Leadership in a Global Context

Being a multicultural person can be both advantageous and disadvantageous.  The way things are perceived today in a “global” sense to be a multicultural individual is a natural or common thing already.  This “multicultural” notion is often attributed to the idea that an individual holds more than one cultural identity, speaks several languages, and can function well in any culture.  In the context of biculturalism presented by Mistry and Wu (2010), this refers to the comfort and proficiency that a person experiences with the cultural heritage he has since birth and the culture of the country where he is about to settle.

This does apply to migrants and their children who are raised in their own heritage culture at home but grow up as well in the culture of the community as they interact with others.

From the acculturation point of reference, biculturalism focuses on the behaviors like language use, choice of friends, media preference, and social behaviors. Moving from my home city, Safwa to the Philippines thus addresses this aspect of our migration.

  Our family is feeling apprehensive about moving to the Philippines because of the adjustments in terms of our cultural orientation and the culture we are about to assimilate into.  Language to start with may be the first struggle, unlike in Safwa that we can use our local language during ordinary conversations, now we may be limited to using it only at home among us, but when we go out and meet other people – Filipinos we would have to use English unless we learn to speak Filipino faster.

Get quality help now

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified

Proficient in: Cultural Identity

4.7 (235)

“ Amazing writer! I am really satisfied with her work. An excellent price as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Speaking in English, and yet we are identified as Muslim maybe quite strange to see, as when I have looked into the culture of the city where we will move in, most foreign migrants who settles in and speak English are Americans, Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese.

Yes, there are already a lot of Muslims in the city, but they were already fluent speakers in Filipino as they have been there already for some time. There is also an expected unique blending of our culture, for one there is the distinct culture of eating.  From my research earlier on, most Filipinos eat vegetables, fishes, and variety of poultry and meat, and common meat is pork.  On our part based on our religious beliefs, we do not eat pork, so there will be big adjustments when I attend to my function as a general manager of the company, when I get to attend parties of functions and I should demonstrate tolerance for this diverse food culture.  It works the same for the children when they get to attend school, they would have to adjust a lot to the food being serves in the cafeteria, unless they will always bring their food from home. Looking into the profile of the community, the city in the Philippines I would be moving to together with my family is diverse.

There are already foreign residents or migrants and they were able to settle in quite comfortably.  But in our case, being a Muslim, and coming from a more conservative Muslim community it is a bit challenging to assimilate ourselves in. for one, though there are already Muslims in the Filipino community, they do not wear hijab and abaya (women), but for us we would have to stick to following this tradition for women.  This is where our greatest fear would rely then. If the Filipinos would be discriminating when they would see us or the female members of our family walking in the community in this kind of clothing.  Moving in and blending ourselves in the Filipino culture would not compromise our religious beliefs and traditions. Praying every Friday in the mosque would not be a struggle as I have located some mosques near our “new community”.

It will just be really on the food culture and the partition of men and women that will define mainly the kind of adjustments our family will have to face. Coming from a city which I prefer to see as an “open mind” city or probably in modern language this is what they would be referring to as “liberated”, I perceive our host country to be “open minded” or liberated as well.  That moving in would still allow us to behave and act according to the values of our cultural heritage and the culture of the Filipinos were about to learn soon.  Because one of the characteristics of a multicultural or bicultural individual is the ability to adhere and behave accordingly to different cultures. Our family and how we raised our children will still be the greatest factor in ensuring that we acculturate ourselves well when we move to the Philippines.

As parents to our children it is one of our responsibilities when we moved not only to provide for the necessary experience and exposure that comes with our career but also in ensuring that we socialized according to our heritage culture and that of our new community. This can only be one when we encourage our children and us as adults integrate ourselves into the community.  If before we would play soccer on weekends, but in Philippines the popular game is basketball, then we would have to learn to play it.  in school or in the office, there should be no reason why we would separate ourselves from others just because of our religious beliefs, unless it will be compromising our distinct character as Muslims, then we should make new friends.

The Philippines being an Asian country do not reflect a very high level of racial discrimination.  If it is a Western country, then that would be a reason to be worried so much for myself and for my family.  But since there were already some Muslims around in the community, then we would just have to find a way to settle in the community.  If we surround ourselves with people of the same religious background and also of Catholics and Christians it will not be a big difference as to living with our family, our extended family way back in Safwa. Allowing one’s self to interact with people in a big society I believe would be healthy for the development not of myself alone but also of my family as we would learn to see things from different perspectives, understanding complex issues and sees both sides of an argument.