Melanie Breads

May 2, 2017
Professor Simpson

Intercultural Communication Final Research Paper:

Living in the world as a European American, I have always wondered what it is like to

live in and be from a different culture. There are things that are obvious, such as a person's

appearance or what language they speak that makes someone's culture different from another,

however, I have always been fascinated in exploring and understanding more in depth about

another culture's background, lifestyle and set of beliefs. With that being said, I was extremely

excited to have the opportunity to interview and converse with Jonathan Balagizi, as he opened

up to me about his African American cultural background.

Jonathan was born in Washington D.C in 1997, however his parents are originally from

the Democratic Republic of Congo, located in Central Africa. Congo has seasons such as winter,

fall, summer and spring, just like the United States, however in Congo it does not snow and the

lowest temperature reaches about 50 degrees. That affects the style of houses in Congo and the

way that the people in Congo dress. In Congo, they have a very colorful and bright sense of

style, so their houses are colors of oranges, pinks and greens for example. Also, being that the

setting and weather is much warmer year round in Congo, they do not need to wear heavy

clothes like we might have to hear in America.

According to Maps of the World website, Congo gained their independence from

Belgium in 1960. Congos Independence Day is June 30th, which is a holiday that Jonathan and

his family celebrate, rather than the fourth of July, which is the day America gained their

Independence. Jonathan and his family usually eat foods such as jollof rice, plantains and Bugali
in honor of celebrating the Independence of Congo. They have a symbol of pride for their home

country of Congo, as they have a flag to represent their culture and has meaning to their life and

their freedom in Congo. Jonathan celebrates this holiday with both of his parents and brothers

and sisters, as he is from a traditional family. The event of Congo gaining their independence

has shaped the present because now the Congo community can live in freedom and they

recognize the day in honor of their freedom.

The Congo Crisis was a period of political conflict in the Republic of the Congo between

1960 and 1965. Congo had an issue with Belgium, after gaining independence, because they saw

Belgium back at breakaway states such as Ratanga in the south. From 1971 to 1997, Congo was

given the title, The Republic of Zaire, a name change made by ruler Mobutu Sese Seko.

Mobutu Sese Seko made this change because he thought was a more authentic African name.

Mobutu took power in 1965. He initially improved the economy in Congo, stabilized the country,

and tried to create a sense of nationalism. However, his dictatorship was scary and unusual.

According to the Cracked website, Mobutu thought of himself as some sort of demigod and

forced the evening news to begin with a scene of him descending from the clouds. Mobutu also

prohibited the people in Congo from wearing leopard-print hats and he also carried around a

wooden cane. He claimed that the cane took 8 men to carry, but he was strong and powerful that

he could carry it himself. Mobutu imprisoned anyone who did not have an African name, and he

hired Mohammad Ali and George Foreman to fight in Congo for $5 million so that Congo could

gain recognition. In 1996, Mobutu told all Congo people of Tutsi tribe to leave the country. The

Tutsis were upset and responded by exploding into rebellion. People in the country joined in and

Mobutu eventually fled to Togo. Mobutu died of prostate cancer in 1997 and the people of

Congo felt relief.

 Due to intense dictatorship from Mobutu, the people of Congo have been grateful for

their independence. The people of Congo take it very seriously. The worldview orientation of

Congo is that it is in Africa and that people in Congo live a lifestyle of more style orientation.

Personally, without knowing much about Congo, I viewed it as a loud, outgoing, culture, based

off of Jonathans behavior and actions.

According to the Coltan Facts website, Congo is known for their rich supply of Coltan, as

it produces 64% of the worlds supply. Coltan is used to make electronic device such as iPhones

and laptops, and even hearing aids and prosthetic devices such as hip implants.

After conversing with Jonathan about his African roots, and according to Hofstede's

Values of Dimensions, his culture represents high power distance. Jonathan accepts and expects

that power is distributed unequally depending on age. His African culture is also masculine,

however, being an American, Jonathan says that his family has transitioned to be more feminine

and equal. Jonathan and his family can also be classified as living in a monochronic time

culture, rather than a polychronic time culture, as they do rely on time and prefer not to be late

for events and functions, as it can be viewed as disrespectful in their culture. Although being

very family oriented, Jonathan and his family rely on a time schedule to fit in with the busy

American lifestyle. Jonathan's lifestyle is based off of the teaching from his parents culture, and

his culture from living in America.

Jonathans social identity is made up of similar traits to those from an American culture.

Jonathan considers himself to be an African American male. He comes from a middle-class

family, and is a Christian. Jonathan plays the drums at The International Evangelical Church of

Christ, where he and his family attend every Sunday. His father is also a pastor, which has also

influenced Jonathan to have a strong relationship with God. Jonathan is also the treasurer of his
church and he manages the sound system during times of musical worships within his church.

His religion was passed down to him through culturally shared traditions. He is one of many

generations to experience the same set of religious beliefs. Jonathan is a 20 year old college

student, who attends the College of Southern Maryland and plans to transfer to Towson

University in the fall. He is also an older brother and an employee at the H&M clothing store.

Jonathans personal identity attributes of being a smart, outgoing and friendly guy. Jonathans

ethnic identity includes having roots from the Democratic Republic of Congo and as already

explained, worshiping his savior from the Christian religion. During the interview, Jonathan

mentioned that he has not faced discrimination based off of his identity. He is a likeable guy and

he has never experienced personal racism because of his ethnicity. However, Jonathan has felt

feelings of not belonging.

Growing up with African parents and having an African background, but being born and

growing up in America was hard for Jonathan. He experienced a sense of confusion within

himself, and with his cultural identity. He his bilingual, and he does know both English and

Swahili, however, he is not fluent in Swahili and his extended family would make him feel like

he did not belong. Feeling like he was a part of the outgroup within his own family was hard for

him. He felt excluded, especially with his cousins, who came to America from Congo in 2010,

who had that strong African cultural background that Jonathan did not necessarily grow up with.

Jonathan was not a part of the intergroup communication that the rest of his family was in

because we was unaware of all of the aspects of living in Congo, as he has never even been to

Congo before. All he knows about the Congo culture is was his family has taught him, which has

affected his cultural identity salience. In this case, the larger culture would be African

American because that is cultural background. Jonathan felt like he didnt belong at first and he
did not feel like he was a part of the cultural community within his family. Although he shares

the same beliefs and traditions, he was forced into the culture. He did not understand at first,

however, now being older, Jonathan loves his culture and embraces it. As he shares, I am very

proud of my cultural background and I am very fortunate to be a part of such an amazing

lifestyle.

Being that Jonathans parents have kept their African culture present while raising a

family in America, Jonathan has been able to embrace his African culture by speaking Swahili,

the language that his parents spoke while in Congo. Jonathan also speaks to his extended family

in Swahili, as his uncles and aunts have also traveled to the United States. When traveling to the

United States, his family had learned parts of the English language, however, they were not

fluent. They were preparing themselves for flexible intercultural communication and

communication competence. Jonathans parents were aware of the importance of integrating

knowledge and they had an open-mind, as they knew that Americans dominant language is

English, and they knew that their lifestyle would change when traveling to American.

Jonathan is a very confident and outgoing person. He comes off as a friendly person, as

he approaches people with a welcoming smile and wave. Growing up in America, a wave,

handshake or hug are all socially normal emblems. Greetings are very similar in the African

Culture, as they also approach each other with a handshake. This form of haptics is a symbol of

respect, especially to the elderly. The men in Africa also address each other with a head touch, as

a sign of respect, which is a form of an adaptor. Being a movement that fulfills some kind of

psychological or physical need, it gives the men a sense of comfortability and power. The head

touch between the men can also be viewed as an illustrator because they are non-verbal

gestures, which are usually followed with a spoken message such as hi or its so good to see
you. There is also a deeper message involved in just doing the actions of the head touch. The

women, usually the mother or the daughter, will greet people at the door with a tray of

beverages. Although this a respectful in the American culture as well, it is not expected. In the

African culture, this is expected, as it is a cultural norm. Also, by making the elderly a priority

when greeting them with appropriateness, being expected behaviors, it is also part of a cultural

value, as such behaviors give off a sense of goodness and fair actions. These actions are

viewed as respectful and fair in the African culture, and Jonathan approaches his elders in this

manner. Jonathan and his family also demonstrate the necessary kinesics when approaching and

greeting someone, as having confident and friendly body language, and by using appropriate

gestures and body language. These polite greeting actions can be viewed as personal

expectations from Jonathan's grandparents, as they are of high status in the family and deserve

the utmost respect in the family.

Jonathan and his family also use appropriate paralanguage when conversing with

another person, as they want to give a message with the appropriate tone of voice. For example,

Jonathan usually approached his little sister in a loving, soft way, when he helps her get through

her struggle of gaining self-confidence with her body image. His message comes off more

powerful with a passionate and caring tone of voice. Language is the same for all cultural, so for

the African Congo culture, Swahili is their dominant language and that is how they

communicate. Nonverbal communication is used by the African Congo Culture to

communicate without saying words. Similar to the American culture, they wave, hug, wipe tears

and even sit in silence to get a message across without actually speaking. There are no specific

rules for nonverbal communication in the African Congo culture.

 Being such a social and confident guy, Jonathan's African culture can be classified as

being a high-contact culture. By using eye contact and speaking in a loud tone, Jonathan

possesses characteristics of a high context culture. Jonathan says, One thing that makes me and

my family who we are is how loud we are. We are always out to have a good time and laugh, and

clearly my parents outgoing behavior has rubbed off on me. In addition to being a high-contact

culture, Jonathan is also from a high-context culture, rather than a low-context culture. He and

his family are very straightforward with their communication and do not try to camouflage their

true intentions. Although fun and outgoing, Jonathan explains that he and his family also portray

a direct style of communication, rather than an indirect style of communication, when

necessary. For example, in Congo, the men have the majority of the power, which is also known

as masculinity, being that one gender role is more dominant than the other. When moving to

America, Jonathans father adjusted to the American culture and tried to make power more equal

between him and his wife, known as femininity, especially in their parenting skills. However,

being the male figure of the household, his father still demonstrated a direct style of

communication and used a serious tone of voice when punishing his children or talking about

something in regards to a serious matter. Jonathans father's behaviors have rubbed off on

Jonathan, as he also demonstrates a direct style of communicating, being the oldest sibling of

four. Jonathan does not portray and avoidance style of communication with his family in friends

either, as he enjoys speaking his mind and being honest. His family is known to be clear and

obvious with their intentions when communicating.

While growing up, Jonathan experienced challenges of feeling accepted when developing

relationships with those of the dominant U.S culture. Jonathan felt a sense of culture shock, as

early as elementary school because he was used to living in a household of pure African Culture.
On page 101 in the textbook it explains the stages of culture shock. The first stage is the

honeymoon stage. Jonathan did not experience this stage because he was nervous and not

exactly excited about making the transition to school. The second stage is the hostility stage. He

felt this stage for the majority of his time in elementary school because he felt like he just did not

belong. The third stage is the humorous stage. During this stage you laugh at your mistakes.

Looking back, Jonathan says that he has such a carefree attitude about being judged and he

laughs about how serious he took things back then. The next stage is the in-sync stage. Jonathan

never experienced this at the National Christian Academy because he didnt feel a sense of

belonging at the school with the dominant culture. The final stage is the ambiance stage. During

this stage you dont want to leave. However, Jonathan was ready to leave and grow as a person

with his culture and make a new name for himself.

At Jonathans church, the population is 90% African. These 90% of Africans who were a

part of his church have also traveled from Africa to America so the culture is strong in Jonathans

life. Jonathan explains, My cultural norms did not match theirs. I thought it was okay to be loud

and have fun all of the time, as I did with my family, however, for the dominant American

culture, that was not the case. Jonathan attended The National Christian Academy. The students

would attend mass once a week though school. Jonathan describes his experience at church, a

party every time however, the dominant culture took the mass experience in a more serious and

calm route. He experienced cultural empathy, and understood the American culture way to

worship Christianity within the school and how they acted as a whole. Overall, the school was

still a cultural community because they shared the same set of beliefs and values, and were

taught the same stuff. They experienced culturally shared beliefs as well, as they are all

passionate about their religion and love for God. Jonatan went to the same school for 12 years,
and eventually improved his feeling of not belonging. However, when coming to the College of

Southern Maryland, he experienced culture shock again. But, Jonathan used an ethno-relative

mindset and learned how other cultures work and he understood that it's okay to be different.

Throughout Jonathans academic experience, he has not experienced conflict in relations to

himself and his peers. However, he did say that in the interview that when dealing with conflict,

he tends to use the compromising style of communication because he likes to maintain a good

relationship with friends, especially in the school environment. However, Jonathan uses a more

direct style when dealing with his siblings, and avoiding style when communicating with his

parents.

As mentioned above, problems of the African American culture may feel like they don't

belong with the dominant American culture. Also, African Americans may feel stereotyped

because of their skin color, background and beliefs. Communication between different cultures

can be improved by not having an ethnocentric mindset, and understand and learn the ways of

life for another culture.

I had the honor of learning about Jonathan Balagizis life, as he self-disclosed

information that I did not know before about himself, his family and his background. It was

pleasure completing this assignment and learning all about the African Congo Culture.
 Bibliography:

Administrator. Coltan Facts - Break The Silence Congo Week. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2017.

"Independence Day of Democratic Republic of Congo." Maps of World. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May
2017.

Xander, Preston, Seanbaby, J.F. Sargent, Chris Bucholz, and John Cheese. "7 Modern Dictators
Way Crazier Than You Thought Possible." Cracked.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2017.