Dubai: In a country known for its cultural diversity, the UAE provides its residents with constant access to a multitude of nationalities, but has this broken cultural barriers and reduced stereotyping in society?
Gulf News spoke to readers about interaction between communities and the effects of cultural diversity on their social lives.
"People mix with different cultures here because it's a good place for that. [The UAE] is the perfect place to mingle with people from different backgrounds. That's what I do," Raju Mathew, a 42-year-old Indian, said.
Mathew believes that people here are given the opportunity to learn about the cultures of different countries, and incorporate positive ideas into their own culture, if one keeps an open mind.
Elcy Buenavides from the Philippines sees that "there is a mix of people who stick to their own culture in the UAE, but because of the work environment, people are exposed to different nationalities." She said that constant interaction has helped intercultural communication, but she has still seen cases of prejudice when "applying for the same job as other people, you will get a different package" depending on nationality.
Attentiveness
"It also happens in some stores or restaurants," she said about the attentiveness to customers depending on their nationality or ethnicity.
Ritu Chawla-Ray, an Indian national, said that although she has not experienced discrimination, she has heard several cases from her friends.
Chawla-Ray said that she likes to take advantage of the multicultural community in the country by meeting people from different places, but "when observing other people closely, they stay with their own nationality."
She acknowledges that there are people who enjoy intercultural socialising, but some people "feel more comfortable within their own culture."
According to Mahboub Hashem, mass communication professor at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), "people socialise with similar others because they share common elements with fewer unknowns. If you don't know the person, you might not feel comfortable so self-disclosure doesn't take place, which is vital for successful communication."
Talking about cultural diversity increasing interaction the Lebanese-American professor said: "On a formal level, yes, people are interacting with other cultures, but on an informal level it doesn't seem so because of uncertainty and the unknown reaction of different others."
Formal
Camil Al Khoury from Greece said that even though a lot of interaction is formal within the work environment, the way country is formed naturally encourages people to mix with other people such as those in housing communities.
Ali Wahab, a 30-year-old Pakistani, said that people will often emphasise their own nationality, but people are still interacting.
"It is impossible to stay within your own group. You have to come out of that soon and meet with different people. Discrimination is there, but only in the very early stages. It dies down with more interaction," Wahab said.
Angela Maitner, assistant psychology professor at AUS, said that changing stereotypes is difficult because they "seem to be part of the cognitive process," and people who don't meet our expectations are considered exceptions to the rule.
"Scientific evidence suggests that the best ways to reduce prejudice is through inter-group contact," Maitner said.
Al Khoury believes that companies should encourage interoffice team building to help make intercultural communication a more positive experience.
Chawla-Ray said that increasing cultural awareness is not enough because "people have to come out and open up themselves up as no one else can do it for them. It's up to the individual."
