Week 3: Managing Cultural Conflicts

The Peacebuilding Model (Remland, Jones, Foeman & Arevalo, 2015) is a cyclical process that explains how conflicts should be resolved in order to keep the peace between cultures.  It starts and ends with cultural identity, and includes factors such as intercultural interactions and intercultural communities.  See the image below for a better explanation.


Luckily, I have experienced few conflicts since arriving in Erfurt two weeks ago (it's already been two weeks?!).  The only conflict that really sticks out in my mind is the one time we went downtown for breakfast.  It was later in the morning (almost 11am) and we found a cute bakery that seemed enticing.  We went in, hoping for a sit-down breakfast, and the owner of the shop became very aggressive to us.  He yelled at us and told us we only had ten minutes to eat.  I don't think he could speak more English than we could speak German, so it was a tough situation all around.  We felt rushed out of there, so we ended up finding a different place to eat.

To apply this to the Peacebuilding Model (p. 53), first our cultural identity was established as tourists the second we started speaking English.  We had eaten at that bakery before and had excellent service, so we expected the same experience this time around.  Next, the intercultural interaction was bumpy for all parties involved: the seven of us and the bakery owner.  Between the language barrier and the rules about breakfast duration at the bakery, everyone struggled to understand what was happening.  The owner seemed to not want us there and we just wanted his delicious pastries! The intercultural contexts were apparent when we showed up for breakfast so close to breakfast ending at this particular bakery.  We're used to having all-day breakfasts back in the States, and we learned that in Erfurt breakfast is a much more efficient luxury.  Now, our intercultural communities know how to interact to avoid future conflict: we'll make sure to go there before 11am to ensure a quality breakfast experience for all.  This way the owner won't feel rushed to serve us and we won't feel rushed to eat.  Now our cultural identity has changed because we understand the culture in Erfurt better.  We know how to flex to the local standards and feel we are getting the hang of living in Erfurt!

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