Grand Narrative Analysis

Understanding Ethnocentrism Within a Grand Narrative

Communication between cultures can be challenging at times, but there are ways to improve these difficulties. Studying and understanding the grand narrative allows one to remove ethnocentrism when communicating interculturally. It is important to understand what the Grand narrative is, what ethnocentrism is and how they relate. Studying the Grand Narrative can reveal many things about cultural coherence, attitudes towards difference amongst cultures, and the formation of cultures.

The Grand Narrative is a story that is desirable to the group’s views of themselves, such as views on their culture. Commonly these views are ones that make a culture seem superior and perfect; this is where ethnocentrism

By studying the Grand Narrative we can understand how it strongly relates to cultural coherence. It reveals that a culture’s values and beliefs passed on through this form of coherence used to unify a culture can be seen as a narrative of its own. If an individual becomes coherent with a culture they will then identify with the narratives of this culture. One may become ethnocentric if they hold such a close coherence to their culture because they will believe everything taught to them within this culture is right. Studying and understanding the importance of cultural coherence in relation to the Grand Narrative can assist in understanding how to communicate interculturally without being ethnocentric. Furthermore, understanding how ethnocentrism can come about within a Grand Narrative allows for a better understanding of attitudes towards difference within a culture. A culture may be opposed to difference if the Grand Narratives of this culture highlight the good in their culture and the bad in other cultures. If they credit their values and beliefs as being superior and without flaws, they will not accept change and difference in their culture. If it can be understood how these narratives affect a culture’s attitudes