Resiliency and Culture: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

In recent years, the topics of psychosocial resiliency and cultural competency have been on the forefronts of many academic disciplines and human-care services. This article explores the meaning, nature, and function of resiliency and provides an overview of its foundational role and integrative place in the fields of psychology, pedagogy, physiology, psychotherapy, spirituality, and community. All these explorations and discussions are presented from a sociocultural and interdisciplinary perspective. Most areas of learning and spheres of knowledge could further be advanced if they continue to incorporate cultural resiliency into their basic training approaches and ongoing skillful apprenticeships. This article emphasizes that the essence and manifestation of resiliency is rooted, not only in individual traits or abilities, but also in the capital resources already stored in the larger community - in its cultural wealth and generational wisdom. Resiliency is both an innate capacity, with various dispositions that is dormant within people and groups, and a skill that is gradually learned, intentionally established, and consistently built-up and developed. Then, it will be readily applied as a way-of-life, natural tendency, refined asset, and potential drive or passion for higher-functioning and livelihood, especially in time of adversity, misfortune, and calamity. This article encourages the practice of cross-cultural competence and cross-disciplinary growth. It promotes multi-academic learning and collaboration in order to foster a comprehensive resiliency-training and a dependable approach for survival-coping. Also, this article encourages an enduring social awareness, a continuous emotional empowerment, and a relational respect coupled with cultural humility.

Introduction: education, the environment and sustainability

“…As a result, every now and then our 'global village' gets rocked by scandals related to some national cultural characteristics, which have not only survived in the globalised world but have become even more salient. What is more, we are not talking about the traditional cultures of various indigenous peoples that have been preserved in some distant parts of the world, or have miraculously survived in the 'global' environment (Abi-Hashem, 2020). We are talking about the 'civilised' and industrialised countries.…”

Framing Indigenous Perspectives through Emic and Etic Approaches

“…Resiliency is the ability to recover after a major struggle, or a crisis. It involves the restoration of a prior state of wellbeing [46]. Several perspectives found in the literature deal with behaviors and attitudes linked with familial and culture-specific issues, cultural resiliency among native Americans in California in Tomales Bay, adversity and resiliency in native Hawaiian elders, the Makushi indigenous peoples in South America, and the Gullah people of South Carolina and Georgia [46][47][48][49][50][51].…”

“…However, there is a void in the literature about an emic-etic approach. Resiliency is a complex concept requiring a clear understanding that can be perceived or defined differently depending on the context, by groups, individuals, and agencies, and there is not a simple continuum [46].…”

Entrepreneurial Action: Redefining the Sense and Building Resilience as Coping Strategies for SMEs and Traditional Enterprises Facing the New Digital and Crises Environment

“…This involves "successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences" (VandenBos, 2015). More broadly, the resilience of individuals and groups is both an innate capacity and a learnedshared skill that can be turned into an asset (Abi-Hashem, 2020). Hence, it is dynamic capacity (Yates et al, 2015).…”