Cultural Humility vs. Cultural Competency

A few words on Cultural Humility vs. Cultural Competency. 

One of these assumes you can learn about someone’s culture, become an expert on it and treat them in a way that makes sense to them because you’ve been a good listener, and learner and are open-minded. Another one doesn’t. 

For those of you who may be unaware, Cultural Competency is the idea that culture can be studied and learned and that through this one should be able to interact with those from a different culture in a way that makes them feel seen, heard, and understood. This would make the person component or fluent in this new culture. 

Culture Humility is the idea that learning about one's culture is a lifelong process that involves a continuous and open dialogue. It includes self-reflection, a deep understanding, and most importantly the recognition that each person is uniquely them. 

Folks belonging to mino Cultural Competency makes me feel like a rare species that needs to be studied to be understood. It makes me feel like another, an outsider, a difficult math problem that needs to be solved. Cultural Humility, on the other hand, makes me feel like I’m a teacher ready to give a lecture to a room full of eager and curious students. You can never be fully competent in a culture, especially as someone who is an outsider to that culture. And even so, once you’ve learned about one culture it may not hold true for all members of that cultural group. Two African-Americans who grow up on the same block, go to the same school, and have the same group of friends might experience life in two completely different ways. 

The danger of cultural competency is the danger of the single story and assuming that once you know one person from a certain background, you know all people. It lends itself to stereotypes, assumptions and oftentimes racism and can be a very slippery slope. 

Instead of making assumptions about someone based on their race or ethnicity, especially when you are working with them, you can just ask. That person is the expert on their own life and you are merely an eager student ready to take notes.

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