International engagement through cultural understanding: An interpretive analysis of the Akha of northern Laos and the Kikuyu of eastern Kenya, in the face of global change

Research issues and purpose. People throughout our society are struggling everyday to improve their lives and enhance communication with persons outside of their immediate cultures. This research identifies how distinct cultures are able to interact with other cultures in an understandable and communicatively active manner. Heidegger (1962) states that this action can occur because of man's innate desire to Care about the other. When the participants of this research reveal their life stories through narratives, there are reoccurring concepts that bridge the never-ending story of poverty, education, and language. This research seeks to build a bridge that merges the ideas of man into a global paradigm of pragmatic change. The purpose of this research is to offer alternatives to policy and education that will increase the economic situations of any group suffering low-economic productivity.; Research process. I have used the theory of Critical Hermeneutic Participatory Research (Herda 1999) to support the concepts of Language and Communicative Action (Habermas 1999), Action and Mimesis (Ricoeur 1992), and the theory of Care (Heidegger 1962), to built a foundation for this theory. This process offered the researcher the opportunity to interact and work with people groups and to explore the culture of people submerged in an economic disorder.; The results offer possible conclusions that if utilized and implemented may give researchers, organizations and governments the tools they have searched for far to long. The ideas for development in education, economics and policy may assist in a global paradigm of new beginnings.