Anxiety Management/Uncertainty in Intercultural Relationships of Afghan Students in Iranian Universities: A Qualitative Study

Subject Areas : INTERCULTURAL STUDIES QUARTERLY

hasan bashir ¹ (Professor, Department of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Islamic Education and Culture and Communication, Imam Sadegh (AS) University)
Mostafa Mostafavi ² (PhD Student in Cultural Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Research Sciences Unit)

Received: 2020-02-23 Accepted : 2020-04-09 Published : 2020-05-21

Keywords: Uncertainty, Iranians, Afghan immigrants, Intercultural Communication, Anxiety Management,

Abstract :

The coexistence of Afghans with Iranians has a long history. The two countries' neighborhood in terms of geography, cultural affinity and cultural commonalities has led to more communication in recent decades. Language, religion, and cultural commonalities have provided them with opportunities such as higher education. But relations between Iranians and Afghans, despite their commonalities, also have cultural differences. Based on the theory of "anxiety management / Gudykunst uncertainty and cross-cultural adaptation of strangers" as a new approach to intercultural communication with the aim of our interaction with the stranger (another); And its maintenance at the desired level - somewhere between the maximum and minimum thresholds - is considered to establish an "effective connection" with the "other". The research method is qualitative and was conducted with 15 Afghan immigrant students living in Tehran and their behaviors were analyzed according to Gudykunst theory. The results showed that Afghan students in Iran have positive and good feeling and have less problems with Iranians in terms of cultural communication in the university environment, they feel less discrimination against themselves and believe that as their level of awareness increases; Anxiety management in dealing with Iranians is strengthened and they predict with more certainty about the host community. Raising awareness, education, media programs can be offered to increase cooperation and empathy between Iranians and Afghans on a large scale and reduce the level of differences between them.

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