The Myth of Cross-Cultural Competence

Abstract

Cross-cultural competence has become a byword in social work. In a postmodern world in which culture is seen as individually and socially constructed, evolving, emergent, and occurring in language (Laird, 1998), becoming “culturally competent” is a challenging prospect. How do we become competent at something that is continually changing and how do we develop a focus that includes ourselves as having differences, beliefs, and biases that are inevitably active. After considering this and several other contemporary perspectives on cultural competence, the author questions the notion that one can become competent at the culture of another. The author proposes instead a model based on acceptance of one's lack of competence in cross-cultural matters.