Intercultural Interactions: A Practical Guide by Kenneth Cushner and Richard W. Brislin

Cushner and Brislin’s Intercultural Interactions is perhaps the most useful cross-cultural studies book that I have ever read.
Designed to be helpful regardless of the cultural background of those in the critical incidents, or the reader’s particular culture, it is both highly useful as a reference book and as a teaching resource.
The first chapter is an excellent introduction for people who are about to enter another culture extensively. The second, which is full of information for teachers and cross-cultural trainers, is also an enjoyable read. The main focus of the book, however, is in the next eight chapters, which present over one hundred examples of critical incidents under themes such as host customs, family, tourist experiences, the workplace and education. The cultural backgrounds of the people involved in these incidents are very diverse, and include Americans (and their many cultures), Europeans, Asians, Latin Americans, Arabs, and also the physically disabled and the deaf. All the stories are believable, having been well researched, and well written. What is more impressive, however, is the trouble the authors have taken to validate them, asking no fewer than sixty professionals from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds to offer an interpretation. This kind of scientific approach is excellent, I think, and I also welcomed there being no right answer; only preferred ones, since the experts could never agree unanimously.
The final three chapters deal with issues of culture in greater depth, and also point to additional resources for teachers and cross-cultural trainers, which is all very useful.
If I were to have to find fault with this book – which I do not want to do, then it would be that I found interpreting some of the stories rather easy once I read the options, since they had just one juicy morsel of information about a culture that gave the whole game away. This is a very minor point, of course, and teachers and cross-cultural trainers who plan to use such stories in class will surely be able to manage.
I have not used Intercultural Interactions with my students yet, but I do plan to do so, and I am sure that they will enjoy learning from it, as much as I am sure that I will be using it for many years to come.

Read about Intercultural Interactions at Amazon.com.