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Preface

  • Page ID
    230367
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    A Letter to My Students

    Dear Students:

    As I write this in October 2020, I can safely say that our world has changed A LOT in the past few years-even over the last few months. More change and uncertainty await us. As we watch a huge shift taking place in our societies, intercultural communication is more important than ever.

    If we want to move forward together as a nation and global community, we must learn how to respectfully communicate with each other across differences. Intercultural communication doesn’t refer only to communication between people from different countries, but includes communication across all kinds of personal, social, and cultural identities like race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, abilities, gender, socioeconomic class, and religion.

    In order to understand each other and how our identities are similar, different, and intersect, we must listen to those with different backgrounds and spotlight voices that might not typically be heard in our society. To achieve that goal, I have collected materials from a wide range of open resources and authors in order to best represent what I want to bring to you this semester: many perspectives and stories. My hope is that through this exposure, we will find what many great leaders have said: "It’s harder to hate up close."

    This course will open your mind to how differences can be valuable, interesting, and even worthy of celebration. If we open our minds and stay curious, we can learn how to respect and communicate across differences in a constructive way, leading to stronger relationships, communities, and nations.

    Moving forward together,

    Professor Shannon Ahrndt

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