Ascending Beyond the IDI Ladder: Toward Faith-sensitive, Place-based Intercultural Training

This short essay offers an epistemological and ontological critique of dominant psychometric approaches to intercultural education, especially the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Drawing on theoretical lineage (Milton J. Bennett; Arthur Himmelman) and the author’s training in sociocultural epidemiology and international education practice, the piece argues for pluralist, faith-sensitive, and host-centered assessment approaches. It proposes three framing moves — problematize measurement aims, adopt pluralist epistemologies, and practice reflexive governance — and invites practitioners to contribute anonymized vignettes for a pilot research agenda. The author intends to post companion practical pieces.