Engaging Cultural Differences

This past month, I read the book, Engaging Cultural Differences - The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies, written by Richard, Shweder, Martha Minow, and Hazel Rose Markus.

After taking part in UN DPI/NGO Thursday Briefings this year, I am not only in aw by how amazing cultures are, but I am also surprised that we have yet to learn and accept cultural differences. We should not be afraid of what is different; we should instead embrace and celebrate it. People with different mindsets and opinions can help us achieve so much like improving human development for all and sustainable initiatives.

I am truly inspired by communities and organizations that see communities different from them as friends than as a threat. I am inspired by this book because it sees communities working together as an opportunity for greatness for all and not few.

"The question of cultural difference has long been a double-pronged thorn in the side of liberation. It has dented confident assertions of universal individual rights with allegations of discrimination. And it has punctured claims of broadly based tolerance with accusation of indifference to oppression. This remarkably powerful volume, rich in both empirical detail and theoretical sophistication, confronts these issues head on from a range of different perspectives--legal, psychological, anthropological, historical. It will change the way many people think and become indispensable reading for scholars interested in liberalism, practitioners working within multicultural institutions, and activists involved in human rights."

--Jacqueline Bhabha, Executive Director, University Committee on Human Rights Studies, Harvard University

-MASR