The Peace Corps Rollercoaster

It is common knowledge in Peace Corps that every volunteer experiences “highs and lows.” Of course, all humans experience this—but in Peace Corps it is somewhat exaggerated possibly because you do not have your usual support system or culture to fall back into. You can be ready to quit Peace Corps in the morning and more committed than ever in the evening. A couple of days ago I experienced this observable fact.
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In my intercultural communication class a few days ago I was teaching the concept of ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism. I described the stages of cultural understanding that many people go through as well as the stages of culture shock.

THE ETHNOCENTRIC STAGES: First, there is denial where the person has no true understanding of cultural differences and simply assumes that their culture is the best and most natural way of life. Then we have the defensive stage. In this stage the person becomes aware that other cultures exist but feels threatened by them. In this stage the person is defensive and antagonistic towards other cultures. They realize that there are other ways of living life but they clearly feel their way is best. Then we have the minimizing stage. In this stage the person, in order to curb their growing confusion and possible fear, reduces cultural differences to being trivial. This person says to herself, “People are all the same, culture isn’t really a huge thing.” All of these above stages can be described as ethnocentric. Meaning, your ethnicity/culture/way is seen as the center—seen as not only different but superior.

THE ETHNORELATIVE STAGES: The next stage is the acceptance stage. In this stage the person begins to recognize culture as deep and meaningful. This person does not change their behavior but has changed their mind—they acknowledge cultural differences and they experience genuine interest in culture. Then we have the Adaptation stage—in this stage the person modifies their behavior to the other culture. They are able to ‘adapt’ to new cultural situations with some ease. And the final stage is Integration. In this stage the person is so deeply affected by the other culture it becomes part of who they are. They integrate aspects of the new culture with their existing culture. Both (or more) cultures become part of who they are. They can move easily between cultures and do not experience feelings of superiority or inferiority. These are all stages of ethno-relativism—seeing your culture in relationship to other cultures and without a perception of superiority or inferiority.

So, I explain all of this to my class. We discuss where Malagasy people tend to fall. It is decided Malagasy people fall all along the spectrum. We discuss tourists. It is decided that generally tourists are in the “honeymoon” stage of culture shock and rarely proceed into deeper stages of ethno-relativism. Then we discuss the foreigners who live here. This was disturbing. Everyone agreed that they see stage one and stage two—but stage three onwards they said was likely, “Less than one percent” of foreigners who live here. I said, “That makes me sad.” Then a student asked me which stage I was. I said I wasn’t sure and that because my Malagasy language skills are so poor I felt that my true integration was hindered. That said, I (naturally) claimed a higher stage—I said, “Acceptance and adaptation, I hope.” Another one of my students laughed and said, “No, I think you are stage two.” The Defensive Stage. In that moment, it appeared unanimous that the class viewed me with the 99% of foreigners who never really integrate or develop a deep understanding of culture.

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That same night, feeling certain that all of my students perceived me as a misguided and pompous foreigner, I begrudgingly attended a debate session I had organized earlier in the week. In another class, my students really enjoyed our in class debates so we decided to do a public debate. I arrived early and found the debaters (who volunteered to do it for no academic reward) all dressed up with giant smiles on their faces. They were so excited—they were reading over their cases and there was energy in the air. We set up the debate and I gave them a final pep talk. They did an excellent job—they were prepared, clear, organized and intelligent. The people who came enjoyed the debate as well and the head of the school was pleased. He suggested we try to televise the debates at some point. After the debate, one young woman who I have noticed to be particularly motivated and bright asked the head of the department if they could start a debate team. She loved the experience of doing a public debate. You could see it in her eyes—and come to think of it, in class she is always the one who begins her comments with a polite, “I disagree.” The debaters were so engaged it made me feel good that I facilitated the moment.


So there you have it, in one day I was moved almost to tears twice: once because I felt like a colonizing jack ass and once because I felt like I had nurtured the intelligence of four young women. That night, while I was cooking rice and chopping up garlic and tomatoes—I marveled at how emotionally intense a day at work can be.