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SIT Graduate Institute
Unlocking Potential:
Intercultural Communications
"It was a privilege to explore the experiential theme of SIT in reality."
--Becca Polk
SIT Graduate Institute
- Putting passion into practice with experientially-based master's degree programs.
- Equipping tomorrow's leaders with real-world strategies, on-the-ground field experience in area of study, and the intercultural management skills sought after in global leaders.
Becca Polk
In January 2010, Becca Polk traveled to Morocco with SIT Graduate Institute's off-campus course in intercultural communication. The course, which occurred over SIT's winter vacation, was just one of several optional off-campus offerings for graduate students. Polk and her classmates had the opportunity to explore intercultural communication theories and apply them within the context of Moroccan culture.
"We all arrived a little anxious to see what was actually going to be expected of us," Polk said. However, after an introduction of expectations and course outcomes, the students quickly adapted to the course's experiential, hands-on components.
Every morning the students started the day with lectures from well respected Moroccan scholars. The lectures covered topics such as religion and space, sexuality in Islam, Moroccan identities, and women's NGO work. The students lived with local host families with whom they had lunch and dinner every day. They were also given several projects outside of the classroom, including interviewing Moroccans, bargaining in the market, and visiting NGOs working on controversial issues of identity in Morocco.
"The lectures really helped to integrate what we were directly observing through Moroccan culture," Polk said. "The experience of seeing societal struggles first-hand really helped motivate me to pursue my ideals of social change."
Polk, a 2009 graduate of the CONTACT program and a student in conflict transformation at SIT, created a digital story about connecting with a young shopkeeper in Marrakesh. Her experience that afternoon at a Moroccan marketplace was part of the unstructured assignment for the course. Students set out independently to connect and communicate with Moroccans, and gathered later to reflect on their experiences.
The week-long course embodies SIT's focus on experiential education, where students have the opportunity to experience, reflect and apply what they have learned. The course provided Polk with the structure and support to gain skills in intercultural communication, which she feels are essential for anyone working in the field of conflict transformation.