Rhodes Forum - World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations"

John DeFrain - Ph.D., Professor of Family Studies
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA)

Sylvia M. Asay - Ph.D., Associate Professor of Family Studies
University of Nebraska at Kearney (USA)

Abstract

Human beings, for a number of reasons, tend to focus on differences. This tendency can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, differences can be the spice of life and the object of fascinating discussions when we talk about the differences between men and women, youth and maturity, or the differences among cultures in regard to language, food preferences, politics, history, religion, education, and so forth.

On the other hand, when we take our differences too seriously and blow them out of proportion in relationship to our similarities – which are much more evident – we easily get ourselves into trouble. Trouble as spouses exaggerating the battle of the sexes, trouble as parents too eager to engage in attacks on their children for being so supposedly different, and as nations only too happy to exaggerate how our particular country differs (and, thus, is better) than other nations.

New global research on family strengths, community strengths, and cultural strengths shows us that in these important foundational areas of human life, we are much more similar than different. These similarities are solid common ground on which to build international efforts, especially in the area of education. A recently-created Global Consortium for Education in Family and Community Studies illustrates how our similarities can be used as the basis for worldwide efforts. 

Family Strengths, Community Strengths, and Cultural Strengths:
Identifying Common Ground in Our Efforts To Preserve
The Structural Integrity of the Global Community

Recent research by an international team representing 18 countries in 7 of the world’s major  geocultural areas indicates that family strengths, community strengths, and cultural strengths are remarkably similar from culture to culture. In a world that tends to want to accentuate the differences among human populations rather than to seek out and celebrate their similarities, this new study is a useful tool for developing common ground among countries interested in globalizing the college curriculum. The findings from this new study are currently being used by the Global Consortium for Education in Family and Community Studies to provide a philosophical justification for the development of an international graduate program; and these findings can be used to provide a solid foundation for other worldwide efforts.

Today there is great hope that international efforts will prove to be fruitful and bring together a divided and conflicted world. Simultaneously, there also is genuine fear – based on a global history of seemingly interminable conflict among disparate peoples – that we will never be able to bridge the significant cultural divisions that remain. Research and education on a global scale will be critical if we are to be successful in our efforts to bring people together in a world that so often wants to pull us apart. 

In this presentation we will very briefly outline more than 30 years of efforts to understand the strengths of families around the world – looking at how families succeed in a difficult environment rather than why families fail. More than 25,000 family members in 38 countries have participated in these studies. 

We will also show how these efforts have culminated in a recent study that uncovered not only family strengths but also community strengths and cultural strengths from a global perspective. The most remarkable finding from this global study uniting researchers in 18 countries in all 7 of the world’s most prominent geocultural areas is the finding that family strengths, community strengths, and cultural strengths are remarkably similar from culture to culture (DeFrain & Asay, 2007).

In essence, it can be argued that people are people are people, and families are families are families. Though every culture in the world is unique and different from every other culture, and though every family is unique and different from every other family, it is becoming more and more apparent that deep down the similarities outweigh the differences.

In the field of family studies there are a number of guiding principles that many professionals share. Prominent among these beliefs are three that are relevant to the discussion here:

1. The family, in all its magnificent diversity, is the most basic social unit in all human societies down through history. Every cultural has families, and though family structures can look very different from culture to culture, family functions are remarkably similar.
2. All the problems in the world either begin in families or end up in families. That is to say, families sometimes create their own problems and have to deal with the problems they create. And, families sometimes have the problems of the world – war, environmental disaster, civil disorder and collapse – the problems of the world sometimes thrust themselves upon families. But either way, families in the final analysis end up being responsible for dealing with these problems on a day-to-day basis.
3. Finally, we believe that strong families help to create strong communities and nations; and that strong nations and communities help to build strong families.

Family Strengths, Community Strengths, and Cultural Strengths Worldwide

Family strengths. The similarities that are found in research with families globally point to a set of qualities that describe the characteristics of strong families. When people from country to country and culture to culture talk about what makes their family strong, these are some of the traits they commonly identify:

Appreciation and Affection
Caring for each other
Friendship
Respect for individuality
Playfulness
Humor

Positive Communication
Giving compliments
Sharing feelings
Avoiding blame
Being able to compromise
Agreeing to disagree

Spiritual Well-Being and Shared Values
Hope
Faith
Compassion
Shared ethical values
Oneness with humankind
Oneness with the Earth     Commitment
Trust
Honesty
Dependability
Faithfulness
Sharing

Enjoyable Time Together
Quality time in great quantity
Good things take time
Enjoying each other’s company
Simple good times
Sharing fun times

The Ability to Manage Stress and Crisis Effectively
Adaptability
Seeing crises as both challenges and opportunities
Growing through crises together
Openness to change
Resilience

Community strengths. These include:

• A supportive environment that genuinely values families, and a general willingness and natural generosity infused in the culture to help when families are in need.
• An effective educational delivery system.
• Family-service programs developed by government and non-governmental organizations for families.
• A safe, secure and healthful environment.
• Religious communities for families seeking this kind of support.
• Cultural strengths. These include:
• A rich cultural history.
• Shared cultural meanings.
• A stable political process.
• A viable economy.
• An understanding of the global society.

The Global Consortium for Education in Family and Community Studies

Using global family strengths, community strengths, and cultural strengths as a unifying perspective that give us common ground and the confidence that a global approach to education really has a good possibility of working, a group of six institutions in six countries around the world has begun to develop an international graduate program in family and community studies. The institutions are:

• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
• South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Peoples’ Republic of China
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
• University of Newcastle, Australia

This graduate program will give students in each country the opportunity to learn about families, communities, and cultures from faculty and other students around the world. The students will have the option of both online and face-to-face contact with faculty and other graduate students through Internet, classroom, field work with children, youth and families, and research experiences. 

This graduate program is not simply a collection of old already-existing courses that each institution brings to the table, but genuinely new courses and new ways of looking at families, communities, and cultures. International teams of faculty are carefully constructing each course, working closely together to give students a genuinely new and unique global perspective. For example, in each of our countries we teach courses about family violence, but no one teaches a genuinely global way of looking at family violence and it is our responsibility to create such an approach for this program. 

At this stage, six years into the lengthy and fascinating process, we are busy creating global courses. We are not completely certain how to do all this yet or where precisely we are going, but that is part of the fascination with the process. We get some ideas and energy from studying the experiences of the Great Plains IDEA, a U.S.-born consortium that linked 12 universities in the middle of America for the development of family-oriented degree programs. The Great Plains IDEA group is now ten years into the process. The group started with one graduate program and in ten years have grown to eight graduate programs. They hope to have at least 30 programs developed as the years go by. 

The Global Consortium for Education in Family and Community Studies has similar dreams. Please wish us good luck, and we hope this presentation has given you ideas for your own international efforts in bringing the world together, united by the common values and beliefs we share.


Reference
DeFrain, J., & Asay, S. M. (2007). Strong families around the world: Strengths-based research and perspectives. New York and London: Haworth Press / Taylor & Francis Group.