Why is it important to study culture? Because culture influences everything we think, say, and do. With this in mind, it is important for Airmen to study culture because of the diverse missions requiring interaction with people from different cultures at home and abroad. In order to improve interactions with counterparts, Airmen must become more aware of how culture affects those interactions. This course teaches students how to improve mission success by identifying a culture’s effects, being able to see a situation from different perspectives, and predicting the consequences of cross-cultural interactions. Moreover, the ITC course equips students with tools to improve their skills of observation and their ability to orient to new or changing situations.
This course is specifically designed as an interdisciplinary social science course, grounded in anthropology, cross-cultural communication, social and cognitive psychology, political science, and cultural geography. By combining knowledge and approaches from these extensive academic fields, ITC provides a unique experience that is both academic and practical. AFCLC’s goal is to offer the key insights most relevant to Airmen and demonstrate how to apply them in cross-cultural interactions.
This is a distance learning course. It is worth three semester hours of credit through the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF). It is currently only available to enlisted members of the US Armed Forces (Active Duty, National Guard, and Reserve).