Crossing cultural boundaries is coming to NIU in the form of a card game.

NIU’s International Programs and Human Resources departments are aiming to work with students and faculty to facilitate deeper understanding and lessen the disconnect that can occur between people of different cultural backgrounds.

Deborah Pierce, associate provost of international programs at NIU, said the game is a “simple card game” meant to simulate cross-cultural communication. Piece said that cultural misunderstandings are rooted in one’s cultural background and experiences.

“We all operate on the basis of expectations that our culture tells us we can have,” Pierce said. “Our cultures are a web of expectations that are so automatic we don’t even know they’re there.”

Rao Kilaparti, assistant professor of technology, was born in India and immigrated to the U.S. about 40 years ago. Kilaparti said becoming accustomed to American ways of life was sometimes a struggle.

“Even though I spoke English at the time, the pronunciation and understanding was more difficult,” Kilaparti said. “Part of the Western culture, when they say ‘hi’ and talk to strangers, it means nothing, not that much here. So, back home when you see a stranger they act as a stranger, but when they speak they mean it genuinely. Here, you can’t tell.”

Diana Sanderson, sophomore business marketing major and U.S. citizen, said she has experienced miscommunication between social groups from an array of cultural backgrounds. She said she has also seen students promote stereotypes at NIU.

“Especially the memes that just came out, a lot of them are racial,” Sanderson said. “I don’t really know a good environment where it’s all mixed and it’s not really a problem…I think overall this campus does have a lot of stereotypes and a lot of racial problems and I think more can be done.”

These stereotypes are the result of placing racial and cultural issues in the background at NIU, Kilaparti said.

“It’s on the wayside, I’d say. They’re not really promoting it,” Kilaparti said. “I don’t see any activities or anything about getting the cultures mixed or something. I don’t see events even though there are quite a bit of demographic cultural differences.”

Kilaparti said he fears keeping cultural issues in the closet may worsen already segregated student groups. He said different cultures offer positives which aren’t shared when people don’t associate with groups outside their own.

However, Pierce said miscommunication between different groups is not strictly an American problem.

“It’s completely global,” Pierce said. “It’s not just the syndrome of the goofy American, and it happens within different American cultures as well. Whenever two different cultures come in contact, this happens, and where they don’t match is cultural misunderstanding.”

Kilaparti said he sees these differences enacted by students of mixed ethnicities on a daily basis. Pierce said disconnects, such as those described by Kilaparti, can be of the simplest nature.

“For example, as a U.S. American university administrator, it’s very natural to extend a hand for a handshake to a stranger or non-relative,” Pierce said. “If that handshake is to an unrelated male from traditional Muslim social life, his expectation would be that I not extend my hand because we’re not related.”