Values in conflict in cross-cultural architectural encounters
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| Author | David Week |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X20927145 |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Praxis |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X20927145
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2020, Vol. 20(2) 89 –94
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1035719X20927145
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Values in conflict in
cross-cultural architectural
encounters
David Week
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
In an international development assistance context, in which representatives of
higher income countries and global institutions meet with people of very different
cultures, values can conflict. My experience working on a Community Based Building
Program in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea in the 1980s introduced
me to the thinking styles, beliefs and values of another culture with traditions
very different from my own. Evaluators experience this conflict when they work
alongside members of another culture, while at the same time adhering to established
methods and values from their own culture or professional practice. To help with
this, evaluators can identify the benefits in local knowledge, and assist all parties to
build an awareness of both explicit and tacit values employed – including those of
the evaluators themselves – while in the process of undertaking an evaluation.
Keywords
architecture, evaluation, equality, Papua New Guinea, values
Context
In 1979, I moved to the Asian Development Bank funded Gavien Resettlement
Scheme in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG), to begin fieldwork
for a Master of Architecture degree at the University of California at Berkeley. I
ended up living in the East Sepik for seven years, founding and managing a social
enterprise start-up – the Community Based Building Program (CBBP) (Week &
Corresponding author:
David Week, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne,
VIC 3010, Australia.
Email: dew@assai.com.au
927145EVJ0010.1177/1035719X20927145Evaluation Journal of AustralasiaWeek
research-article2020
Praxis
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