Relationships

Reader: Kendall

Relationships are formed every single day through continually changing situations such as a chance meeting in line at Starbucks, sitting next to someone new in class, or even sharing the same taste in music. Throughout this semester, we have been gradually informing our blog readers and ourselves of what the Italian culture is like. After writing several posts, I have come to realize that having the ability to form a relationship with someone from another culture is nothing but beneficial! Ideas, traditions, and similarities can flow between the individuals’ allowing for each to become more culturally competent and aware.

I have become more culturally aware, that forming a relationship with someone of Italian decent would be much simpler than an alternative culture. I have learned that Italian’s love their food, their family, and their culture. The possibility of sharing these things with someone new is only an exciting opportunity to look forward to. They look forward to welcoming you into their culture and learning about you. I have also come to realize that Italians are a contact culture, so when meeting new individual’s, I should be aware that hugging and kissing on the cheek is a naturally greeting. The Italian culture to me symbolizes togetherness. At the end of the day, Italians would rather be a big happy whole with new and old faces than being separated for some alone time.

Through this blog, I have had the ability to have cognitive consistency through my interviews as the investigator. Cognitive consistency is having a logical connection between existing knowledge and new stimuli. However, I have found that to be able to form meaningful relationships that can educate one another, as an individual you must self-disclose. Having self-disclosure between two individuals of different cultures allows everyone to learn and become a competent communicator for the present and the future relationships to form. I have learned so much through these blog posts and believe I have armed myself with the appropriate strategies to effectively communicate across cultures.

Respondent: Daniel
Such a wretchedness getting to the final stage of not only our blog assignment but also our intercultural communication class. In my opinion, our co-culture blog was more than just a bunch of sentences, compromised information, and especially more than a simple weekly-assignment. It was an opportunity to expand our cultural vision, and an opportunity to learn about one of the most appealing co-cultures groups in the world –i.e. Italians.

My perspective about Italians completely changed after doing our co-culture blog. I thought Italians were all about parties, mafias, and drugs. Ironically, after interview lots of amazing individuals, I got to realize how wrong I was. Italians are more than just a simple slice of pizza. Italians are family-oriented, hard workers, dreamers, mainly low-culture, collective, extremely competent, and people with a unique identity. Coming from a country where there a lot of Italians traditions and influences (Venezuela), I did not really feel different than they. We have a lot of common behaviors regarding our cultural partialities. However, I felt that my perception changed a lot, I comprehend that we should not stereotype or prejudice co-cultural groups based on what we see in popular culture. Instead, we ought to inspect, interact, and explore how they truly are because at the end every single co-culture group has something astonishingly interesting to know about.

I now feel that I have become a better intercultural communicator. I am aware of my preferences, and what to expect from Italians regarding cultural formalities. However, I believe that each Italian would be different than one another, preserving the essence as a person. I have learned so much about them that I am looking forward to investigating different co-cultures groups because now I know how beneficial it is. Moreover, the thing that amazed the most about this co-culture group, is how collective they are, and how they have managed to preserve their identities and cultural traditions wherever they go.

I would not want to conclude my blog without appreciating the work of my marvelous teammates. Discussing ideas, cultural principles and concepts, I not only learned from Italians, I also learned a lot from my teammates, they taught me to look things differently and to respect each other perspectives.

Researcher: Katherine
This week's topic serves as a great way to wrap up out semester-long discussion of the Italian co-culture. Relationships are at the basis of human interactions and intercultural relationships are special because they serve as a learning experience and have many different characteristics. In class this week we had a long group discussion going over the many pros and cons along with the different aspects of forming a relationship with someone from the Italian co-culture. Many of our answers revolved around two main factors, social norms and values, so this week as the researcher I found an article discussing these factors in order to analyze how this may affect forming intercultural relationships.

The article read discussed in depth value orientations of emerging Italian adults. Two key points I noticed was that men were very focused on instrumental values such as power and achievement whereas most women's values were centered around caring for others. This idea was very representative of many of the topics we discussed in terms of value orientations, representations in pop culture, and now, intercultural relationships. I found some difficulty while doing my research in finding something specifically about intercultural relationships with Italians, which is why I decided to focus on values and how they play a role in relationships. Many times when we enter into a relationship we find it important to share the same values with the other, and from what I have read it seems as if Italian values are very similar to most cultures, but they have a heightened importance on family values.

Even though I studied abroad in Italy, over the course of this semester I have learned so many new things about the Italian co-culture that I never knew before and it has caused me to love this culture even more than I already did. The way that Italians are such a family-oriented, tradition-loving, affection-showing, and pasta-loving culture is what makes it so great. I think that entering into an intercultural relationship with someone who is Italian would be so beneficial, and you would never be without pasta!

Works Cited

Alfieri, Sara, et al. "Do Not Leave Your Values At Home": A Study Of Value Orientations Of Italian Emerging Adults And Their Parents." Psykhe 23.2 (2014): 1 12. Academic Search Ultimate. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Investigator: Marilyn

Wow! I can’t believe this is the last blog! It’s gone by so quick! This project has provided me with a reason to research something I didn’t know a lot about before now. Researching the Italian culture this semester has been so interesting and rewarding. I was able to begin distinguishing between stereotypes and reality as well as learning about the history of some of those stereotypes. I had the privilege of talking to a friend about his family’s Italian culture and history, which really opened my eyes and brought the situation to a more familiar standpoint. Learning about the values of Italians and the things they hold dear to them has changed my outlook on some of those things as well. The passion and heart that they have for everything and the intimacy and deeply rooted relationships that have with each other is beautiful. It’s something we really don’t see very often in the United States. This blog as well as this class has opened my eyes and my heart to so much and has allowed me opportunities to practice intercultural communication, as well as learn how to use it when I am in those situations.

I have never been to Italy and I’ve only met a couple Italians in my lifetime, and even then they were very americanized so I did not get to experience them in their truest cultural form. However, after this blog and everything I’ve learned, I am eager to experience the Italian culture to its fullest and put my practices and research in to action.

Transitions

First Reader: Daniel
This week in lecture we have been discussing the ways in which an individual can successfully transition from their own culture into another culture, and the ways it can occur. So let’s dig in. A migrant is an individual who leaves their primary culture (where they were born or raised) and moves to a new cultural context for an extended period of time. However, not all migrants can be categorized as a whole. There are four types of migrant groups, these include sojourner, short term refugee, long term refugee, and immigrant. These groups are categorized by motivation and time spent in the new culture. 

The most interesting part of this chapter to me was the migrant-host relationships. There are three parts to the migrant host relationship – assimilation, separation, and integration. Then finally when an individual uses all three of these relationships it then forms into hybridity. I began to wonder though, would one of these be easier to do than the others? Would an individual stick to only one of the relationships types? Then I began to wonder, just because an individual is in a new culture, does that mean they really desire to assimilate to the secondary culture?

Following the ways that someone can act with others in a new culture, there is also an Anxiety and Uncertainty Management Model that assume to communicate effectively we will gather information to help us reduce uncertainty and anxiety. I found it most interesting that the best way to manage anxiety and have the ability to predict others behaviors is through three key steps. First, have a solid self-concept and self-esteem. Second, have flexible attitudes and behaviors. And lastly, identify your similarities and differences while avoiding stereotypes. At the end of the day, I believe that an individual can only be as successful in transitioning into a new culture as they want to be. If they desire to be a part of something new, the transition will be much smoother for an immigrant than a long-term refugee who involuntarily 

Respondent: Katherine
This week's chapter discusses transitions and what it means to be an immigrant, sojourner and a short-term or long-term refugee. Each of these terms in some way or another explain the different terms for someone who moves from there home location and culture to a new one for a temporary or permanent period or time. In Italy in the past the most common reason for Italians to move out of the country permanently or for an extended period of time was due to economic crises and political reasons in the time of anarchy and socialism. People who moved from Italy to the U.S. to earn money in order to buy land in Italy would be considered a sojourner because they came by choice and for a certain purpose, with the end goal of moving back to Italy. However, many Italians came to the United States due to political reasons with the intention of moving permanently, and they would be considered immigrants since it was long term and voluntary. However, as seen in the news more recently, Italy has had several large scale earthquakes causing much destruction within those areas and thousands of people had to relocate. These people who had to move would be considered short-term refugees because they had no choice but to move but plan to go back as soon as their homes are rebuilt.

Along with the different types of migrant groups, we also discussed the relationships between migrants and hosts along with how to manage anxiety and uncertainty when migrating to a new area. Back in the late 1800s many Italian immigrants who moved to the United States experienced much prejudice due to the growing competition among the working class. While the transition took a while, Italians began to become more accepted among the working class but were not awarded higher positions partly due to the language barriers. These language barriers were due to the fact that most Italians planned to, and did, return to Italy after making money, so they often did not make an effort to assimilate into the American culture. Instead, they portrayed more of an integration relationship since they maintained their own culture but interacted with Americans during the work day. 

Researcher: Marilyn
Italians are not one of the more commonly talked about immigration groups. However, they do have a history of immigration to the United States. In his article “Italians in Urban America: A Study in Ethnic Adjustment”, Humbert S. Nelli discusses the period in history when Italians came to our country and how that process worked for them, as well as how it produced some of the Italian stereotypes of today and much more.

Between 1890 and 1920, nearly four million Italian immigrants entered the United States, commonly settling along the same streets in the same tenement houses, most likely in an attempt to surround themselves with familiar faces. Living together was ideal and preferred, as well as working together when possible. The majority of immigrants arrived in search of economic opportunities, as do many immigrants to this day.

Similar to the affect popular culture has in today’s world, the American press played a vital role in aiding immigration adjustment during these times. News of immigrant communities and reports of societies of newcomers all helped Italian-Americans in developing a sense of belonging in the United States. “The press served as a crutch for immigrants having difficulties in adapting to their new surroundings, or those unable to break away from homeland traditions” (Nelli 51)
There were three main groups of immigrants who all had a different attitude towards their new life. There was a separate group who “ignored all community institution and never expanded their loyalties or interests from the district of origin,” an assimilated group, who “made full use of some or all existing community institutions and enlarged personal horizons,” and an integrated group who “preferred to make limited use of press, societies and churches as intermediaries through which to learn American customs and ideas” (Nelli 51-52).

The criminal stereotype was developed during these times as well. Economic advancement proved quite difficult to these immigrants, so they often turned to whatever means necessary to make it by. Crime proved to provide a “quick and substantial monetary gain” (Nelli 53). American contemporaries had a general assumption that certain nationalities were susceptible to certain occupations because of inherent traits or old world influences. So the fact that Italians would often turn to crime for economic advancement was assumed to be because of ethnic history rather than the merely an available opportunity. Because of this, “many of the same bitter complaints made against Italians sixty years ago are now being leveled against these newest inhabitants…” (Nelli 55).
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3002739?seq=1#fndtn-references_tab_contents
Nelli, Humbert S. “Italians in Urban America: A Study in Ethnic Adjustment.” The International Migration Review, vol. 1, no. 3, 1967, pp. 38–55. www.jstor.org/stable/3002739.

Investigator: Kendall
Every person goes through a transition when trying something new whether it be trying to fit into a new friend group, moving towns, or for this case moving to a new culture. As investigator this week, I decided instead of going for the plain details that I would try a more sensitive approach. I had the opportunity to talk to an old family friend, an Italian whose family migrated to the United States when he was young. He explained all of the obstacles his family had to overcome, being at the cusp of WWII, there were many. Times were different, but there is something that has no time frame, that is one’s love for your country, its traditions, values, all of those cultural aspects that makes it yours. Dominic is a man in his late 50s. It was interesting to get to chat with him about his experiences transitioning from Sicily to moving to the United States with his parents. And then seeing how he reflected his childhood to that of his children’s. His biggest revelation was that no matter the century, his family always remained true to his Italian core values.

Italians worked tirelessly to become competent people in a different culture, preserving their cultural traditions. After years, and successful settlement, political, social, and economical issues, made them move to a different country, the US. Although it was a hard transition, it was what their family needed to do. Yet no one in that family would have expected to live the same process more than half a century later. It just shows us how difficult life can get sometimes, and how external situations can suddenly change the course of our life’s. Regarding the differences and similarities between their adaptations from Sicily and the US, Dominic explained to me that it was an extremely hard transition for a few main reasons. Here in the US, there is way more competition, hence people are more individualistic and do not want foreigners to take their opportunities. Thus, they make the adaptation process harder than it should be. In addition, he considers Americans to be more exclusive when it comes to foreign newcomers. 

Interestingly, this blog made me more understanding of those that have been obligated to migrate, and how we should make their transition as smooth as possible. We possess the power to help those escaping from unlucky situations, spend amusing moments and adapt to an unknown culture, so we ought to do it. Finally, I would like to conclude with a phrase that he told me, “No matter where you go, there will always be people worth meeting, who’ll make you believe is not the place, but the people”.

Competence

First Reader: Katherine
This week's chapter is possibly one of the most important of the book, and it discusses how to increases intercultural communication competence. It looks at competence from the three different perspectives we have discussed, and then describes how the dialectical approach brings it all together. According the the social science, or functionalist approach, there are four basic components of competence. The first component is motivation, and it focuses on the desire one has to make a commitment in relationships, to learn about the self and others, and to remain flexible. The most important concept of this component is that nothing else concerning communication matters if we aren't motivated to communicate. Often times the more dominant group may not be motivated to communicate with other cultures because they do not see the need to, but the less powerful groups are very motivated to communicate with the more dominant. The second component is knowledge, and the book defines it as the quality of knowing about one's self, others, and various aspects of communication. There are two main types of knowledge; self-knowledge which is knowing how others perceive you, and other knowledge which is knowing about how others behave and think. The third component of communication is attitudes it describes individual's tolerance for ambiguity, empathy and non-judgementalism. The final component that this chapter discusses is behaviors and skill and this analyzes what the most competent behaviors may be and if there are any universal behaviors that can work well in all contexts.

The interpretive and critical perspectives both look at communicative competence by focusing on contexts with interpretive focusing more on the current context of communication, while the critical perspective thinks about how an individual's competence may be constrained by the political, economic and historical contexts. An important part of communication competence is being able to apply knowledge about intercultural communication, and that is where the dialectical approach comes in with focusing on the importance of individual skills and contextual constraints in improving intercultural relations. Many of these skills are self explanatory but I will list them just to provide an understanding of what an intercultural communication skill set looks like. These skills include entering into dialogue, becoming interpersonal allies, building coalitions, social justice transformation, and forgiveness. By combining all of these components, behaviors, and skills like focusing on the context of the communication we can become more competent intercultural communicators.

Respondent: Marilyn
Communication seems like such a simple task until you look at it from the outside perspective as this chapter has done for us. You may think that you’re the most competent communicator in all of Italy until you realize the different elements involved in everyday communication and how those elements affect us as we try utilizing them. I found it very interesting how ones motivation or lack thereof can severely affect how they communicate through cultures. Your desire to communicate with someone different from you will directly correlate to how much you gain from the experience. On the other hand, depending on whether you fall into the in-group or out-group of a certain society, your motivation to communicate may alter without you realizing it. Very fascinating. Another thing I really enjoyed learning about was behaviors and how evaluating those behaviors can increase competence by creating connections between groups in different contexts. It’s very interesting to read that a good amount of communication competence stems from self-evaluation. In many situations we are quick to blame the opposite party for not adhering to what we are comfortable with. When communicating across cultures, it’s important to also be aware of the customs and habits of the other cultural group in order to competently communicate with them. For example, it’s common knowledge that Italians are loud and festive. However, when they meet in public spaces, they actually are quieter and keep to themselves. In the U.S., it’s more common to find loud groups in public areas. So, when communicating with the Italian culture, if you are in a public space, it may be more beneficial for you to adjust the volume of conversation depending on your location. If you are motivated to competently communicate with the Italians, you will have to evaluate your behavior and become self-aware of what you are doing and what you need to do to adjust your volume depending on where you are with your Italian friends.

Researcher: Kendall 

Intercultural communication is what gives people across the world the ability to relay information from one culture to the next. Intercultural competence is what makes communication effective across borders. As I was looking through different research studies, I ran across this one, “The Effect of the LanguageBarrier on Intercultural Communication: A Case Study of Educational Travel inItaly”. This case study was an experiment performed by 10 American students that were studying abroad in Italy, hoping to uncover the barrier between students and their host families’ communication. It rang home to me because I studied abroad in Granada, Spain, and definitely felt the language barrier myself. As I read further, I was amazed at the conclusions that were drawn.

The research based its findings on the motivation of the students, the “culture shock” concept, and the sojourners’ perceptions of intercultural competence. I think the most interesting conclusion was that during lunch time with students and host families, the research uncovered that because of the language proficiency merged the two groups into feeling frustrated and humorous commonality. It was not the language that the participants used to become culturally competent, it was the motivation to try which led into a bonding over emotions felt on both sides of the conversation. Although not much was understood from the interaction, they found that formal borders were broken down faster than casual barriers – which I found completely shocking! The research resulted in the findings that if one of the participants on the Italian or American side of the conversation is fluent in the other’s language, it is unlikely that the communicators will become competent because they lack the motivation and behaviors to try to be.

This article was not only educational and pertinent on the best ways that a study abroad participant can become cultural competent. I always found it helpful for any situation where language can act as a barrier, the research provided multiple different ways in which competence can be achieved no matter where you may be communicating from. The two biggest factors from this article to me were motivation and behavior, as long as a person can be aware of their action and have the motivation to break down barriers, it is only a matter of time until they achieve competence.

Mancini-Cross, Cinzia, Kenneth F. Backman, and Elizabeth Dennis Backman. "The Effect of the Language Barrier on Intercultural Communication: A Case Study of Educational Travel in Italy." The Effect of the Language Barrier on Intercultural Communication: A Case Study of Educational Travel in Italy: : Vol 9, No 1-2. Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism, 16 Sept. 2009. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

Investigator: Daniel
As blogs themes go on, in my opinion, topics become more important as well as beneficial. Cultural competence is an ability that we all should master in order to become better intercultural communicators. In our day by day situations, our competences strongly affect many of our conversations. As a result, I wanted to investigate better about Italian cultural competences.

But the thing is, I actually do not have to investigate too much, I have an example from home that perfectly describes the competence of the Italian society; It is well known that the Italians were forced to flee their country during WWII, and as I have mentioned in previous blogs, Venezuela was one of the spots that they chose as a new home. Most of them got there with nothing but what they had on them, they struggled, obviously, it is not easy to settle in a new country, where you don’t even speak the language, and mainly because they did not want to leave Italy in the first place, they were forced to do so. But they did not make up excuses, they worked, and continue to do so.

Right now Italian descendants in Venezuela form a fundamental part of the country’s diverse society, they were able of reaching respectable socio-economic status on it, all of these accomplished without even knowing the language, if this is not a prove of the cultural competence of the Italian society, I honestly do not know what is.

Language

First Reader: Marilyn
It's amazing how little you can know about something you use every single day. Reading chapter six really opened my eyes to what I've been missing about languages and how vital and meaningful they really are.

First off, there are 3 main beliefs about perception when it comes to language. The nominalist perspective believes that language has no influence on how we perceive and understand the world. The relativist perspective believes that language and the structure of language play a vital role in determining our thought patterns and perceptions. And finally, the qualified relativist perspective believes that language influences our perception, but does not completely determine it. Hearing all 3 of those beliefs really forced me to start thinking about how I feel about language and its affect on perception.

Another thing I found really interesting was what the book said about slang and humor. Slang and humor are those things that every generation has their "own" of. You know someone is from the 70s or 80s when they exclaim "far out!" when something exciting happened. You may be a 90s kid if you oftentimes describe something as "bangin'!" or your response to "would you lip-lock that guy?" is "ugh! as if!" Having a form of slang for your generation is imperative. So much so that it should be invented by your generation and unintelligible to parents and adults of the previous generation. Slang is always changing and is hard to keep up with if you're not part of that culture. So, the reason your mom has no idea who you mean by "bae" is because she is literally not supposed to understand it.

Language is a very isolated thing and is very hard to accommodate cross culturally and involves a very difficult transition phase. Language is necessary for politics, policies, and globalization and is something that will always be changing, decreasing, and growing. It is international and local, open and closed, right and wrong, and much more.

Respondent: Kendall

I have been thinking a lot through this chapter about contact cultures. As I compare my culture to that of Italians I am curious, does the average Italian believe they are a contact culture? We have learned that Italians are extremely blunt in verbal communication, but what about the nonverbal communications? A contact culture is cultural groups in which people tend to stand close together and touch frequently when they interact. I personally believe their culture would be consider a contact culture verbal or nonverbal. In the language alone, Italian is the root and base of most languages. This being said, Italians are known for their love of being near family and friends while socializing. Because this culture loves to be with their loved ones, does that make it a contact culture? Personal space seems to be no issue for Italians from what I have learned which leads me to believe that they are a contact culture.

This week in lecture we were told to find a YouTube video that describes our co-cultures. My group found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fBFm4OD2W0. A little summary of the commercial from Fiat is that when you buy a Fiat 4-Door, you get an Italian family along with it. Throughout the commercial the Italian family continues to bicker and argue while discussing love lives, yet the couple that bought the Fiat has begun to warm up to them and molds their actions. One thing that really stuck out to me during the commercial was how vivid their facial and hand motions were. The commercial also shows what it is like to celebrate a sporting event as an Italian. Going back to contact cultures, when the Italian’s scored, the American man and Italian man jumped in excitement and continued to hug.

After some further research, I found that Italians have nearly zero cares about personal space and actually encourage using nonverbal communication to express how they are feeling. An example of this, is how Italian’s greet one another, they grab shoulders and kiss each cheek on the face. Compared to Americans how might smile, give a handshake, or hug at most. Showing me that American’s and Italian’s are complete opposites in contact cultures. At the beginning of this blog, I did not take into account that although a culture could be very verbal, it can also be very nonverbal. And with that, I think Italian’s take the cake… or maybe the gelato!

Researcher: Daniel
Talking about language this week has given me much more of an understanding to just how much of a part it plays in our day-to-day interactions with one another and how if affects intercultural communication. Language and how cultures use languages varies throughout the world, and specifically in the Italian culture it plays a huge part in gaining a better understanding of the culture.

While Italians are very expressive with language both verbally and nonverbally, they also have many different types of slang, or jargon that most people would not know of unless they were to immerse themselves into the culture. The Italian culture, like many other cultures, is split generationally with there being different ways of communication within different ages. An article written by Marcel Danesi titled "Investigating Italian Adolescent Talk: Are There Any Implications for the Teaching of Italian as a Second Language?" delves deeper into the idea that the older generation (Italian teachers) have to stay up to date on how teenagers talk in order to teach the language in way that is "reflective of the current social mindset". The article goes on to discuss the fact that the rate of change of slang within the country is increasing rapidly, similarly as in the United States. It is becoming more and more difficult for the older generation to keep up with the new slang, but it is crucial when teaching Italian as a second language to know what the "kids" are currently saying to keep your teaching material relevant.

There are so many others ways in which a culture can be classified according to their language and communication styles, but for purposes of research I found it necessary and more informative to focus on this specific topic. It becomes very imperative to understand that slang words are always appearing and changing in language for when you visit a new culture and you think you know their language pretty well, but all of a sudden natives are speaking words you have never heard before making it harder for you to communicate within that culture.

Works Cited

Danesi, Marcel. "Investigating Italian Adolescent Talk: Are There Any Implications for the Teaching of Italian as a Second Language?" Italica74.4 (1997): 455. Web.

Investigator: Katherine
As an example for this week’s blog theme, I got the pleasure of interviewing an Italian student named Francesco, who is currently on a study abroad program from Italy at Texas A&M University. It was such a pleasure to have this opportunity because I learned a lot about the Italian co-culture, primarily the way they comprehend language – e.g. the differences in gestures between Italians and other co-culture groups.

I found it pertinent to approach him by asking him what differences he has realized with respect to language between Italians and Americans. He, insisted that there are not too many with respect to verbal language. He exemplified me that one difference is that it is more common to listen to curse words in Italy than here in the United States. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that they do not make too many stereotypes based on verbal language in comparison to Americans. Furthermore, he affirmed that there is a huge difference with respect to body language. For instance, Italians like to move a lot their hands while they are talking. In the United States that is not so normal, and it may be seen as a symbol of insecurity or anxiety.  In addition, over there it is normal to point to people while in the United States not. Secondly, he told me that there are similarities as well; for example, in Italy and in the United States it is essential to look someone in the eyes while we are communicating.  Thusly, we conclude that language is a character that strongly varies among cultures, and sometimes can act as a limitation for the interaction of members of different co-culture groups. 

As we can see, language strongly affect cultures, even the way we perceive gestures can be interpreted as rude, friendly, insecure, anxious and so on. Throughout all the situations in life, language is a key factor that plays a vital role. Consequently, it is important to know that language varies among cultures, and if we can know a little bit of these differences, we are going to be able to become better intercultural communicators. Grazie Francesco for this amazing opportunity to get to know the Italian co-culture better, I will pay for the pizza.  

Pop Culture

First Reader: Kendall 

Movies, TV shows, and social media shape popular culture today. The Italian culture is always portrayed in films as a fun-lovingly, happy-go-lucky, pasta-eating society. I was surprised to learn that popular culture is not just the idea of how cultures can be shaped through media industries, yet has defining differences such as high cultures and low cultures. I would consider the Italian culture as a high culture, because it is shaped by great literature, fine art, and the appreciation of audiences from abroad.

I imagined the Italian culture to be filled with citizens sitting at street side bistros sipping on red wine, because of the way that Italy is portrayed in movies and television. I got the opportunity to travel to Italy a few years back and witnessed the culture for myself. As my family traveled the streets, I took in the sites and atmosphere. I realized that the idea I had of Italy really wasn’t too far off from what I had perceived. However, the part that the cultural industries did not enhance about Italy is the way in which the culture is physically laid out. Just roaming around various towns, I found myself gazing in amazement at the structures of the buildings, churches, and streets. When I walk the streets of College Station, I have never found myself to say, “Wow, someone wanted to make this town beautiful”. But, as I walked through Rome, I realized that even the street pavings were beautiful. In that essence alone, I realized the Italian culture portrayed in the media left out the key ingredient: Italian’s puts their pride and effort into every single thing aspect of what they build to what they eat.

Overall, I believe pop culture plays a huge role in how people perceive other cultures and stereotypes. The ideas that people formulate can create intercultural conflicts when abroad, because the perception of what they believe the culture is like could be completely wrong. Such as if foreigner’s were to watch American TV shows like Desperate Housewives, they could form the assumption that all families in the United States live in suburbs and the only thing that women are capable of is gossiping and drinking alcohol with friends. Thus, when the foreigners travel to the United States they could offend a woman who values her career by assuming she has no goals and thus, a conflict is created. Pop culture allows people to form ideas of what other cultures could be like, but I believe that people need to immerse themselves in other cultures in order to form accurate stereotypes and perceptions.

Respondent: Daniel

Growing up, I used to believe in stereotypes, of course, what kid wouldn’t? But then, you’d think that as you grow and mature, such beliefs get dissipated by our expanding knowledge. But no, it’s not as simple as that, people only learn by what they see.

Certainly, that was the case. When I was fifteen I got the opportunity to travel to Italy, and realized how wrong my perception of the Italian culture was. My mind wondered with one unanswered question; how would I have not think such an absurdity, if that was what I saw in the Godfather? Or what I’ve heard of Al Capone? Let’s be honest, what about the thousands of millions of movies and series that describe Italians in such a way? Yesterday, pondering in my seat, I felt delighted after my Intercultural Communications class. My amazing professor explained me and my fellows for an hour or so, how popular culture (i.e. shows, series, ordinary events, and usual day-by-day interactions) have the power to enormously influence the way we perceive cultures, events, and co-cultures identities.

After uncountable experiences, I truly understand that Italians are a mix of low and high cultures (i.e. low-medium and aristocratic class) with a huge variety of preferences with respect to values, traditions and such. However, in general, I also recognize Italians (as well as Europeans) as mostly a high-culture society, since they enjoy and share the likes of those that belong to the upper-class stream here in the US - e.g. theater, ballet shows, art, among others. It is fundamental to mention that my perception of who they are, is completely different to the one the media embedded on me as a youngster. Consequently, I considered fundamental this week’s reading to my understanding of how co-cultures Identities can be altered by popular culture. Finally, it thrilled me to realize that many of my perceptions of different co-cultures groups, are mostly defined by popular cultural stereotypes, because now I know I can change it.  I’m looking forward to research about different ethnicities, hence, being able to comprehend how they truly are, thusly, becoming a better intercultural communicator.

Researcher: Katherine

Popular culture has a huge influence in how people perceive culture, but often times popular culture portrays stereotypes of a certain culture thus leading to conflict and misconceptions. In American popular culture Italian-Americans are often portrayed as "mobsters, thugs and peasants hawking spaghetti sauce". While these are very outdated stereotypes and Italian-Americans have made greats strides in society, this portrayal seems to remain consistent among film and television. In an article from "About News" it states that, "fewer than .0025 percent of Italian Americans are involved in organized crime", yet in most all American pop culture Italians are portrayed as having mob ties. Several shows and films such as "Goodfellas", "The Godfather", and "The Sopranos" reinforce the idea that Italians and crime go hand-in-hand. Another way pop culture stereotypes the Italian American is as a "food making peasant" and often shows the Italian woman in the kitchen cooking for the family. Many commercials for popular americanized Italian food, such as Ragu, display this reoccurring theme. This portrayal suggests to someone who has never experienced the Italian culture that all they do is cook food, when in actuality Italy is full of men and women who are teachers, shop owners, businessmen and women, artists and much more while food just occupies a portion of their days. Another pop culture display of Italian-Americans that was wildly popular was the reality TV show "Jersey Shore", which displayed a group of young adult Italian-Americans partying, going to the gym, tanning, and doing laundry every day. Many Italians were outraged when this show aired saying it presents the Italian culture in a negative light and discredits all of the work and progress Italians have made in society in the United States and in Italy.

As someone who spent a semester studying abroad in Italy, I was familiar with many of the stereotypes of Italians but was able to see for myself that they misrepresent the Italian culture in many ways. The fact that the media and entertainment is so monopolized by the United States results in the portrayal of Italians in popular culture being created by Americans thus misrepresenting and often offending Italians.

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Investigator: Marilyn

I’ll be honest; this weeks post was a more difficult one to get information on. Being the investigator, I had to find an Italian to talk to. Funny thing is, the only Italian I know is my boyfriends old roommate at the Air Force Academy. So, I got Matt Correa’s contact info from him and asked him some questions about Italians and pop culture.

To give you a brief overview of Matt, he was born and raised in Long Island, NY and is currently at the United States Air Force Academy studying management. He is a glider instructor pilot, and a glider aerobatics team member.

Aside from asking him to give me an introduction, I asked him four questions.

1.     What are some misconceptions in popular culture about Italians? Has this affected you personally?

a.     Some common misconceptions and stereotypes of Italians portrayed in the media include hair slicked back with a ton of gel and some heavy Italian accents. We are also, apparently, all catholic and we are all members of the mafia, which I was not aware of.

2.     Do you think Italians are becoming more relevant in popular culture?

a.     Not really. We are portrayed in some movies and as different characters here and there but there isn’t a general “Italian’s in pop culture” idea out right now, at least not that I know a lot about.

3.     How do you feel represented in popular culture as an Italian? How do you feel about that?

a.     I generally feel unrepresented, but that doesn’t bother me much. Like I said there is a very specific idea of what an “Italian” is portrayed as in the media, but it doesn’t affect me much.

4.     What pop culture media do you like?

a.     I’m a big fan of music. I believe music is a great way to convey a message to a mass group of people.

Overall, we don’t see a lot of Italians in popular culture, unless you’ve seen “The Godfather” or you’re very familiar with Joey Tribiani on “Friends.” It was very interesting hearing from an Italian who was born and raised New York. Special thanks to Matt for talking to me!