Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Öz

Taking
the reality of necessity for promoting the dialogue between cultures and
civilizations into consideration a growing body of literature has emphasized
the demand and the role of the intercultural sensitivity in our increasingly
globalized and mobile world. Study abroad programmes are expected to become
primary factor to promote interculturality. Although cultural travels are
significant drivers for combating cultural prejudice, it is still a subject of
debate whether student mobility has actually potential to cross boundaries and
engage in cross cultural interactions. When dealing with a foreign culture in
abroad the students, bringing their cultural memory with them, are supposed to
tolerate themselves and the others with whom they don’t share a common cultural
background. In this respect this study tries to reveal the role of Erasmus to
promote students intercultural sensitivity, students’ prejudices and their
tendency to move from ethnocentric to ethnorelative perspective, to cause
students make self analysis and make discussion on experiences about cultural
bias and handling cultural diversity and to display students’ expectations and
to what extent they get them. For the purpose of gaining information the
researcher has interviewed 20 Erasmus students. Offering interview questions by
way of email, the researcher intends to analyse how the students handle
cultural diversity, stereotypes and make self-analysis on their experience of
cultural threads.

Key
words: Intercultural
sensitivity, stereotype, Erasmus programme, cultural prejudice