Intercultural Interview Reflection

Intercultural Interview Reflection
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Intercultural Interview Reflection
One of the unique features that individuals have all over society is that they have different cultures. In attaining cultural diversity, individuals need to understand their culture and other people's cultures to be more culturally tolerant. Even though there could have been many ways I could have applied to understand other individuals' cultures, I opted for an interview since it is fast and cheaper, considering that I was working on a fixed time and budget.
In this interview, I chose a girl from an Eastern culture. One of the main reasons was that women seemed to be disadvantaged in the Eastern culture than their male counterparts within the Western culture. Even though I could choose between interviewing in person and over the phone, I opted for an in-person interview. This interview helped me observe the interviewee's nonverbal cues, giving me a deeper understanding of their answers. Moreover, since I had more time, I had a chance to understand the participant better. Furthermore, since I wanted the interview to be more formal, an in-person interview helped to make this interview to be more formal. Even though I had the freedom to choose my interviewee, I chose the one from the consulate since the individual already had the recent information of their culture, having moved from the area recently, and it would also be cheaper since I opted to have an in-person interview.
The first question I asked her was what she identified as the most important or distinct practices in her culture. I mainly asked this question to understand what she valued most. This is the answer that she gave. "As a daughter, we always baked with our grandmother and mother. Every day we baked for breakfast and dessert. Baking was an important practice in our culture because it was an accomplishment to be known as the woman who would bake goods that the husbands and brothers enjoyed. It was a sense of pride for us. We still bake many goodies to this day; we now share those recipes with our kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids."
The next question I asked her was how her culture addressed gender roles. The main reason for this question was that I acknowledged that most cultures have different ways of addressing gender roles. She answered that "Gender roles were as traditional as they got. The woman never said much; we were taught to be quiet and reserved. The men did all the talking and were the only ones allowed to give their opinions publicly. Though our mother was from Sweden and lived in America, those gender roles were still followed and enforced in our family values."
I also asked h...