Title
Bridging Cultural Gaps in the American Diplomatic Community
Document Type
Student Presentation
Presentation Date
4-15-2013
Faculty Sponsor
Ross Burkhart, Sergio Romero, Heidi Reeder
Abstract
The objective of this project, entitled “Bridging Cultural Gaps in the American Diplomatic Community,” was a scholarly pursuit that identified and assessed gaps in American diplomacy. The goal of the project was to critically evaluate this new issue and offer a different perspective in its research, using an interdisciplinary approach that combines research in Political Science, Sociology, and Communication. This project was completed in two parts. The primary part of the project was a preliminary scholarly article to present relevant theoretical background and critique the lack of understanding of gaps in the diplomatic process. Using assumptions across disciplines from research specialties such as conventional diplomacy, workplace and generational structure, conflict management, cross-cultural communication, and social media research, the article served as a reference for the secondary part of the project. The second part of the project was an interactive seminar. Visual aids, interactive case study analysis, and participant discussion were the vehicles of presentation of the article findings. The preliminary research identified challenges that the diplomatic community needs to overcome and showed possible areas for critique of American diplomacy. These initial findings also aid in preparing recommendations for new perspectives in the diplomatic process, and highlighting opportunities for the development of research in multiple disciplines.