(Your Institute’s Name)
We are living in the twenty first century where the world is a more globalised and integrated place. We interact with people from various backgrounds in all walks of life may it in the social or professional space. This chapter addresses the aspect of interpersonal relationships between people (both friendly and romantic) and highlights various ways that enables an individual to understand, develop and maintain interpersonal relationships. The chapter argues that one’s social, cultural, educational and religious upbringing influences one’s likelihood towards intercultural bonding and I completely agree with this. To elucidate this I would like to give an example – if someone has seen intercultural friendships or marriages co-exist in their family or neighbourhood the person is more likely to be open towards interacting with people belonging to different backgrounds. The chapter also discusses various dialectics that explain the dynamics of intercultural relationships. The one that I personally identified with was the differences – similarities dialectic and the static – dynamic dialectic. Taking from personal experience, I am curious about different people, cultures and traditions especially if they are dissimilar from mine; after reading the chapter I can understand better the reasons for my attraction towards different people and why I have friends who belong to various communities, religions and cultural backgrounds. I also agree that all relationships whether intercultural or otherwise are always in a state of flux and need to be viewed as per the present situation and not according to when it had started. The fact that there was numerous real life excerpts helped in understanding what the authors were trying to communicate.
I believe that one should respect people whether they are from the same or from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. In my opinion, intercultural relationships help an individual develop, both intellectually and emotionally. If one keeps an open mind about other religion, caste, gender, class and culture it will be easy to overcome the challenges or hesitation of being in an intercultural relationship. This open mindedness will enhance one’s learning and increase tolerance towards people in general. In any relationship (friendly, romantic or professional), communication and discussion is imperative.
Reference List
Martin & Nakayama, “Interpersonal Communication in Contexts”, Ch. 10 (p. 389 – p. 433).
