Between Cultures

Between Cultures took me by surprise. I had been familiar with how the authors' employed metaphor as a tool to help people define themselves as multicultural human beings. I was already convinced that this teaching technology was an essential building block for successful multicultural understanding collaboration. I was not ready for a tour de force of well-organized prose that so clearly identifies the constructed nature of race, nationality, ethnicity, and gender and so swiftly and thoroughly demolishes our internal biases about them. The authors make short work of common but culturally short-sighted approaches within psychology, politics, social work and education. The precise analysis of these disciplines makes it clear that the study and management of culture can not only hold it's own but can both effectively critique and contribute mightily to these other fields. The book draws masterfully and playfully from the authors' experience and study of culture itself and of specific cultures and cultural boundaries. Abundant illustrations and examples come from the US, Japan, Native and Latin America as well as a variety of other sources both contemporary and historical. Particularly effective and engaging is the authors' use of the dynamics and lore of the theater to help the reader design and carry out life and work roles. Individual mastery of improv is a survival skill on the stage of the foreseeable future. Unlike so many books in this field, Between Cultures is an excellent though not always easy read. It's information and message is tightly packed by well chosen, sometimes technical words. While its allusions, references and word fun will appeal primarily to those well-versed in the US version of Western learning and familiar with US pop culture, its overall clarity of expression opens the doors to readers of various stripes. Polymaths and wanna-be's will delight in the depth and breadth of the authors' perception and wit. When they send me to the dictionary, I don't resent it. This book redefines the ground on which teaching and managing of diversity should take place, a building block for our cultural future. While aimed at the individual who seeks to improve her or his self-understanding, self-esteem and effectiveness as a cultural actor, it will be useful as a tool for teachers at every level and for students in university settings. People in the 21st century should be growing into adulthood with these perspectives in their toolkit. OD consultants and trainers, personnel and HR managers as well as anyone bearing responsibility for the functioning of effective groups, teams and organizations will find in Between Cultures a compass with which to navigate the swell and chop of diversity as they pursue their goals. Despite the fact that I have been a professional interculturalist for many years, Seelye and Wasilewski leave me feeling like a diver whose tethered and weighted hard-hat suit has been replaced by new light-weight s