Critical Incidents: Stereotypes

Back to: Training Session: Critical Situations in Intercultural Contexts

In one of the previous course sections you learned about stereotypes and the positive and negative implications they can have. Some case examples should sum up the learning content.

Example 1

You live in an apartment house in a city in Denmark. One morning when you are leaving the house you meet two neighbours in front of the door. They are discussing in a quite vehement manner. One of the neighbours, a young woman, asks you if you already know that an African family moved into one of the apartments last weekend.

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You say no and want to move along. But the woman is very upset and says that she is concerned what will happen in the house. „Africans! They will be very noisy! Furthermore they are poor and we have to pay attention to our belongings! I don’t understand why the Landlord rents apartments to people like this!

Before you can reply the other neighbour, an older man, expresses his opinion: „I think it’s nice to have some people from Africa here. Usually they are very friendly, always happy and in good spirits. And they like good music and know how to dance!“

What do you think about this incident?

Which stereotypes do you assume behind the neighbours‘ points of view? What do you think: What is the background of the neighbours‘ opinions? How did they develop?

How will the stereotypes influence the neighbours‘ interaction with the African family? What could you say or do in order to keep a good atmosphere in the house?

Example 2

Once a week you work in a meeting point where refugees and migrants get together. A Syrian woman with two little children sits there. She looks sad and exhausted. You try to start a conversation with her and ask if you can help in any way. She tells you that she was trying to get in touch with her mother in Damascus for several days but the mother is not answering the phone nor replying to her messages. The young woman is very concerned about what might have happened.

You want to help and make some suggestions how the woman could get information about her mother. She listens for a while, then she looks at you and says: „You Europeans always think that you are very clever and that you can solve any problem!“ You fall silent.

What do you think about this incident?

What went wrong in this conversation?

What is the misunderstanding here?

Which kind of stereotyping can be involved here? What could you do to bring the conversation to a better agreement?