| This phenomenological study tackles the question of the nature and dynamics of a shift in worldview that may occur on multiple levels after an Arab American cross-cultural experience. The study examines critical questions of the nature of such cultural encounters especially in light of the significant tension between the Arab Muslim world and the West. The experiences of five Arab and five American students are closely probed using face-to-face in-depth interviews and written reflections. The premise of the study is based on multiple theories including transformative learning and the development of intercultural and global awareness. The study also addresses the effects of broad themes such as modernity and globalization on Arab-American relations and the possibilities for reconciling a uniquely Arab cultural identity with encompassing and flexible criteria for modernity. The findings of the study elicit several factors that can support intercultural awareness including elements related to background and personality, and elements within the intercultural experience itself. The study also reveals possible barriers including psychological barriers, language, family and peer pressure, cultural differences, and misperceptions. The study findings describe the possible effects of intercultural experience including cognitive, personal, and interpersonal changes. The cognitive shift is central to the change in worldview. It incorporates an adjustment of preconceptions, reflection and critique of mother culture, and the formation of new views related to culture, diversity, and the human condition. The findings confirm traits described in the literature of an evolving intercultural and global awareness. They challenge some assumptions related to the notion of culture shock, as it was evident from the study that the intensity of culture shock can be mitigated through supportive factors. The study findings support an integrative view of transformative theory. In addition to critical reflection or dialectic discourse, emotional identification and thoughtful action were evident in the study as prominent change mechanisms involving little conscious reflection. The students' evolving worldviews provided some elements of a futuristic vision of Arab-American relations that is based on mutual respect and responsibility towards humanity at large at a time in which even small decisions can have great global impact. |
