CAPS Blog 6

Living in the United States, most of us have friends and family that differ from us in a variety of ways.  Intercultural relationships are becoming more and more common as technology and globalization continue to progress.  Personally, when I read the prompt for this blog, I actually had a hard time choosing who to write about, just because I have multiple intercultural relationships that are important to me in my life.  For my final blog post of the year, I have chosen to write about the relationship between me and my cousin, Zack.  Zack and I have been close friends ever since I can remember, and have always enjoyed being able to spend time together.  While I live in Nebraska, he is all the way down in Texas, which means that visits are few and far between.  I have always thought that we are similar people, but as we have grown up over the years I have begun to see some noticeable cultural differences between us.

Zack is an African-American whose has a black father and a white mother.  While none of our family thinks anything of this, he has encountered some hardships due to his mixed family that I have not had to go through.  Although racism is not as widespread as it was in years passed, it is still an issue that he has had to deal with on a day to day basis and I have not.  Zack and I don’t really run into too many problems due to our cultural differences, but that is mostly because we have known each other so long that we both understand where the other comes from.  

The book describes three main advantages to intercultural relationships: acquiring knowledge about the world, breaking stereotypes, and acquiring new skills.  I have actually seen all three of these benefits in my relationship with my cousin.  One of the greatest advantages that has come from my relationship with Zack is breaking down stereotypes.  There are many stereotypes about African-Americans in the United States, and Zack has proven to be a farcry from these.  He is a band geek who plays the drums and the clarinet, and his favorite pass time is playing videogames.  I hold somewhat different interests, so the differences-similarities dialectic holds true for us.  I have learned a lot from Zack, so I agree with the author that acquiring new skills is a common benefit of intercultural relationships.  He has not only given me a basic knowledge of classic rock music, but also helped me understand the types of struggles that African Americans face in as candid of a fashion as possible.  In our relationship, the privilege-disadvantage dialectic holds true.  Zack has always been smaller and more passive than I am, so in most cases I am in more of a power position than he is.

Overall the relationship that Zack and I have developed has greatly improved both of our lives.  While there are occasionally challenges that test our frendship, there are many benefits to outweigh the bad.

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill.