Cultural Anthropology course
Adjustment realities
Bingo
Bwanda
Fusa game
Case studies
Christianity and culture
Course home page
Cross-cultural steps
Culture shock
Ethnocentrism
Exam study guides
Kwast's
culture model
Light bulb illustration
Missions and culture
Monoculturalism
My own culture shock
PowerPoint presentations
Reading report
Re-entry: Coming home
Research paper topics
Short term mission trips
10/40
Window
Mission trip fund raising
This diagram is a clear illustration of how values, beliefs and worldview drives behavior. Kwast explains his diagram:
"One helpful method to view a culture [is to visualize] several successive layers or levels of understanding, as one [moves from observable behavior] into the real heart of the culture. . .
"Values in a culture are not selected arbitrarily, but invariably reflect an underlying system of beliefs. . .
"At the very heart of any culture is its world view. . . Sometimes people who share the gospel cross-culturally fail to take the problem of world view into account and are therefore disappointed by the lack of genuine change their efforts produce."
Diagram and quotes taken from "Understanding Culture" by Lloyd Kwast, published in the second edition of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, © by William Carey Library
Lloyd Kwast's model of culture is, as Kwast himself admits, "far too simple to explain the multitude of complex components and relationships that exist in every culture." It can, however, be a beginning point.
 | How do we cope with the stresses we encounter in living cross-culturally? Can we survive culture shock? [ read more ] |
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