The Art of Crossing Cultures ~ Craig Storti

Here's my most recent book reflection...

I really enjoyed reading this book and wished I had read it before spending as much time as I have overseas. It was just a good general knowledge book that I found helpful.

It was also good for me to read how “sticking it out” doesn’t mean you’ve adjusted to the culture, and also isn’t healthy (for you or for your community). Storti says, “For those expatriates who stick it out [without adjusting], there are feelings of bitterness, and anger (usually misdirected at the local people), a bunker mentality, and a dangerous shrinking of their capacity for sympathy and compassion, a narrowing of their humanity.” That last phrase, “a narrowing of humanity” is clearly something to be avoided! Its like this call to me to strive to adjust in a healthy way.

I appreciated the conversation about how we don’t have to accept all parts of culture. It was easy for me to make a list of things I’ve experienced while in India that I understand, but still can’t embrace or accept as good, and I’m thankful that I don’t “have to.” Storti says, “If we genuinely respect another culture, we must allow ourselves to be appalled by it.” In Indian culture (just like in American culture) there are values that are significantly less than kingdom values. In my effort to adjust to a new culture, I am not called to embrace or condone actions and attitudes that are in violation of the Way of Jesus, any more than I would in my own culture.

The chapter on coming home gave me a new framework to understand some of what the transition back to America has been for me. “The problem is this word, "home." It suggest a place and a life all set up and waiting for us; all we have to do is move in. But home isn't merely a place we inhabit; its a lifestyle we construct (wherever we go), a pattern of routines, habits, and behaviors associated with certain people, places, and objects - all confined to a limited area or neighborhood. We can certainly construct a home back in our own culture - just as we did abroad - but there won't be one waiting for us when we arrive. And this is true even if you move back into the same house you lived in before you went overseas.” In another part of that chapter he describes a person returning to their native culture as “homeless.” I love this understanding of “home” and how it brings clarity to how I’ve felt the times I’ve returned to the US, and also clearly depicts how you can create a new home for yourself in your new culture as you move overseas.