Abstract
The first line of Kipling’s famous poem has often been quoted in isolation as an example of the author’s pessimistic attitudes toward race and the Empire, but the essential point is actually in the final line: When people meet—face to face—race, nationality, class, and geography cease to exist as dividing lines between people. The refrain from Kipling’s poem is still relevant today. Research shows that when people have no first-hand experience with people from other ethnic or cultural groups, they tend to rely on stereotypical accounts they get from the media or from other people, and the result is often prejudice and cultural generalizations. But if they meet and have personal encounters with “the other,” the stereotypes they form tend to be more positive (see, for example, Kashima, Fiedler, and Freytag 2008; Ladegaard 2011c).
“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain small meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth.”
Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West” (1889)
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© 2015 Gordon E. Slethaug and Jane Vinther
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Ladegaard, H.J. (2015). Personal Experience and Cultural Awareness as Resources in Teaching Intercultural Communication: A Hong Kong Case Study. In: Slethaug, G.E., Vinther, J. (eds) International Teaching and Learning at Universities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137475145_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137475145_7
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