What Assumptions are in
Your Suitcase?
By Martha Merrill
This article was printed in Abroad View Fall 2005
You’re going abroad on a service-learning program. You may have thought about learning a different language, trying new foods, or what it will be like to live with a host family. Maybe you’ve given some consideration to the kind of service you’ll do, or why the community you’re visiting has a need for this kind of service (Why are there orphaned children, homeless families, or schools that need teaching assistants?). What’s the economy like, and what’s the history that has created these problems? What you may not have thought about, however, is how your host community views learning, service, and service-learning.
You may find that most people in your host culture have a norm, belief, or value that’s different from those you know. You may notice, for example, that your Russian friends say “myi” (we) in situations where you might say “I.” This speech pattern may give you a clue that Russians might emphasize the group in a situation where you would emphasize the individual. It’s these kinds of hints about a society and its values that you should look for when doing intercultural service-learning.
You need to be aware that cultural assumptions are present in learning situations. For example, how would you define “a good student”? Is he or she someone who asks lots of questions, has original ideas, does independent research, and wants to know more than what’s said in class? In many U.S. classrooms, this is the ideal of a good student. In some cultures, however, this kind of student would be considered immature and disrespectful—one who does not understand that he or she is not the equal of the professor, who has studied the subject for many years. Think, too, of the economic assumptions underlying independent work: a library full of books, journals, and electronic databases; computer labs with easy Internet access; time to spend doing research rather than working at a job or sharing in family responsibilities. Are these assumptions true in the society you are going to?
Beliefs about giving service also vary by culture. In some societies, those who give service to others often do so because of their religious beliefs. In India, as Howard Berry and Linda Chisholm point out in Service-Learning in Higher Education Around the World: An Initial Look, the impetus for service comes from a desire to be self-sufficient in light of a colonial past, and in Denmark, a traditionally homogenous society, it is seen as a way of learning about the country’s new cultural diversity. In some societies, where the concept of “face” is important, the idea of receiving service from a stranger can be shameful—it can mean that you do not have an “in-group” to take care of you. For example, nursing homes don’t exist in many countries—families care for the elderly. Of course, that paradigm presupposes that someone, most likely a female member of the family, does not work outside the home. You may also find that the preponderant belief in some societies is that the government or some other group should take care of those in need, rather than individuals. When people in your host society react to the work you’re doing, either positively or negatively, try to put the reaction in a context—look around you, ask questions, and see if you can get some idea about their attitude toward service. What motivates people to serve? Do those who are being served feel shame, or do they see themselves as being in a temporary situation, or in a situation caused by forces for which they are not responsible?
If beliefs about learning and service differ by culture, then it makes sense that ideas about service-learning differ, too. If you’ve chosen to do service-learning, then you’ve chosen a form of learning that falls under the broad category of experiential learning. If you think about the ideas that underlie experiential learning, you may realize that figuring something out for yourself is an important part of it. Of course you’ll read, and listen to your supervisor and your professors, and hear about the experiences of other students, but a fundamental idea inherent in experiential learning is that you can form hypotheses from your own observations about the way a society works. You may find that not every society thinks that a 19-year-old is capable of forming such hypotheses. You may find people who question not just the ideas you’ve come up with, but also your right to have a theory or a hypothesis about your host society. Before you take that personally, take a look around you. Is most of the education in your host university done through professors lecturing and students taking notes? Do you find yourself explaining the concept of service-learning to your friends? If so, it may be that you’re in a society that has different ideas from yours about who’s an authority, from whom one can learn, and what’s the right way for a “good” student to behave.
Cultural variation in ideas about learning, service, and service-learning is much more complex than these few paragraphs can suggest. A simple piece of advice is to look and listen, reflect, and seek information. Above all, don’t assume that attitudes about anything are just like they are at home. You’re going abroad to experience cultural difference—be ready to find it when you’re doing your homework or playing with a group of five-year-olds or thinking over your day. Cultural assumptions are embedded in all parts of society. Pay attention, and you’ll find that opportunities for learning are everywhere.
For an expanded version of some of the ideas found in this article, refer to “The Cultural and Intercultural Contexts of Service-Learning,” contained in Knowing and Doing: the Theory and Practice of Service-Learning, 2005, IPSL Press.
MARTHA MERRILL is the Dean of Academic Programs at The International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership. She earned a B.A. in Russian literature, University of Michigan; M.L.S. in Creative Writing, Boston University; M.A.L.S. in Islamic Culture Studies, Columbia University; M.A. and Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration, University of Michigan. Martha has worked in colleges and universities, as a teacher and as an administrator, for nearly 30 years, including five years in Central Asia, in the Kyrgyz Republic. Her research interests include intercultural aspects of university reform, the impact of GATS on higher education in nations in transition, quality assessment in higher education, and the ways intercultural development theory and student development theory apply to intercultural service-learning.