Proxemic is a form of nonverbal communication in which messages are

conveyed from one person to another by the changing space that separates
them during a conversation or an interaction. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall,
the most famous scholar on this topic, found four key zones:  
Intimate: touching to 10 inches. For close friends and family. 
Casual-personal: 18 inches to four feet: Informal conversation with
friends. 
Social-consultative: four to twelve feet: formal transactions. 
Public: Addressing groups of people. 

Hall indicates that the mixing of various culturally defined distances in

conversation can cause interesting, but alarming effects. He found that the
comfortable conversation distances for a Latin American or Arab were too
close for a North American. 
Hall points out that when the differing cultures' proxemic behavior clash
"there is interference during the encounter. Normal behavior for a person
with one cultural background may result in proxemic invasion when the
person interacts with a person with a different cultural background.
Further, such invasion may disrupt the communication encounter and lead to
negative interpersonal perceptions on the part of the two people involved.  

Other researches show that cultural backgrounds can influence

interpersonal distance. For example, in a library setting when there was
invasion of subjects' territory people show signs of avoidance or flight from
that place. T he most clearly defined reactions involved forms of behavior
compensation such as withdrawing arms, turning away, or building a barrier
with books. Interpersonal space distances differed for males and females in
friend and stranger dyadic settings...