Going global with Afternoon Conversation Series
By Francesca Bonifacio ’13
People from both Madison and the world over gather around the fire at Union South to share their diverse cultural experiences and personal communication styles.
Somewhere in Malaysia stand a mosque, a church, a Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple alongside one another, an image that may shock those unfamiliar with such prominent displays of diversity.
But for Yasmin Yahya, a UW-Madison senior and native of Malaysia, this juxtaposition makes perfect sense. It is symbolic of the cultural understanding she strives to promote as an event coordinator for the Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Global Connections Committee.
ACS regulars engaged in lively discussion, with coffee in hand!
Every Friday, WUD Global Connections hosts its weekly Afternoon Conversation Series (ACS) from 2 pm to 4 pm at Prairie Fire Coffeehouse in Union South, transforming the space into an environment where students, faculty and Union members can learn about different cultures from one another.
ACS echoes themes of cultural sensitivity that are often the focal point of WUD Global Connections’ meetings, only the environment is more relaxed, with food and drink provided by Prairie Fire at no cost.
Subcommittee leaders like Yasmin invite speakers, professors and student organizations to communicate their expertise and knowledge in hopes of stimulating thoughtful discussion between ACS attendees. The weekly conversation series welcomes everyone from United States natives and international students, to faculty and Union members who are eager to delve into topics ranging from Interfaith to Chinese New Year. It also provides a helpful resource for those international students hoping to improve their English.
“People from all over the world come to join us at ACS,” said Yasmin. “We’ve had guests from China, France, even South America. It gives me the opportunity to make friends with people of different backgrounds and perspectives.”
As a slight deviation from the norm, ACS recently invited representatives from UW-Madison’s Student Leadership Program (SLP) to host a True Colors workshop, focusing on finding one’s “true color” and corresponding communication style. We were there to witness firsthand how such an event functions.
ACS goers learn about each other at Prairie Fire.
We self-assessed, scribbled numbers furiously on a piece of paper, tallied up the results and separated into one of four groups: blue, green, gold and orange. Each color told us something about ourselves; are we thinkers or feelers? Do we prefer structure or spontaneity? We tried as best we could to capture our personalities on paper by covering giant sheets of white paper with representative doodles.
This interactive, more hands-on workshop reminded us that healthy dialogue between people doesn’t just involve an understanding of various cultures and global themes, but a more basic ability to recognize distinct communication styles and personalities. If we learn to talk to each other, we can open up the floor to bigger, more conceptual dialogues that can positively impact the world around us. The message to take home from ACS was that though we come from different backgrounds, we are all human.
“We are trying to create a better understanding of each other, of people from diverse backgrounds,” Yasmin said. “We’re trying to form better, more harmonious relationships among diverse groups of people.”
