VOLUME 9 ISSUE 2

The International Journal of

Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies __________________________________________________________________________

A Cross-Cultural Intentional Community in Rural Panama The Validation of Testing Measures THOMAS A. BUDD

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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY CULTURAL STUDIES thesocialsciences.com First published in 2015 in Champaign, Illinois, USA by Common Ground Publishing LLC www.commongroundpublishing.com ISSN: 2327-008X © 2015 (individual papers), the author(s) © 2015 (selection and editorial matter) Common Ground All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the applicable copyright legislation, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact [email protected]. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies is peer-reviewed, supported by rigorous processes of criterionreferenced article ranking and qualitative commentary, ensuring that only intellectual work of the greatest substance and highest significance is published.

A Cross-Cultural Intentional Community in Rural Panama: The Validation of Testing Measures Thomas A. Budd, Sofia University, USA Abstract: The researcher conducted an exploratory pilot study to validate testing measures and answer three questions: 1) What are the motivations of the majority U.S. participants to join a cross-cultural intentional community in rural Panama? 2) How do the motivations of the short term residents change over acculturation? 3) How does acculturation relate with cultural orientation? The study included interviews and a specifically designed survey to assess the acculturation, cultural orientation, and motivations of the short term residency interns and long term residency directors. The survey was administered online and by hand, once during the first and last halves of a 12-week summer residency intern program. Primary, secondary, and tertiary motivations of participants were found with a main theme of transformative education and experiential learning. The intrinsic motivations of the interns changed with agency and varied with the extrinsic motivations of the directors. The horizontal collectivism (interdependence) subscale of cultural orientation had a strong positive and significant relationship with acculturation for the overall directors; as well with the cultural identity subscale of acculturation for the overall participants. Implications of this study offer further interest into the transformative education and experiential learning opportunities of cross-cultural intentional communities, and the requisites for optimizing study abroad programming. Keywords: Cross-Cultural, Community

Introduction

A

s the world grows more interrelated there is the need to establish communities with intentions that enable the growth of individual and collective values through the shared experience of participation. Meijering, Huigen, and Van Hoven (2007) explained that “intentional communities can be identified by a deliberate attempt to realize a common, alternative way of life outside mainstream society” (p. 42). The participation of intentional communities in the major society, as well as the cooperation of individuals in an intentional community, impacts both individual and collective interests. The purpose of this study is to validate testing measures and answer three (3) research questions: 1) What are the motivations of participants to join a cross-cultural intentional community? 2) How do motivations change over acculturation? 3) How does acculturation relate with cultural orientation? The measures implemented were not originally constructed for such population, and therefore were validated in the process of the study.

Literature Review The evolution of human relationships has redefined the standards for communal living with the expansion of spatial and temporal interconnections (Prezza, Amici, Roberti, & Tedeschi 2001; Aston-Lebold 2011). Gusfield (1975) defined two types of community as territorial and relational, where either the geographical proximity of a people or the quality of interpersonal relationships may denote a community. The quality and degree of interpersonal relationship may vary according to context, where Rogoff (2003) insured that “for present purposes, communities can be defined as groups of people who have some common and continuing organization, values, understanding, history, and practices” (p. 80). Community is not simply a byproduct of one’s self involvement in pursuit of a goal, but integration to a dynamic that flourishes with the contributions of those who participate in it. The extensive literature on community supports the benefits of maintaining strong interpersonal relationships (Forster 2004; Hill 1996; Jason & Kobayashi 1995; McMillian & Chavis 1986; Miller 1986; Peterson, Speer, & Hughey 2006; Reich 2010). Sarason (1974) refers The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies Volume 9, 2015, www.thesocialsciences.com, ISSN 2327-008X © Common Ground, Thomas A. Budd, All Rights Reserved Permissions: [email protected]

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to the benefit of community as “the sense that one [is] part of a readily available, mutually supportive network of relationships upon which one [can] depend and as a result of which one [does] not experience sustained loneliness” (p. 1). The well-being of community members is promoted through their social network, as well as buffered against distress during experiences of migration through maintaining a native language (Yagmur & Vijver 2011) and acculturating to a new ethnic group (Nieri, Lee, Kulis, & Marsiglia 2011; Maydell-Stevens, Masgoret, & Ward 2007; Phinney, Horenczyk, Liebkind, & Vedder 2001).

Acculturation Acculturation is defined by Gordon (1964) as “the adoption by a person or group of the culture of another social group. Or, the process leading to this adoption” (pp. 65-66). According to Phinney, Horenczyk, Liebkind, and Vedder (2001) there are four strategies that are encompassed in the acculturation process: integration, separation, assimilation, and marginalization. Individuals who identify with a new society, while retaining a strong ethnic identity are defined as integrated (or bicultural). Those who do not identify with a new society, but keep their ethnic identity have a separated identity. If an individual relinquishes their ethnic identity for the identity of the new culture, they are seen as having an assimilated identity, while those who identify with neither have a marginalized identity (pp. 495-496). The acculturation of individuals offers an opportunity for awareness and the need for social change by way of the differing ethnic identities of participants. Schensul (2009) recognizes social change as a means of individual agency on the local level, whereby “situated problem solving both produces and is the result of tacit (informal or situated) knowledge, which when shared and articulated becomes explicit and incorporated into a community’s cultural repertoire” (p. 247).

Cultural Orientation Tsai and Dutton (2002) defined cultural orientation as “the degree to which individuals are influenced by and actively engage in the traditions, norms, and practices of a specific culture” (p. 95). Cultural orientation can be broken down into individualism and collectivism. Hofstede (2011) described in individualistic cultures “ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family” (p. 11). In collectivistic cultures “people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) that continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty, and oppose other in-groups” (p. 11). Triandis and Gelfand (1998) argued that the individualism-collectivism construct is not to be construed as dichotomous; rather, a person could be independently high or low, or high and low.

Present Study: A Summary of Goals and Expectations The study has taken place during the course of a summer intern program with the Kalu Yala Organization, located in the region of Panama City, Panama from May - August 2014. The location of Kalu Yala spans between three geographic sites, where each operates as a distinct intern program cooperative. The three sites are reserved to: Panama City and the business and architecture programs; San Miguel and the education, community outreach, and health and wellness programs; and the Tres Brazos Valley (the valley) and the agriculture, biology, outdoor recreation, and farm to table culinary arts programs. The sites range in social environments from urban in Panama City, to a 200-300 person rural town in San Miguel, and a remote secondary jungle in the valley. The researcher participated in the education program located in San Miguel, and offered the preliminary findings of the study as an intervention for the organization. Schensul (2009) posits that “perhaps the best way of learning about shared understandings is to engage in various forms of participatory formative research that transform tacit knowledge of community

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cultural capital into explicit knowledge which can be used by participants as, or working with, interventionists to transform systems” (p. 246). More so, the concern for the maintenance of cultural integrity in the local community, and how the Kalu Yala Organization acculturated into the current system was of particular interest. According to the Kalu Yala website “Kalu Yala is a community united by common interests, tied to a place, and served by locally owned businesses”. According to the director of the Kalu Yala internship program, the main goal of the program is to offer opportunity to pursue one’s passions through experiential learning and transformative education, which “could eventually impact the town of Kalu Yala. We are creating the community before the community, a culture that will last forever” (Stewart 2012). The role of history is cautioned with how the expansion or diminishment of cultural traditions and communal establishments are conducted though publically accepted means for those accepted ends (Schensul 2009).

Methods This study used a mixed methods approach which included: interviews; a specifically designed survey; and an ethnographic inquiry to collect observations as a means of assessing demographics, acculturation, cultural orientation, and motivation.

Participants The participants were selected through convenient sampling, where all interns and directors were asked if they would like to participate in the study. The participants completed an informed consent and demographics questionnaire. Initially (N= 57) participants submitted the first survey, however, 6 surveys were dropped due to an incongruence in the test-retest responses. The final (N=51) sample offered an attrition rate of 10.5%. Initially there were (N=44) interns and (N=13) directors. Subsequently there were (N=38) interns and (N=13) directors. Initially there were (n=26) Valley interns, (n=6) Valley directors, (n=7) City interns, (n=4) City directors, (n=11) San Miguel interns, and (n=3) San Miguel directors. Subsequently, there were (n=21) Valley interns, (n=6) Valley directors, (n=6) City interns, (n=4) City directors, (n=11) San Miguel interns, and (n=3) San Miguel directors. Overall, there were (n=32) female and (n=19) male participants who completed the study. All interns were either currently enrolled, or recently graduated from an institution of higher education, while all but one director had completed a bachelor’s degree education. The valley participants had (n=11) female interns and (n=1) female director, while the San Miguel participants had (n=11) female interns and (n=3) female directors. The Panama City participants had (n=3) female interns and (n=3) female directors.

Measures Acculturation Scale: Cultural Identification, Language, Cultural Knowledge, and Food Consumption The items for the acculturation scale were selected from Chung, Kim, and Abreu’s (2004) adapted Asian American Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AAMAS). The AAMAS is comprised of three scales on a (15) item likert scale from 1 (Not very much) to 6 (Very much), and consists of: Culture of Origin (AAMAS-CO), Asian American (AAMAS-AA), and European American (AAMAS-EA). The scales contain four factors of: cultural identity, language, cultural knowledge, and food consumption. An example of items from the cultural identity factor is: “How much do you interact and associate with people from”. An example of items from the language factor is: “How well do you speak the language of`”. An example of the cultural

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knowledge factor is: “How knowledgeable are you about the culture and traditions of`”. An example food consumption factor is: “How often do you actually eat the food”. The three scales were found to be both valid and reliable in the measurement of acculturation, however the AAMAS-CO was found to be most reliable. The internal reliability of the three scales ranged as follows: AAMAS-CO (α = .87-.91), AAMAS-AA (α = .78-.83), and AAMAS-EA (α = .76-.83). A modified version of the AAMAS-CO has been used for the current study on the majority United States acculturation into Panama. An example of the modified AAMAS-CO for the (4) factors are: “How much do you interact and associate with the local people?”, “How well do you speak the language of the local people?”, “How knowledgeable are you about the culture and traditions of the local people?”, and How often do you actually eat the local food?” The items were scored for acculturation so that higher scores reflected a higher dispositional tendency.

Cultural Orientation Scales: Collectivism and Individualism The items for the Cultural Orientation Collectivism and Individualism scales were selected from Triandis and Gelfand’s (1998) modified version of Singelis, Triandis, Bhawuk, and Gelfand’s (1995) Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions of Individualism and Collectivism scale. Singelis et al.’s (1995) scale included (32) items with (8) each of: Horizontal Individualism (HC) (α = .67), Vertical Individualism (VI) (α = .74), Horizontal Collectivism (HC) (α = .74), and Vertical Collectivism (VC) (α = .68). The Cultural Orientation Scale used in the present study selected 4items with the highest ranking reliabilities from each of the HI subscale, VI subscale, HC subscale, and VC subscale. An example of the items used for the HI subscale is: “I’d rather depend on myself than others”. An example of the items for the VI subscale is: ``It is important that I do my job better than others”. An example of the items for the HC subscale is: “If a coworker gets a prize, I would feel proud”. An example for the VC subscale is: “It is important to me that I respect the decisions made by my groups”. The response scale ranged from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). The items were scored for individualism and collectivism so that higher scores reflect higher dispositional tendencies. Singelis et al. (1995) elaborated that HC is likened to interdependence and to value equality but not freedom (i.e. Israeli Kibbutz). HI is likened to self-reliance and to value both equality and freedom (i.e. social democracy, such as Australia, Sweden, and Norway). VC is likened to family integrity (authoritarianism) and to neither value equality nor freedom (i.e. fascism or communism). VI is likened to competition and to value freedom but not equality (i.e. competitive capitalism and market economies, such as United States). Kemmelmeier, Burnstein, Krumov, Genkova, Kanagawa, Hirshberg, Erb, Wieczorkowska, and Noels (2003) remark that vertical collectivism has a consistent relationship with authoritarianism, whereas horizontal collectivism does not. Further, vertical individualism is related to authoritarianism in both the United States and New Zealand, while horizontal individualism is unrelated.

Survey The (N=44) interns were requested to complete the online survey once in the first and last three weeks of the program, in relation to their acculturation and cultural orientation as per their experience in the cross-cultural intentional community of Kalu Yala. The (N=13) directors were requested to complete the online survey once during the fifth week of the program.

Interviews Two (n=2) interns and two (n=2) directors, one each from the valley and San Miguel sites, were interviewed with a semi-structure. The interns were interviewed once at the beginning and once at the end of the internship program, while the directors were interviewed once mid-way through,

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in regard to their motivations and experiences with the program at Kalu Yala. Examples of the initial intern interview questions are: “What influenced you to participate in this program? How do you feel your goals will fit in with the future of this program?” Examples of the closing intern interview questions are: “How did you accomplish what you came here to do?” and “How do you feel your goals will influence your future upon returning home?” Examples of the director interview questions are: “How do you feel you have accomplished your goals up to this point?’ and “What type of support do you offer your interns?”

Results

Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1

Collectivism Individualism

3.22 (1.78)

4.16 (1.43)

3.45 (1.66) 3.28 (1.31)

Single Trial

Cultural Orientation

Acculturation

Table 1: Overall Mean Scores and Standard Deviations* Interns Directors

3.29 (1.15)

3.26 (1.31) 3.71 (1.16)

3.89 (1.03)

3.62 (1.08)

Table 2: Overall Subscale* Mean Scores and Standard Deviations** Interns Directors Acculturation CI Lang. CK FC CI Lang. CK FC 4.28 2.32 1.93 3.82 (1.59) 1.42) (1.05) (1.64) 5.0 3.54 3.21 4.31 4.32 (1.25) (1.24) (1.06) (1.32) 4.31 2.63 2.24 (1.66) (1.42) (1.36) (1.16)

HI

VI

HC

VC

T1

3.88 (.996)

2.67 (1.31)

4.04 (1.03)

3.38 (1.18)

T2

Individualism

Cultural Orientation Collectivism Individualism

3.95 (1.03)

2.56 (1.19)

4.01 (.939)

3.23 (1.08)

Collectivism

HI

VI

HC

VC

3.94 (.873)

2.64 (1.01)

4.40 (.846)

3.39 (.953)

Single Trial

T2

T1

*Standard deviation is included in ().

*CI= Cultural Identification, Lang. = Language, CK= Cultural Knowledge, FC= Food Consumption, HI=Horizontal Individualism, VI=Vertical Individualism, HC=Horizontal Collectivism, HI=Horizontal Individualism **Standard deviation is included in ().

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Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1

Collectivism Individualism

3.03 (1.79)

4.13 (1.47)

3.20 (1.71) 3.24 (1.32)

Single Trial

Cultural Orientation

Acculturation

Table 3: The Valley Mean Scores and Standard Deviation* Interns Directors

3.06 (1.17)

3.29 (1.35) 3.58 (1.22)

3.96 (.967)

3.61 (1.06) *Standard deviation is included in ().

T1

2.01 (1.22)

1.65 (.806)

4.12 (1.57)

2.23 (1.18)

1.87 (.992)

5.08 (1.20)

3.50 (1.47)

HI

VI

HC

VC

T1

4.19 (1.44) Cultural Orientation Collectivism Individualism

3.85 (1.02)

2.64 (1.31)

3.96 (1.10)

3.20 (1.21)

T2

Individualism

3.63 (1.49)

4.02 (1.02)

2.55 (1.24)

3.96 (.999)

3.26 (1.01)

3.06 (.936)

4.17 (1.12)

Collectivism

HI

VI

HC

VC

3.71 (.955)

2.42 (1.02)

4.33 (.963)

3.58 (.830)

Single Trial

4.19 (1.71)

T2

CI

Table 4: The Valley Subscale* Mean Scores and Standard Deviations** Interns Directors Acculturation Lang. CK FC CI Lang. CK FC

*CI= Cultural Identification, Lang. = Language, CK= Cultural Knowledge, FC= Food Consumption, HI=Horizontal Individualism, VI=Vertical Individualism, HC=Horizontal Collectivism, HI=Horizontal Individualism **Standard deviation is included in ().

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Acculturation Collectivism Individualism

Cultural Orientation

3.72 (1.63)

4.07 (1.45)

3.40 (1.37) 3.40 (1.25)

Single Trial

Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1

Table 5: Panama City Mean Scores and Standard Deviation* Interns Directors

3.72 (1.09)

3.22 (1.19) 3.69 (1.06)

3.94 (1.01)

3.48 (.967) *Standard deviation is included in ().

T1

3.13 (1.57)

2.78 (1.17)

4.08 (1.32)

3.08 (1.38)

2.61 (1.09)

4.88 (1.42)

3.56 (1.09)

HI

VI

HC

VC

T1

3.17 (1.03) Cultural Orientation Collectivism Individualism

3.88 (1.08)

2.92 (1.25)

4.13 (.797)

3.25 (1.11)

T2

Individualism

3.58 (1.68)

3.79 (.884)

2.65 (1.20)

3.71 (.859)

3.25 (1.03)

3.08 (.996)

4.13 (1.55)

Collectivism

HI

VI

HC

VC

4.25 (.856)

3.19 (1.02)

4.44 (.814)

3.44 (.964)

Single Trial

4.64 (1.42)

T2

Table 6: Panama City Subscale Mean Scores* and Standard Deviations** Interns Directors Acculturation CI Lang. CK FC CI Lang. CK FC

*CI= Cultural Identification, Lang. = Language, CK= Cultural Knowledge, FC= Food Consumption, HI=Horizontal Individualism, VI=Vertical Individualism, HC=Horizontal Collectivism, HI=Horizontal Individualism **Standard deviation is included in ().

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Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1

Collectivism Individualism

3.33 (1.77)

4.33 (1.33)

3.99 (1.56) 3.27 (1.33)

Single Trial

Cultural Orientation

Acculturation

Table 7: San Miguel Mean Scores and Standard Deviations* Interns Directors

3.17 (1.05)

3.22 (1.31) 3.96 (1.05)

3.71 (1.20)

3.71 (1.18)

Table 8: San Miguel Subscale Mean Scores* and Standard Deviations** Interns Directors Acculturation CI Lang. CK FC CI Lang. CK FC 4.24 2.46 2.00 4.32 (1.44) 1.52) (1.15) (1.86) 5.00 3.58 3.66 4.83 (1.14) (.996) (1.32) (1.47) 4.80 3.14 2.73 5.18 (1.08) (1.55) (1.36) (1.62)

HI

VI

HC

VC

T1

3.95 (.914)

2.59 (1.34)

4.14 (1.00)

3.77 (1.08)

T2

Individualism

Cultural Orientation Collectivism Individualism

3.89 (1.15)

2.55 (1.25)

4.25 (1.04)

3.16 (1.27)

Collectivism

HI

VI

HC

VC

4.00 (.603)

2.33 (.651)

4.50 (.674)

2.92 (1.08)

Single Trial

T2

T1

*Standard deviation is included in ().

*CI= Cultural Identification, Lang. = Language, CK= Cultural Knowledge, FC= Food Consumption, HI=Horizontal Individualism, VI=Vertical Individualism, HC=Horizontal Collectivism, HI=Horizontal Individualism **Standard deviation is included in ().

Qualitative Analysis A list of themes is provided relating to the motivations of the long and short term participants:

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Directors (n=2) Overall Themes:           

Experiential learning/transformative education Growth opportunities Interests/passions Cultural integration Communal influences Agency Socio-cultural relationships Lifestyle choices Sense of community Environmental sustainability Interdependence

Interns (n=2) Initial Themes:      

Growth opportunities Agency Authoritarian responsiveness Interests/passions Educational validation Outside support

Final Themes:                   

Environmental/cultural awareness Self-determination Growth oriented environment International awareness National awareness Cultural validation Soul searching Interdependence Independence Transformation Program maintenance Interests/passions Commonality Acceptance Optimism Gratitude Future application Ideological pursuits Language proficiency

Findings Internal Reliability The Cronbach alpha (α) for the scenario specific version of the Asian American Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AAMAS-CO) was (α= 0.881) with subscale internal reliabilities for cultural identity, language, cultural knowledge, and food consumption as (α= 0.60), (α= 0.890), (α= 0.817), and (α= 0.738) respectively. The Cronbach alpha for the subscales of the cultural orientation scale was: horizontal individualism (α=0.748), vertical individualism (α= 0.635), horizontal collectivism (α= 0.654), and vertical individualism (α= 0.705). The reliability coefficients ranged between 0.60 and 0.89 with a median reliability of 0.74 overall participants, generally within the range found for self-report instruments (Miller, Mcintire, & Lovler 2011).

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Survey Overall, the interns’ mean score range of change for acculturation and its subscales increased between (M=0.03) and (M=0.50). The mean score range of change for individualism and the VI subscale decreased by (M=0.02) and (M=0.09) respectively, while the HI subscale increased by (M=0.07). The mean score range of change for collectivism and its subscales decreased between (M=0.03) and (M=0.15) (see tables 1 and 2). The valley interns’ mean score range of change for acculturation and the Lang., CK, and FC subscales increased between (M=0.17) and (M=0.56), while the CI subscale decreased by (M=0.07). The mean score change for individualism and the HI subscale increased by (M=0.05) and (M=0.17) respectively, while the range of change for the VI subscale decreased by (M=0.09). The mean score range of change for collectivism and the VC subscale increased by (M=0.03) and (M=0.06) respectively, while the HC subscale did not change. The valley interns’ mean scores changed the most in the HI subscale (+0.17) compared with the other intern sites. The valley directors scored the highest in the CI (M=5.08) subscale, along with collectivism (M=3.96) and the VC (M=3.58) subscale. They scored the lowest in individualism (M=3.06), and the HI (M=3.71), HC (M=4.33), Lang. (M=3.50), and CK (M=3.06) subscales compared with the other directors (see tables 3 and 4). The Panama City interns’ mean score range of change for acculturation and its subscales decreased between (M=0.05) and (M=0.56). The mean score range of change for individualism and its subscales decreased between (M=0.09) and (M=0.27), while the range of change for collectivism and the HC subscale decreased by (M=0.21) and (M=0.42) respectively. The mean score of the VC subscale did not change. The Panama City interns’ mean scores changed the most in the CI (-0.56) subscale, individualism (-0.18), and the VI (-0.27) and HC (-0.42) subscales. The Panama City directors scored the highest in individualism (M=3.71) and the HI (M=4.25) and VI (M=3.19) subscales while the lowest in acculturation (M=4.07) and the CI (M=4.88) and FC (M=4.13) subscales compared with the other directors (see tables 5 and 6). The San Miguel interns’ mean score range of change for acculturation and its subscales increased between (M=0.56) and (M=0.86). The mean score range of change for individualism and its subscales decreased between (M=0.04) and (M=0.06), while the mean score range of change for collectivism and the VC subscale decreased by (M=0.25) and (M=0.61) respectively. The mean score change for the HC subscale increased by (M=0.11). The San Miguel interns’ mean scores changed the most in acculturation (+0.66), collectivism (-0.25), and the CI (+0.56), Lang. (+0.68), CK (+0.73), FC (+0.86), and VC (-0.61) subscales. The San Miguel directors scored the highest in the acculturation (M=4.33), the Lang. (M=3.58), CK (M=3.66), FC (M=4.83), and HC (M=4.50) subscales, while the lowest in collectivism (M=3.71) and the VI (M=2.33) and VC (M=2.92) subscales compared with the other directors (see tables 7 and 8). One of the main interests of the study was to determine how does acculturation relate with cultural orientation? The San Miguel site was the only site analyzed due to it having the largest positive change (+0.66) in acculturation for the interns and the highest final mean score (M=3.99), as well as the highest director mean score (M=4.33). Correlations were computed separately for the overall directors and interns, as well as the directors and interns from the San Miguel site. Given the large number of correlations, the Bonferroni p = 0.009 was used for testing the significance of correlation coefficients, giving an overall type 1 error probability of .10 for each set of 11 correlations for acculturation and cultural orientation. These results are summarized as follows:

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1.) 2.)

3.) 4.) 5.) 6.)

The relationship between acculturation and HC for the overall directors (r=0.729, p=0.003) was found to be strongly positive and significant. The relationship between HC and cultural identity on the initial survey for the overall interns (r=0.500, p=0.001) was found to be moderately positive and significant. The relationship between HI and cultural identity for the San Miguel directors (r=1.00, p=0.000) was found to be strongly positive and significant. The relationship between HI and cultural knowledge for the San Miguel directors (r=0.997, p=0.003) was found to be strongly positive and significant. The relationship between VI and food consumption for the San Miguel directors (r=-1.00, p=0.000) was found to be strongly negative and significant. The relationship between HI and food consumption on the initial survey for the San Miguel interns (r=0.771, p=0.003) was found to be strongly positive and significant.

Interview One of the primary interests of the study was to define the motivations of participants to join a cross-cultural intentional community, and how do they change over acculturation? The researcher found through the interview process with the (n=2) long term residency directors and (n=2) short term residency interns, each from the valley and San Miguel sites , a categorization of themes that arose according to their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The motivations of the directors and interns were organized according to an ordinal relevance of interests. Primary motivations refer to participant, while secondary and tertiary motivations refer to how the participant sought to apply those intentions through the Kalu Yala and Panamanian communities. The orientation of the directors was described as more extrinsically motivated, whereas the interns described more intrinsically motivated intentions. Intrinsic motivations can be likened to what one may wish to practice, and extrinsic motivations as what one may wish to accomplish. The motivations of the directors are listed below: Primary Motivations:  Participating in experiential learning/transformative education  Integral growth opportunities (i.e. professional, socio-cultural-emotional, spiritual)  Pursuing interests/passions Secondary Motivations:  Developing interdependence in communal setting  Expanding upon past communal initiatives  Supporting the wellbeing and growth of interns Tertiary Motivations:  Integration of communal culture with mainstream  Creating sustainable communal relationships with environment and people  Promoting education and awareness of communal values in mainstream  The changes in motivations of the interns are listed below: Primary motivations:  Self-transformation (i.e. cognitive, emotional, spiritual)  Humbling of ideologies (i.e. educational and philosophical worldviews)  Re-structuring of national identity and suspense of preconceptions

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Secondary motivations:  Independent/interdependent communal initiatives  Agency of growth  Long term communal practices Tertiary motivations:  Cultural/environmental integration and conservation  Re-scripting cross cultural stigmas and stereotypes  Socio-political educational applications The changes found in the self-reports of the intern motivations was found to relate with the agency and autonomy of the participants to pursue more intrinsically driven applications of their educational and personal interests. The lack of hegemonic and authoritarian reference may denote a change in the manifestation of educational experiences into more practical and real time praxis. The change in world view may come much to the direct initiative of the interns to encounter situations and challenges with more self-reliance and interdependence, as related with the horizontal individualism and horizontal collectivism descriptors in the survey. More so, the long term application of the phronetic experiences may be inclined through the dynamic engagement of participants and theoretical pragmatism.

Discussion Overall the interns became more acculturated, while finding increased self-reliance and decreased competitiveness, interdependence, and authoritarianism. However, the overall scores were the combination of three distinct cultural sites, where the Tres Brazos Valley, Panama City and San Miguel sites offered varying opportunities to engage in the day to day activities of the Panamanian people. As well, the directors of these sites promoted the experiential learning opportunities of the interns across differing programs, where the mean scores of the directors could be see to have some influence in the change of mean scores with their interns. The Tres Brazos Valley directors scored the least in individualism yet guided the interns who became the highest in that cultural orientation. The directors scored the least in language and cultural knowledge which also became the same for the interns in their final trial. The directors scored the least in self-reliance yet guided the interns who scored the highest in that subscale. As well, the directors scored the highest in authoritarianism while guiding the interns who scored the highest also, when compared with the other intern sites. The Panama City directors scored the highest in individualism; however they guided the interns that had the greatest decrease in change for individualism, along with the lowest final score compared with the other intern sites. The directors had the lowest scores in the cultural identity and food consumption subscales, which also became the same for the city interns. The directors scored the highest in self-reliance and competitiveness which became the same for the competitiveness of the interns; however they became the lowest in self-reliance. The San Miguel directors scored the highest on acculturation and ultimately guided the interns who changed the most in acculturation and scored the highest. The directors had the lowest collectivism score, while the interns had the greatest decrease in change in collectivism. The directors had the highest scores in the language, cultural knowledge, and food consumption subscales, which also became the highest mean scores for the interns in the second trial. The directors scored the least in competitiveness and authoritarianism, which also became the final mean scores for the San Miguel interns. The directors also scored the highest in interdependence, which became the same for the interns in the second trial, compared with the other intern sites. A strong relationship was found to exist between self-reliance and cultural identity, and selfreliance and cultural knowledge in the directors; as well as competition and food consumption. A

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strong relationship was also found between self-reliance and food consumption on the initial survey for the San Miguel interns. Perhaps self-reliance is crucial in the pursuit of opposing or diverse cultural norms, while competition is a necessary extrinsic motivation for managerial roles in the experience of those norms. The acculturation and cultural orientation of the interns and directors may be influenced by the locations of experiential learning, as well as the dispositions of the authority figures. The flexibility in power dynamics, and support in praxis, could be seen to have a large impact in how the interns engaged in the new culture and challenged their expectations. The Panama City and San Miguel sites offered the most opportunity to engage with the Panamanian people, yet the Panama City site offered the most resources of all the sites. The readily available fulfillment of resources found in the city may not have offered much need for the interns to engage with the non-Western people. As well, program interests of the site, which catered toward the business and architecture interns, may not have included as much opportunity for the interns to step outside of their comfort zones as foreigners. A disconnect in the daily routines of the Panamanian people and the Panama City interns and directors could play a part in their lack of acculturation. The San Miguel site was the nearest town to the valley site, yet included the majority of the Panamanian people between the two sites. The education, community outreach, and health and wellness programs all involved continuous engagement with the towns people by teaching in the school, interacting with local officials and doctors, or holding after school and community programs. The daily immersion in the lifestyle of the San Miguel people may have offered a constant application of cultural diversity which inspired the changes in acculturation for the interns, along with the highly acculturated directors who guided them. The dispositions of the directors to be more encouraging of interdependence and minimize authoritarianism may have influenced the change in the subscale scores of the interns, while offering the most opportunity to pursue the passions and interests that the interns desired to experience. The valley site was the most remote of all the sites, requiring a 2-3 mile hike through a mountain range on an unpaved road to access the rural valley location. There was a hand full of neighbors in the area to interact with, which may have influenced the minimal acculturation scores of the interns. The dispositions of the directors may have also inspired the change in the authoritarianism of the interns, where the power exchange of the directors could be likened to have influenced that of the interns. The agriculture, biology, outdoor recreation, and farm to table culinary arts programs may have offered less structure to explore what was most fulfilling in the interns’ experiential desires, yet due to a lack of mutual intention the experiences were more selffulfilling then communally. The priorities of the interns are considered according to how the interns applied their core interests, and how the manifestation of their core interests changed over the duration of their experience. The focus of their intentions was delineated through their self-construal, socioexpressive relationships, and cultural/ecological involvement. The intrinsic motivations of the interns was structured with an extrinsic motivation from the directors, however these motivations could also be speculated to have variance according to the sites and programs of involvement. The balance between structured social support and distribution of resources may be a key factor in how interns pursued their intentions, where without substantial external fulfillment of needs from the directors, the internal fulfillment of the interns could not be met. Given the program initiatives of the sites, the sites that offered the most praxis opportunities and phronesis of intern intentions may have enabled more sustainable outlets for those intrinsic motivations.

Limitations and Implications Future research will include a larger sample size for the quantitative measurement of participants, and more qualitative measurement sampling. A longer duration for test-retest procedures as a means of accessing change in the sample, possibly through repeated measures testing. As well,

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the researcher may best minimize their research involvement in personal relationships throughout the duration of the study, therefore minimizing attribution biases. The implications of this study provide valuable resource into the requirements for experiencing transformative and experiential study abroad opportunities through standard educational institutions, as well as the impact of participating in cross-cultural intentional communities. The intentionality of both interns and directors offers much consideration into the constitutionality of such community and organizational environments, and how public policy is transformative in acculturation.

Conclusion In conclusion, the validation of the Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AAMAS-CO) was found to be very reliable (α= 0.881), with subscale reliabilities ranging from (α= 0.60)-(α= 0.890). The subscale reliabilities for the Cultural Orientation scale were found to be moderately reliable, ranging from (α= 0.635)-(α= 0.748). The long and short term participants of Kalu Yala demonstrated notable differences and changes between the various sites of Panama City, San Miguel, and the Tres Brazos valley. The change and difference in the mean scores of the interns may be attributed to the guidance of the directors who shared similar differences in mean scores across the sites. Particularly, the Panama City directors and interns scored the highest on the vertical individualism subscale, which was denoted as competition. The San Miguel directors and interns scored the highest on the acculturation scale; lowest on the vertical individualism subscale; the highest on the horizontal collectivism subscale, which was denoted as interpersonal relationships; and the lowest on the vertical collectivism subscale, which was referred with family integrity (authoritarianism). The Tres Brazos directors and interns scored the lowest on the language subscale of acculturation and the highest on the vertical collectivism subscale. The San Miguel interns had the most change in acculturation over all intern sites and had the largest decrease on the vertical collectivism subscale. They scored the highest on all the acculturation subscales, and had the largest increase in mean score change, for cultural identity, language, cultural knowledge, and food consumption. The interdependence attribute of cultural orientation was strongly related with the acculturation of the overall directors, and the cultural identity subcomponent of acculturation for the overall interns on the initial survey. The motivations of the directors and interns were interpreted according to having both intrinsic and extrinsic qualities. The power dynamic of participants appeared to change with how interns and directors related to their defined roles, where the extrinsic motivations of the directors structured how the interns could fulfill their intrinsic motivations. The intention of the interns and directors may have been toward the fulfillment of their interests; however the allocation of socioemotional and financial resources throughout the various sites determined how the experiential learning of the interns was met. More so, the transformative education of the interns was more determined by how they applied their intrinsic motivations through praxis in the social environment of the Panamanian culture, where they could more readily witness the affirmation or rejection of their expectations and assumptions; and experience diversity from an active and phronetic position. The dynamic relationship between the communal sites and the social and ecological environments could have offered ample means of fulfilling one’s intrinsic motivations for those who took the opportunity. The combination of the sites and supports found therein could be what was most impactful in how the interns fulfilled their intentions, and received the experiential learning and transformative education that they came for. Though experiential learning could be posited to occur in all sites, it is the transformative education that is modulated by the directors, and how they focus the intentions of the interns toward some collaborative outcome. The interns who were given the most opportunity to apply their motivations, very well may have experienced the most transformation in the duration with their program. The constitution of community and

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organizational paradigms may be further explored as to the most optimal means of offering transformative education within an experiential learning environment.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Thomas A. Budd: Ph.D. Student, Department of Transpersonal Psychology, Residential Program, Sofia University, Palo Alto, California, USA

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The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies is one of eight thematically focused journals in the collection of journals that support the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences knowledge community—its journals, book series, conference and online community. The journal explores and exemplifies disciplinary and interdisciplinary practices in the study of human cultures and cultural interactions. As well as papers of a traditional scholarly type, this journal invites case studies that take the form of presentations of practice—including documentation of socially-engaged practices and exegeses analyzing the effects of those practices. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal.

ISSN 2327-008X