![]() I was playing with my girls when a delivery driver knocked on the door. Last week I was needlessly rude to someone. This is one theory that really holds water (sorry). It is also a great tool to have in your back pocket when dealing with problems in personal relationships and practicing self-awareness. The theory is used widely in business, psychology, and academia. ![]() What a person does is "the tip of the iceberg"- what we don't see are the emotional, social, cultural, and other factors that lie beneath the surface and cause that behavior. Let’s look at some cultural examples below.The iceberg theory is a frequently cited model of behavior which states that a person's behavior can only be properly understood in the context of the factors that caused it. When you hear the What, start looking for the Why. So how can we begin to recognize the cultural icebergs around us? One effective method is to look for “ripples.” Just as a disturbance on top of the water can indicate something submerged beneath, it is possible to use what you can directly observe to lead toward what you cannot. ![]() Most of us have never stopped to consider our own under-the-water culture, let alone another’s. Since these generally subconscious components of culture are caught by watching those around us more than they are explicitly taught, they are much harder to identify and change. The below-the-water parts of cultures can be called the Why. They include attitudes and beliefs, values, expectations, and assumptions-the essence of worldview. These below-the-water aspects of culture are, by far, the more important and more influential parts. Thus, on a project trip we might learn to eat spicy food, sing a Spanish song, or bow rather than shake hands.īut the visible, above-the-water part of an iceberg indicates an invisible and much greater section below. Above-the-water concepts are explicitly passed on by other members of that culture, as when I teach my toddler when to wear shoes or use her “indoor voice.” Since these aspects of culture are consciously learned, they are also more easily recognized and changed. He explained that the parts of culture which we can observe with our senses-clothes, food, gestures, music, etc.-are just the tip of the iceberg. Hall first developed the iceberg concept in 1976 as a way to understand human societies. We who serve with EMI must become adept at recognizing these iceberg s and the essential aspects of culture which lie below the waterline.Īnthropologist Edward T. As with icebergs, the greater mass of any culture lies beneath the surface, under the waves. Photo by Dannah Koeniger, 2014, Old Delhi, IndiaĮvery traveller quickly learns that people from other nations eat different foods, wear different clothes, and speak different languages. Top Banner Photo: Of the many wallahs in Old Delhi, the ear cleaner is perhaps the most peculiar. ![]() Yet our work with EMI begs the question, just how different is it? How does living and working in a radically different culture affect design? Isn’t a building still a building? At the end of the day, aren’t all people really the same inside? Doesn’t the bond of Christ bridge the gap within our culturally diverse teams and the clients we serve so that we don’t have to worry about differences? Without warning, a teenage girl slips silently past the curtain that functions as the door to my room and bows at my bedside with a tray of hot tea.Įvery day in India reminds me that this place is different from the America of my childhood. A vendor shouts the names of fruits for sale. ![]() A Hindu neighbour rings a tiny bell as he chants his morning prayers at the family shrine. Wide awake, I lie in bed and listen to the other sounds around me. Though tired from yesterday’s EMI project work, I cannot remain asleep as a mosque’s siren signals the start of Ramadan fasting. I wake up in an orphanage in south- eastern India. ![]()
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