The Influence of Stereotypes on Communication between Cultures conflict from the Perspective of Uncertainly Avoidance-level

1. Introduction

Crash， the 78th Academy Award winner for best picture， begins with a traffic accident in L.A.. All the movie characters show their relationship， emotion， conflict， compromise with each other following the accident one by one， which is a microcosm of multicultural crash in L.A.. It also represents the process of multicultural contradiction to the integration in the USA. The commonness of human being in the whole world is also presented in the film. Meanwhile， other ethnic groups also confront with each other. The stereotype of ethnic group is inveterate in every mind， leading that everyone has racial prejudice against others. That is how we misunderstand people with good intentions， and destroy the trust among people. Taking this movie as an example， the author tried to analyze the conflict reason and the influence of stereotype on communication between cultures based on one aspect of the cultural value dimensions.

2. An Analysis of the Conflict Between Afro-Americans and White Americans Caused by Stereotypes in terms of the Uncertainly Avoidance Level?

2.1 Internalized Stereotype

Firstly， the background of immigrant of negro is an essential factor to the whole analysis. Afro-American include the descendants of African black slaves who were historically robbed by the European settlers to the United States， new black immigrants and their descendants. According to the cultural values of uncertainly avoidance， the index of Africa culture is much higher than the United States. We could verify the experiential index in the above table. Based on the features of the high index， African are lack of security and anxious for the matter suddenly. With the development of economy and culture， although all Americans seem to have equal rights and to enjoy entire infrastructure and resources， Afro-American have their own cultural characteristics such as high-uncertainly avoidance.

As the high level of uncertainty avoidance causes the stereotype that white man has to the black， the negro would internalize the fixed image， breaking conflicts with people living in other culture. The conflict is resulted from the action of holding hands that we regard it as stereotype. Actually， the action white female did with her husband cannot show any racial discrimination to the young black man in the film. However， the black man internalize the racialism on their own initiative under the background of immigrant history and culture. That is why the two people have conflict with the couple.

2.2 External Stereotype

In the first half of the 20th century， only a small minority of black Africans lived abroad in the United States through overseas study， diplomatic activities， tourism， and business. The mainstay of black groups in American society is still the descendant of black slave immigrants， so-called African Americans or Old African Diaspora. African American immigrants of this period are often referred to internationalists or New African Diaspora.

Immigrant groups do not completely copy their original culture when they are transplanted and maintained due to changes in the objective social environment of faults or historical memories of immigrants. They used to undergo a process of abandonment， but it does not mean the loss of cultural identity. In fact， it is a process of dynamic innovation? of culture and identity. That is how they create a new identity different from the past. Hansen insisted the stereotype of traditional immigrant culture and ignored the change with the development of the society. That is why the manslaughter happened.

3. Conclusion

From the angle of Afro-American itself， they should regain the right of self-definition to avoid internalize the stereotype.Meanwhile， from the angle of literature creation， writer or director should break the limitation of mainstream culture. What should we do includes not only the critique of present situation but the reconstruction of the image.

References：

[1]Larry A.Samovar[J]. Communication between Cultures，2009.

[2]肖麗華.刻板書寫與自我定義——論后殖民女性主義文學中的形象批評[J].甘肅社會科學，2013，3.

【作者簡介】閆昕（1996.7-），女，漢族，山西人，長春理工大學，研究生，研究方向： 英漢翻譯與文化。