High and Low Context Culture

The concepts of High and Low context culture are very intriguing. In High context culture the messages or symbols used require an in depth understanding of that specific culture. Messages and symbols are normally relatively simply but they have deep meaning. One example of this concept of high context culture is the “thumbs up”. The gesture “thumbs up” in Iran is an extremely obscene jester which is equivalent to the middle finger or “F you” in American culture. If an American was not aware of the meaning of this gesture they would give their Iranian cab driver a “thumbs up” after being driven from a Iranian airport to their hotel. Low context culture is much simpler. Gestures, symbols and messages are direct and to the point. American culture is a great example of low context culture. Americans say what they mean and mean what they say for the most part. Most gestures do not contain a complex code or message. A head nod is a simply yes and a head shake in a no there are no more messages behind that. Proxemics is the understanding or study of how a person perceives space. There are three general aspects of proxemics which are distance, space and territory. Understanding proxemics from a cultural perspective is an important attribute for a pre service educator and or beginning teachers. Different cultures have different boundaries when it comes to privacy (closeness). For an example in Latin culture families usually live in one area or neighborhood, but in American culture families live in many areas and this distance is a indication of desiring privacy. So how does this apply to teachers? Certain people are offended when some one is to close to them (invasion of personal space) or to far from them (disrespect). As teachers we will have to learn how to accommodate each culture when we come across them so that we may not cause offense. This is the same for high and low context culture. Being Interculturally competent means that we would avoid messages, gestures and symbols that can cause harm,, conflict and or confusion in high context cultures. Unfortunately being interculturally competent does not mean we will not also learn by experiences where we put our foot in our mouths.