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This qualitative study explores intercultural social dynamics among international Christian workers who are part of multicultural teams engaged in Christian ministries in a North African country. It seeks to understand these workers' lived realities at intersections of multiple cultural flows. Ethnographic methods were used to collect and analyze data, and forty-nine international Christian workers were interviewed.
The findings of this study indicate that intercultural Christian workers go through complex intercultural social processes interwoven in the fabric of their everyday life. These processes are mediated by their social experiences in the local North African context and their multicultural teams, resulting in significant changes in their personal dispositions and social behaviors. Based on these findings, a working concept of diasporic habitus is developed, and the practice of double discourses of culture is further examined.
This research suggests that some existing missiological concepts need to be revisited and recommends further interdisciplinary conversations involving cultural anthropology and sub-fields in psychology about the changes that happen to people in intercultural missions. It also calls for a reflexive approach to missiological research that incorporates awareness of one's situatedness and the lasting impact of historical entanglements on contemporary intercultural relations.
About the author
Peter T. Lee is a Senior Solution Architect at Microsoft, specializing in AI and data with over 25 years of IT experience spanning industries such as telecom, fintech, payments, retail, and pharmacy. Recently, his focus has been on delivering Generative AI projects, developing data extraction solutions for unstructured data, and spearheading AI initiatives in the financial, banking, insurance, and capital markets sectors. With deep expertise in cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, and GCP, Peter excels in designing scalable and resilient architectures while enabling organizations to adopt cutting-edge AI/ML and Generative AI technologies. Holding over 18 industry certifications, he embodies a strong commitment to continuous learning and innovation.
