Cultural literacy and you

Part of developing cultural literacy is being critically aware of one's own culture. It means developing an awareness of the assumed knowledge and values of the culture, and being able to make a judgement about whether those knowledges and values are beneficial or detrimental. It is often easier to be aware of culture, both your own and others', when you move from one culture to another, or when you are part of a culture that is different from the majority culture.

What do you know about your own culture?

To learn more, you could do this quiz to "explore your cultural iceberg" on the Difference Differently website (opens in a new window).

Or try this cultural profile self-assessment from the Harvard Business Review to learn more about your culture, and how similar or different you are to the average members of your culture, or of the majority culture where you are living: What's your cultural profile? (opens in a new window).

Some key competencies you can develop to become culturally literate are:

• Recognise and value cultural diversity and difference
• Be able to communicate effectively with people from other cultures
• Understand that there is diversity and difference between individuals within cultural groups
• Treat everyone as an individual – have an open mind, no pre-expectations or stereotypes
• Assess each situation and behave appropriately

LinkedIn Learning offers some practical, easy-to-understand online courses that help you to develop your cultural literacy and understand and work with people from other cultures. To access LinkedIn Learning courses, follow the instructions for activating your free student or staff account using your Western ID and password (opens in a new window).

• Developing Cross-Cultural Intelligence (opens in a new window) (1 hour 14 minutes to complete)
• Communicating Across Cultures (opens in a new window) (32 minutes to complete)

Racism is a negative outcome of a lack of cultural literacy. To learn how to challenge racism (and develop your cultural literacy in that area), check out the Anti-Racism Initiatives (opens in a new window) - what you can do to challenge racism - from the Challenging Racism website (opens in a new window).