Communication Intercultural History
1950s-60s -needs -Edward Hall -focus -approach
History continued
1970-80s -needs -social scientist oriented scholars -focus -approach
History continued
1990s-present -needs -critical scholars -focus -approach
Intercultural concepts and theories
Individualistic culture/Collectivistic culture Anxiety-uncertainty management theory Conversational constraints theory Face negotiation theory Communication accommodation theory Diffusion of innovation theory
Arab and American communication
What are the core values of Arab culture and how do they differ from American core values? What is the function of story-telling in Arab culture? Why are poets highly respected in Arab culture?
Arab and American in conflict
What is the central message in the Mobils ad compared with the central message in the Saudis open letter to American people? How do the style of two messages differ? What is the political and historical issue involved in the Saudis letter? How did Arabs and Americans miss out each other in their persuasive messages? How would Arabs and Americans perceive each other as the result and how would they improve their intercultural communication?
Issues in cross-cultural research
What challenges did Deborah face when she was doing research in China? What are required when a reseacher is doing research in a foreign country? Why wouldnt the Western techniques of random sampling work in other cultures? What issues should a researcher be aware of when doing research on a culture not of his or her own?
What are the two problems with using convenience samples in doing cross-cultural research? What are the four types of equivalence in the use of questionnaires on population of other cultures? What are the four types of potential bias in doing cross-cultural research? What suggestions did Deborah give on doing cross-cultural research?
Thinking about culture
According to Dreama Moon, how many ways can culture be defined? What is her position on the definition of culture? What is Proposition 22 in California and how does it illustrate meanings of culture and communication? How does the social debate on Eminem say about the role of popular culture?
Context and Meaning
Edward Hall claims that culture functions as a selective screen. What does that mean? Why is context important in intercultural communication and what are the categories of contexts? What are the differences between high context and low context cultures and what are the examples that Hall gave?
What are the differences between restricted code and elaborated code and are they related to high and low context communication? What is the difference between programmed contexting and innate contexting and how is it illustrated in the communication of space? How do high/low context cultures differ in the effect of communication and speed of social change?
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Language shapes our perception of reality. Language determines thought patterns. Whorfs study on Hopi language Critiques on the hypothesis
Etic vs. Emic approaches
Emic Study from within Examine one culture Discover structure Internal criteria Etic Study from outside Examine many cultures Create structure Universal criteria
Cultural Variables
Individualism vs. collectivism Power distance Femininity vs. masculinity Uncertainty avoidance
Power and Communication
Power is always part of communication. Power comes from institution and the roles we play. Types of power in groups. Power and discourse Power is dynamic and can be negotiated. Dispowered people can resist power from the dominant group.
History and Intercultural Communication
What is the relationship between history and intercultural communication? History and power Types of histories Examples of hidden history
Arab-Israeli Conflict
According to Marouf Hasian, what are some of the causes for intercultural conflict? How have Arabs been portrayed historically and at the present in the West? What is the authors argument on how to improve intercultural relations? What is your comment on How we remember the past alters the ways in which we think about our present and our future? (p. 98)
Is there a correct history? What are the differences between vernacular texts and elite texts in the recording of history? What example did the author give for a traditional approach to historiography? What other factors would come into play in the interpretation of history?
What is the theoretical framework of genealogical investigation in the study and understanding of history? What is the Balfour Declaration? and what is the impact of this on the ArabIsraeli conflict? What are the other factors for the intensified Arab-Israeli conflict according to the author?
What are the differences in the stories the Arabs and Israelis are told about their history and conflict? How would the differences in the record of history affect intercultural communication? How could these differences be renegotiated and reimagined if both sides claim the others version of history is false? What is the role of a third party in an intercultural conflict (e. g. the U.S. role in the Arab-Israeli conflict)?
Antecedents of Contacts (Richard Brislin 1981)
Childhood experience Myth about other cultures Language Recent and vivid events
Conditions of contact (Gordon Allport, 1979)
Must be equal status. Must have strong normative and institutional support. Must engage beyond superficial situation. Must maximize cooperation and minimize competition. Must have equal number of members Must have similar beliefs and Must values. promote individuation. Must be voluntary.
Identity and intercultural communication
Types of identity (gender, age, sexual orientation, racial, ethnic, religion, class, national, regional, personal) Cultural identity defined The cultural group or groups that you can identity with and being accepted because of the shared systems of symbols and meanings as well as norms and rules for conduct. Staller Ting-Toomey
Factors about identity
Scope, salience, and intensity Negotiation between avowal and ascription, co-creation of social and individual. Separation of in-group & out-group Minorities are more conscious. Dynamic and changing
Allan Roland (1988) on identity
The individualized identity The familial identity The spiritual identity
Different perspectives on cultural identity
Social scientific perspective (self-creation in relation to group) Interpretive perspective (created through interaction with others) Critical perspective (shaped through social and historical forces, power and resistance
Language and identity
The use of labels Hyphenated Americans Multiple identities Dolores Tannos example
Questions from Tannos article
What is her view on how identities are constructed in the evolving process? What question did she get asked often and why? What are the labels she uses for her multiple identities and what are the meanings of each label to her? Do you also use multiple labels for your identity or certain aspects of your identity are being downplayed or unrecognized? Why?
Whites experience
White is the norm of cultural practices. White people have privileges. (Peggy McIntoshs list of privileges, p. 188) Not all Whites have power. Different perceptions on white privilege
Types of multicultural individuals
Children of mixed races Children of different religious parents Global nomads Having extensive intercultural experience as adults
Identity development of biracial children: three stages
Awareness of differences and resulting dissonance Struggle for acceptance Self-acceptance and self-assertion
Multicultural individuals
Encapsulated marginals Constructive marginals Cultural brokers
Defining stereotype
Positive or negative judgment made about individuals based on their group membership Overgeneralization, simplification and a lazy way of characterizing people by the group they belong rather than their individual attributes.
Defining prejudice
Prejudgment based on past experience and insufficient grounds Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, sexual orientation An attitude (usually negative) toward a cultural group based on little of no evidence.
Functions of Prejudice (Richard Brislin 1999)
The utilitarian function The ego-defensive function The value-expressive function The knowledge function
Identity development
Depends on the position in the societal hierarchy. Is complicated. A person can be both privileged and underprivileged. Is changing. The stages are not necessarily in a linear progression.
Video True Color
What are the shared identities of John and Glen and what makes them different from each other? In what way do societal perceptions of Black and White people influence how Glen and John being treated in various situations as portrayed in the video?
Video True Color
How would John and Glen perceive and develop their identity after what each has experienced? Which perspective of cultural identity theory can be applied to this situation?
Minority identity development
Unexamined identity Conformity Resistance and separatism integration
Majority identity development
Unexamined identity Acceptance (active acceptance, passive acceptance) Resistance Redefinition Integration
Aspects of nonverbal communication
Proxemics (the study of the use of personal space) Kinesics (behaviors of gestures, body movements, facial expressions, eye contacts) Chronemics (the study of our use of time) Paralanguage (elements and use of voice) Silence Haptics (the study of our use of touch) Clothing & physical appearance Olfactics (the study of communication by smell)
Characteristics of nonverbal communication
Cause intercultural understanding as well as misunderstandings. Learn nonverbal behaviors of native cultures unconsciously, but can also learn consciously about other cultures nonverbal behaviors. Can reinforce, substitute for, or contract verbal behaviors. Nonverbal is more believable when contradiction occurs. Can be universal as well as cultural specific.
Functions of nonverbal communication
Can communicate relational message. Can communicate power status. Can communication deception
Universality of nonverbal communication
Facial expressions (studies on blind children) Types of emotional expressions Need for social bonding Females are more expressive than males. Examples of universal signs?
Cultural differences in nonverbal communication
Gestures (Dane Achers study, greeting in different cultures, number count, backwards V sign) Eye contact (respect, attention, turn-taking in the U. S.; focused gaze from Arabs, Latin Americans, Southern Europeans; peripheral or no gaze from Asians and Northern Europeans)
Studies on silence
U.S. perception of silence Bassos study of Western Apache in Arizona Carbough & Berrys study of Finnish people Silence in Chinese culture
Proxemics
Halls contact cultures (South America, Southern European) and non-contact cultures (Northern European, Far East, the U.S.) Space orientation: Halls four dimensions of space E. Lozanos study on the experience of space and body of Latin Americans.