10.6082/UCHICAGO.3308
Kunjan, Lena
In Limbo Between Cultures: A Qualitative Study of American and German Diplomats' Everyday Life and Confrontations with Foreign Cultures
University of Chicago
2021
Diplomats, Culture, Grounded Theory, Qualitative Interviews, Language, Community
2021-08-28T11:51:15.0-05:00
eng
Thesis
Considering diplomats to be caught in a permanent space between different cultures, the question asked in this paper is: How do diplomats create a stable life in limbo between cultures? This question aims to understand the practices and entities involved, which create structural conditionsthat allow the diplomat to function in the permanent space between different cultures. The empirical basis of this discussion is the analysis of 11 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with German and American diplomats, which will be analyzed using the Grounded Theory. The interviews allow for the discussion of the most dominantly present components of the diplomat’s everyday life in a permanent space between cultures. This will allow the discussion to advance to the analysis of different structural components, which allow diplomats to function in their life in limbo between different cultures. These components include: (1) knowledge of different languages and cultures,(2) access to community and (3) presence of life maxims.