Stereotypes: a two-way street
Kendra Richards
Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Student Life
Professor Mike Sunnafrank teaches a course at UMD called "Intercultural Communication," which is made up of students from different cultures. Though the class is still predominantly American, the students gain the opportunity to learn about other cultures through each other. He said that it is common for international students to have stereotypes of Americans.
"Common stereotypes are that Americans don't know much about the world, that we want to police and control the rest of the world and that we are promiscuous and heavily into drugs," Sunnafrank said.
Usama Shaikh, an international student from Pakistan, is taking Sunnafrank's "Intercultural Communication" class. He thought Americans were, for the most part, lazy and careless.
"I thought people here were unbiased, but indifferent as well," he said.
Sunnafrank went on to say that these stereotypes are formed from unrealistic sources and hearsay.
"We export a lot of our movies and music, which carry a lot of nudity and language, drugs and violence, and they see it as what we are like," he said.
Sunnafrank said that they also get their information about us from watching the news, which predominantly covers negative events.
"They hear about the war in Iraq, and they see us imposing our will on other countries," he said.
A few of the international students, however, said that they were surprised to find so much friendliness here in the States.
"I did not think the people would be as nice as most of the people have been here," Forza said. "But people here are very polite even if they are stressed out, and they take time to speak to people."
Sunnafrank found this to be a common realization for international students. He said that people from outside our culture are surprised to find Americans so friendly. However, he also noticed that often times, they later question whether or not the friendliness is genuine.
"Other cultures don't speak to each other as much as we do-we make small talk, and feel that silences should be filled with conversation when we are with someone," he said. "When we say, 'Hey, how are you doing?' We don't really care how you are doing, that's just hello-but students from other countries take it seriously and are surprised at how much we care. Later, they realize this and see it as phony."
However, according to Sunnafrank, this varies depending on what region of the world you are from.
"Communal cultures often find the U.S. a very cold place," Sunnafrank said. "Their cultures are used to being with each other more, and we are more independent."
"Common stereotypes are that Americans don't know much about the world, that we want to police and control the rest of the world and that we are promiscuous and heavily into drugs," Sunnafrank said.
Usama Shaikh, an international student from Pakistan, is taking Sunnafrank's "Intercultural Communication" class. He thought Americans were, for the most part, lazy and careless.
"I thought people here were unbiased, but indifferent as well," he said.
Sunnafrank went on to say that these stereotypes are formed from unrealistic sources and hearsay.
"We export a lot of our movies and music, which carry a lot of nudity and language, drugs and violence, and they see it as what we are like," he said.
Sunnafrank said that they also get their information about us from watching the news, which predominantly covers negative events.
"They hear about the war in Iraq, and they see us imposing our will on other countries," he said.
A few of the international students, however, said that they were surprised to find so much friendliness here in the States.
"I did not think the people would be as nice as most of the people have been here," Forza said. "But people here are very polite even if they are stressed out, and they take time to speak to people."
Sunnafrank found this to be a common realization for international students. He said that people from outside our culture are surprised to find Americans so friendly. However, he also noticed that often times, they later question whether or not the friendliness is genuine.
"Other cultures don't speak to each other as much as we do-we make small talk, and feel that silences should be filled with conversation when we are with someone," he said. "When we say, 'Hey, how are you doing?' We don't really care how you are doing, that's just hello-but students from other countries take it seriously and are surprised at how much we care. Later, they realize this and see it as phony."
However, according to Sunnafrank, this varies depending on what region of the world you are from.
"Communal cultures often find the U.S. a very cold place," Sunnafrank said. "Their cultures are used to being with each other more, and we are more independent."
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