Minoritized multiculturals and the development of intercultural competence

In this chapter, we center the experiences of multicultural individuals who hold minority statuses in their home country and in the global community. We do so by reviewing research on intercultural competence for multicultural individuals and racial/ethnic minorities, presenting new findings from three studies on minoritized multicultural individuals, and proposing the Intercultural Competence Developmental Model for Multiculturals (ICDM4M). We propose that minoritized multiculturals engage in an expedited process of intercultural competence development with both a different starting point and end stage from their monocultural peers. The stages of the ICDM4M include limited awareness (cluelessness), motivated awakening (curiosity), respectful acceptance (consideration), conscious adaptation (competence), and critical accountability (cultural humility). We end by suggesting future research directions regarding intercultural competence development, intercultural competence assessment, cross-cultural training, and racial, ethnic, and multicultural identity development for minoritized multiculturals.