASPORA IN U.S.A.  IDENTITY PERSPECTIVES  CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES  COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVES  COMPARING COMMUNICATION STYLES  LANGUAGE IDENTITY AND TIBETAN AMERICANS  TIBETAN AMERICANS COULD BE BICULTURAL  Q AND A SESSION  THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION AND PARTICIPATION. CONCLUSION