Between Worlds: my journey towards empathy in diverse cultures
Since August I have been based at Yale University in New Haven. Fortunate, as in late October I had the opportunity to present at the ‘Designing for Empathy’ conference at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. It was a relatively intimate gathering of people deeply involved in the concept ‘empathy’ from all sorts of diverse backgrounds include a dozen cultures, and professional areas like peace development, gallery and museum curators, tertiary educator, visual narrator, expressive dancing. This encouraged me to present authentically, key aspects of my journey. It sparked the idea of ‘between worlds ‘ as the most appropriate way to summarise my life until now.
The life experiences I outline in the presentation have suggested to me a number of things relating to the nature of empathy. In a sense I have gone from feeling clarity to realising just how complex the issue can be. I have come to realise that empathy in diverse cultural settings requires a dynamic approach, starting with a definition that includes emotional, cognitive, moral, and behavioural elements. Also, I want to stress that talking about cross-cultural empathy applies to all societies. There is plenty of research showing how cultures vary within and between countries.
There is much I could discuss, but in the interests of time I’ll highlight a few key areas. I want to stress that these are merely my observations from the field. I am working to produce peer reviewed research in the near future.
The presentation developed three key points about the state and future of work on empathy.
💗 I believe that empathy across cultural divides is not only possible but fundamental to future flourishing societies
🌈 Understanding how empathy works requires a multi-dimensional view
💯 The nature of empathy exists beyond western-cultural stereotypes
There is much I could discuss, but in the interests of time I’ll highlight a few key areas. I want to stress that these are merely my observations from the field. I am working to produce peer reviewed research in the near future.
To move forward, I feel that we need a more diverse theoretical foundation for empathy, that reflects cultural diversity. We can do this with grounded empirical research into empathy as experienced by people around the world. Particularly, to understand at interpersonal, group and societal levels. We need to map unique cultural variations that are similar to empathy – such as omoiyari in Japan and samvedana in India. To see how they work in localized contexts and in cross-cultural situations, and I am sure there are many others in cultures around the world.
Eventually, my goal is to set up an interdisciplinary empathy research centre. To bring together academic disciplines so to to deepen theoretical foundations and develop empathy interventions for the real world. Ultimately, with this work I hope to arrest the growing divisions in our societies - whether it be social, cultural, or political.
I am extremely grateful to everyone at the Designing for Empathy Summit - it was a wonderful few days sharing and discussing ideas on empathy with a wonderful group of people.
