EMQ » October–December 2018 » Volume 54 Issue 4
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder”]Acclimated to Africa: Cultural Competence for Westerners
By Debbi DiGennaro
SIL International,
Dallas, 2017
164 pages
ISBN: 978-1556713866
USD $34.95
Reviewed by Birgit Herppich, Fuller Theological Seminary, WEC International, former missionary in Ghana.
Having lived in Africa and currently working with people of many nationalities to prepare cross-cultural missionaries, this book immediately caught my attention. Debbi DiGennaro brings ten years of experience living and working in East Africa to this book, currently as regional leader in a faith-based NGO. She also consults and coaches using the Culture Orientations Model (debbidigennaro.com). For this study she interviewed African leaders and Westerners living in Africa, in addition to her own observations and experience.
For DiGennaro the “goal of cross-cultural competence is genuine connection between dissimilar people” and “the skills and attitudes we need in order to behave in ways acceptable and meaningful to local people” (150). The first chapter clarifies concepts of culture and cultural adjustment and the generalizations that any book that claims to talk about “Western” and sub-Saharan “African” culture inevitably entails.
The remaining chapters outline the differences in perspectives between these two culture clusters on seven themes, areas that often lead to misunderstandings and tensions between Africans and Westerners. These are concepts of organization, finances, friendships, spirituality, communication and conflict, leadership, and work. Each theme is explored in an entertaining and witty way through pithy statements by two fictive representatives of these clusters that sum up the (often contrasting) perspectives, expectations, and social norms. Many stories make this an enjoyable read and provide great illustrations of the differing cultural assumptions and ensuing potential for misunderstandings.
To students of cultures many of the cultural contrasts like individualism versus collectivism, time versus event orientation, direct versus indirect communication, and high versus low power distance will not be completely new. However, in this book we see how they work out in every-day life in Sub-Saharan Africa and Westerners receive insightful advice to negotiate the differences.
DiGennaro emphasizes the importance of education in acquiring cultural competence, “in order to act in a manner that is acceptable to the members of a given society” (1–2). Such knowledge will only result in changed behavior when there is also the willingness to adapt and an attitude of acceptance towards Africans. The only hindrance to this can be the deep-seated conviction many Westerners display in subtle and not so subtle ways that our culture is normative for the rest of the world. DiGennaro pleads for the willingness to adapt and an attitude that sees African cultural ways not as inferior but simply different and the “right, appropriate, and reputable” way to live in their context.
Acclimated to Africa should be standard reading for any Westerner preparing to live in sub-Saharan Africa. Even Africans will benefit from this book as they live and work in Western cultural contexts. In mission organizations, increasingly we see African missionaries joining us, but our organization and procedures are often so deeply rooted in Western assumptions and ways that Africans and other non-Western friends will need to adapt to our cultural practices for some time to come. Hopefully, in the process of more collaboration and partnerships, we will see mutual influence and growing cultural competence among us.
