FOUNDATIONS OF

INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION I
Geulis Rahmawati Putri 16.0102.0076
Rizkika Dea Safitri 16.0.01.0012
Carliana Irmaslian 16.0101.0118
 CULTURE,
COMMUNICATION
, CONTEXT, AND
POWER
Culture

Culture Learned patterns of behavior and

attitudes shared by a group of people. Culture is
more than merely one aspect of the practice of
intercultural communication. How we think
about culture frames our ideas and preceptions.
Social Science Definitions: Culture as
Learned, Group-Related Perceptions

Geert Hofstede (1984) a noted social psychologist,

defines culture as “the programming of the mind”
and explains his notion of culture in terms of a
computer program:
 “Every person carrieswithin him or herself
pattern of thinking, feeling and potential acting
which were learned throughout (his or her)
lifetime. Much of (this patterns are) acquired in
early childhood, because at the time a person is
most susceptible to learning and assimilating.
(p.4)”
Interpretive Definitions: Culture as
Contextual Symbolic Patterns of
Meaning, Involving Emotions
According to Geertz (1973), culture denotes
 “An historically transmitted pattern of meaning
embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions
express in symbolic forms by means of which men (sic)
communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge
about and attitudes towards life. (p.89)”
  Culture is not only experienced as perceptions and
values, and contextual, but the concept of culture also
involves emotions. When we are in our own cultural
surroundings we feel a sense of familiarity and certain
level of comfort in the space, behavior and actions of
others. We might characterize this feeling as a kind of
embodied ethnocentrism, which is normal.
Critical Definitions: Culture as
Heterogeneous, Dynamic, and a Contested
Zone
Many anthropologist have criticiced research that categories people and
characterized cultural pattern as set, unchanging and unconnected to issues of
gender, class and history (Keesing, 1994). Recent anthropological research sees
cultural processes as dynamic and fluid “organizations of diversity” that extend
across national and regional borders within context of history and power
(Hannerz, 1996). Communication scholars who embrace the critical notions
encourage us to
 Move beyond hegenomic definition of culture as “shared and transmitted
from generation to generation” that assume that we all experience a
“common culture” and….is passed down from one generation to the next
generation to the next in a linear and seemlingly static fashion…this is a
dangerous myth…that works in invisible yet extremely powerful ways to
suppress and erase marginalized voices and experiences.
 Viewing culture as a contested site open up new ways of thinking about intercultural
communication. After all, the individuals in a given culture are not identical, which
suggest that any culture is replete with cultural struggles. By viewing any culture as a
contested zone or site struggle, we can understand the complexities of that culture;
we can become more sensitive to how people in that culture live.
Communication

 Communications is a complex as culture and

can be defined in many different ways. The
defining characteristic of communication is
meaning, and we could say that
communication occurs whenever someone
attribute meaning to another person’s
words or actions. Communication can be
understood as a “symbolic process whereby
reality is produced, maintained, repaired ad
transformed” (Carey, 1989, p.23).
There three perspectives emphasize
different aspect of this communication
process:
 The social science perspective emphasize the various
components of communication. There is a sender/receiver,
messange, channel, and context.
 The interative perspective emphasize the symbolic, processual
nature of communication; the symbolic nature of
communication means that the words we speak or the gesture
we make have no inherent meaning.
 The interative perspective also emphasizes that the process by
which we negotiate meaning is dynamic
 The critical perspective emphasizes the importance of societal
forces in the communication process. Thas is, that all voices
and symbols are not equal, but are arranged in a social
hierarchy in which some incividual characteristics are more
highly valued than others.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION

How Culture Influences Communication

1. Kluckhohn and Strodbeck Value Orientations

 They emphasized the centrality of cultural values in
understanding cultural groups. Values are the most
deeply felt belief shared by a cultural groups; they
reflect a shared perception of what ought to be, and
not what is.
a. The Nature of Human Nature
b. Relationship Between Humans and Nature
c. Relationship Between Humans
d. Preffered Form of Activity
e. Orientation to Time
2. Hofstede Value Orientations
 The problem types are identified as follows :
 Power distance : social inequality, including
the relationship with authority
 Feminity versus masculinity : the social
implications of having been born male or
female
 Ways of dealing with uncertainty, controlling
aggression, and expressing emotions
 Long-term versus short-term orientation to
life.
How Communication
Reinforces Culture
Culture not only influence communication but
also es enacted through, and so is influenced by,
communication. Researcher Tamal Katriel (1990)
examine “gripping” a communication ritual( a set
from systematic interaction that take place on
regular basis) that takes place among middle-
class Israelis.
Communication as Resistance to
the Dominant Culture System

 Resistance is metaphor used in cultural studies to

conceptualize the relationship between culture
and communication. Borrowing this metaphor, we
can try to discover how individuals use their own
space to resist the dominant cultural system.
 The Relationship Between
Communication And Context

 Context typically is created by the physical or

social aspects of the situation in which
communication occurs. For example,
communication may occur in a clasroom, a bar, or
a church; in case, the physical characteristic of
the setting influence the communication. Context
may consist of the social, political and historical
structure in which the communication occurs.
 The Relationship Between
Communication And Power

 Power is pervasive in communication interactions,

altough it is not always evident or obvios how
power influences communication or what kinds of
meaning are constructed. We often think of
communication between individuals as being
between equals, but this is rarely the case (Allen,
2004). There are two levels of group-related
power :
 The primary dimension
 The secondary dimension
 History and
Intercultural
Communication
 In this chapter, we first discuss the various histories
that provide the context in which we communicate
 Political, intellectual, social, family, national and
cultural-group histories.
We then describe how these histories are
intertwined with our various identities based on
 gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, and
so on.
 We introduce two identities that have strong
historical bases : diasporic and colonial.

Finally, we explore how history influences intercultural

communication
A. From History To Histories

Many different kind history influence our understanding

of who we are as individuals, as family members, as
members of cultural group and citizen of a nation. To
understand about the dialectics in everyday interaction,
we need to think about the many histories that help
from our different identities. These histories necessarily
overlap and influence each other.
Political, Intellectual, and
Social Histories
 Political histories written histories that focus on political
events.
 Intellectual Histories written that focus on the development
of ideas
 Social Histories written that focus on everyday life
experiences of various groups in the past.

 Not everything that happened in the past is accessible to

us today, because only some voices were documented and
only perspective were recorded. This part called Absent
history or any part of history that was not recorded or that
is missing.
Family Histories

 Occur at the same time as other histories

but on a more personal level. Family
histories are histories of individual
families that are typically passed down
through oral stories from generation to
the next.
National Histories

 The history of any nation is important to the

people of nation. We typically learn national
history in school. National histories are a body of
knowledge based on past events that influenced a
country’s development.
 National history gives us a shared notion of who
we are and solidifies our sense of nationhood.
Cultural-Group Histories

 Altough people may share a single national history,

each cultural group within the nation may have its
own history. The history may be obsecure
(hidden), but it is still related to the national
history.
 Cultural-group histories help us understand the
identities of various groups. Cultural-groups are
history of each cultural group within a nation that
includes, for example the history of where the
group originated, why the people migrated and
how they came to develop and maintain their
cultural traits.
 B. History, Power, and Intercultural
Communication

1. The Power of Texts

2. The power of other histories
3. Power in intercultural interaction
The Power of Texts

 History is extremely important in understanding

identity. Think the stories about the past that you
have been taught. Yet, as literature profesor
Fredic Jameson (1981)notes, altough history is not
a narrative at all, it is accessible to us only in
textual, narrative form. However, people do not
have equal access to the writing and production of
these text
The Power of Other Histories

 We live in era rapid change, which causes us to

rethink cultural struggles and identities. The
grand narrative refers to overarching all-
encompassing story of a nation or humankind in
general. Because of the way it is built, this grand
narrative organize history into an understandable
story that lead to some “thruth” over other
possible conclusions.
Power in Intercultural Interaction

 Power is also legacy, the remnants of the history

that leaves cultural groups in particular positions.
We are not equal in our intercultural encounters,
nor can we ever be equal. Long history of
imperealism, colonialism, exploitation, wars
genocide, and more leave cultural groups out of
balance when they communicate.
 C. HISTORY AND
IDENTITY
 Cultural-group histories, The history of each
cultural group within a nation that includes.
 Cultural-group histories, Help us understand
the identities of various groups.
 Histories as Stories
According to communication scholar Walter Fisher (1984,
1985), storytelling is fundamental to the human experience.
Instead of referring to humans as Homo sapiens, Fisher prefers
to call them Homo narrans because it underscores the
importance of narratives in our lives. Histories that we use to
make sense of who we are and who we think others are.
 Nonmainstream Histories
Theirs are not the histories that everyone learns about in
school, yet these histories are vital to understanding how
others perceive them and why. These nonmainstream histories
are important to the people in these cultural groups, as they
may play a significant role in their cultural identities.
Nonmainstream histories sometimes stand alongside the grand
narrative, but sometimes they challenge the grand narrative.
Sometimes these nonmainstream histories are hidden histories,
as they offer different views on the grand narrative and
therefore have been suppressed or marginalized in our
understanding of the past.
 Racial and Ethnic Histories. Mainstream history has neither the
time nor the space nor the inclination to include all ethnic
histories and racial histories. This is especially true given that
the histories of cultural groups sometimes seem to question, and
even undermine, the celebratory nature of the mainstream
national history.
 Gender Histories. The hsitories of how cultural conventions of
men and women are created, maintaned, and/or altered.
 Sexual orientation histories. The historical experiences of gays
and lesbians.
 Diasporic Histories. The histories of the ways in which
international culural groups were created through transnational
migratioons, slavery, religious crusades, or other historical
forces.
 Colonial histories. The histories that legitimate international
invasions and annexations.
 Socioeconomic Class Histories.
 Religious histories. Although the Crusades may seem like a
distant historical event, to some that event is much more
immediate and its consequences far more pressing.
 D. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
AND HISTORY

 Antecedents of Contact
 The Contact Hypothesis
 Negotiating Histories Dialectically in
Interaction