BETWEEN CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND SHARED VALUES: INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ LEARNING THROUGH THE THEATRE PERFORMANCE OF MALIN KUNDANG

Abstract

International theatre projects provide opportunities for students to engage with cultural differences through collaborative and creative experiences. However, the presence of participants from diverse cultural backgrounds does not necessarily result in meaningful cross-cultural learning. This study explores how international students experience and deal with cultural differences while participating in collaborative theatre performances and how the staging of the Indonesian folktale Malin Kundang shapes their understanding of cultural differences and shared values. Using a basic qualitative inquiry approach, this study involved 17 students from Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam and India who participated in an international theatre project. Data was collected through open-ended written reflections and manually analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: (1) dealing with cultural and linguistic differences, (2) moving from anxiety to connection through adaptation, (3) interpreting culture through Malin Kundang, and (4) discovering shared values ​​across cultural differences. Findings indicate that cross-cultural learning develops through ongoing interaction, communication adaptation, affective and relational transitions and collective interpretation of narratives rooted in a particular culture. While participants acknowledged the cultural specificity of Malin Kundang, they also identified values ​​and emotions that could be associated with their respective cultural backgrounds. This study suggests that theatre can facilitate cross-cultural meaning-making by enabling students to identify similarities without eliminating cultural differences, thus creating space for cultural openness in international higher education.