inter com. mid term

mid term

what is culture

shared knowledge of what common sense is and a shared system of symbols and meanings

* systems of politeness
* what things might mean
* communication

what are the two ways to think about intercultural communication (IC)

phenomenon, and field

first way to think: phenomenon

when two parties who do not share a system of symbolic recourses engage in symbol exchanging process

second way to think: field

study of cultural communication, cross-cultural comm., intercultural com

* what happens when people come together

what is intercultural comm.

intercultural comm. occurs when individuals or groups from different cultures communicate

what is not culture

* the dove test: standardized testing favors well-off students: then the teacher assumes all race is connected to culture (skin color)
* national identity: from a certain place but the assumption that they follow that culture
* language: many languages have different spots globally: doesn’t depend on one culture could be multiple such as Spanish
* socioeconomic class
* ethnicity

studying IC to recognize hazards

* over-simplification: ignore nuances
* over generalization: oh you do that and this due to culture
* exaggeration: making differences the main thing

benefits of studying IC

empowerment of increased acknowledgment. Freedom from ignorance and avoiding stereotypes. Better relationships

transcultural communication

people interacting while using differences to overcome barriers

* differences are enriching

M(C1+C2) then M=M(1C)

In many ways, intercultural misunderstandings often focus on social habits which we may consider as “normal” or “obvious”. In this sense, past and current research exposes differences between cultures by looking at such habits in order to explore their various definitions which may lead to the following thinking:

* When misunderstandings (M) imply people with different cultural backgrounds (C1 or C2, for instance), these misunderstandings are labelled as *intercultural* (M(IC)) and therefore exist as *and mainly as intercultural* phenomena;
* In this perspective, this intercultural misunderstanding (M(IC)) is explored and understood by looking *mainly* at cultural differences (C1 or C2);
* Eventually, further unsuccessful communication may be avoided thanks to an expansive knowledge of cultural elements (C1 or C2).

We may use the following formula in order to formalize this pattern:

* *if* M (C1 + C2), *then* M = M(IC).
* *in order to understand* M(IC)*, learn to know*C1 *and* C2.
* C1 *and* C2 *may avoid* M(IC).

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culture is not to blame for all misunderstandings.

bathyculture

(culture in depth) would refer to the stochastic reservoir owned and used by individuals and groups concerning their behaviors and values - shared knowledge in culture

dramaculture

(culture in action) would refer to individual and collective cultural expressions (values, ritual and behavioural choices, etc), essentially linked to the notion of performance

* food, festivals, greetings

osmoculture

(culture in diffusion) each individual or group would own and use an intimate representation of this culture as an ever-evolving process, which may also lead to a better understanding of artistic expressions.

* evolving and choice making
* choices - interaction and cultural

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find article here: Deconstructing Culture

Towards an Interactional Triad

*Albin Wagener*

3 perspectives of the IC field

socio-scientific, interpretive, critical

interpretive

The interpretive perspective focuses on how meaning is created and sustained in a given cultural setting, for the purpose of promoting a nuanced understanding of humanity. - understand the lives of those in a different culture

* sense making
* members perspective in research - emic

critical

aims to change for the good - give voices to those who don’t have one

* focuses on interrogating (asking the tough questions to/about) how discursive (and/or historical) structures oppress some groups while favoring other groups. This is for the purpose of enlightenment and also perhaps effecting social change related to giving voice to the voiceless

socio-scientific

focuses on understanding culture through the systemic (usually quantitative) study of universal concepts such as worldview, for the purpose of increasing effectiveness in intercultural communication.

* predictability
* helps people understand in a practical sense - will help someone know what to expect and how to conduct oneself in another culture like greetings and how to do business
* Researchers within this perspective strive to come up with laws and principles (theories) that explain why humans act the way they do and allow other humans to predict what will happen in the future.
* group membership (a key criterion in determining one’s cultural background), different worldviews, and values, are assumed to have consistent enough relationships with certain types of behaviors that we can use these manifestations of culture to predict what will happen with a high level of certainty. Thus knowing what group people come from can reduce our uncertainty in a wide variety of situations, allowing us to be more confident and successful.
* views culture as a variable that must be considered in accomplishing the goals of life.

popular culture artifacts

The basic manifestations or artifacts of popular culture are the objects and people that come to be readily recognized and known by the masses. For example more children in the U.S. can recognize Ronald McDonald than can recognize the president of the United States.

what are the four pop culture artifacts

real icons, imagined icons, real celebrities, and imaginary celebrities (interpretive ways pop culture perceived)

real icons

items can produce identities

* Skateboards are an object, an icon, but they also represent an identity, both to the skateboarder and to those who see him or her.

imagined icon

* one imagined thing can create identities
* star ship enterprise: represents trekkies all over the world which creates an identity.

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real celebrities

The celebrities who play these characters have helped cast positive light on values of less represented cultural groups and helped start dialogues that may lead to wider acceptance across the spectrum of humanity

* celebrities helping create identities like modern family - Sophia helps latina women while Mitchell and Cam help gay people find a voice/identity

Imaginary celebrities

* Like many imaginary celebrities, they live a charmed life where things work out, in spite of ups and downs faced in the show. They appear to be living a life that many would love to have. As with all identities portrayed in popular culture, one may wonder to what extent their enactment of this identity is a reflection of society or a shaper of society
* these icons and celebrities provide important resources for people to make sense of their lives, and understanding how this happens can help us understand the potential impact of popular culture in our own lives.

critical perspective on pop culture

* that reinforce stereotypes and power positions with limited or no conscious effort by the advertisers.
* small opportunities and limited rolls for minority groups

model minority pop culture (critical)

depictions can be very limited and often misleading. Even with this knowledg,e it is very easy to just accept what is found in the news about other groups and even some large groups to which we belong as just the way it is

* Asian Americans hard working and smart

social scientific on pop culture

researcher to better predict and

control what will happen in the future, providing the basis for a winning game, whatever that game may be.

three main types of connections in social scientific perspective

* **direct impact:** media has on various cultural aspects of our lives, such as values, identification, acculturation, and our understanding of other cultural groups.
* **reverse of that**: the relationship between culture and the production and use of media.
* culture as intervening variable between media sources and various desired outcomes: all mass media as a form of popular culture and culture is with group membership, especially in terms of nationality, ethnicity, or race.

impact of media on culture - SS perspective

* effects the media is having on different cultural groups in the United States or impact the media produced in the United States is having on people in other countries.

culture as intervening variable

understand culture so as to make the impact of popular culture and media ever greater. Knowing if a group is individualistic or collectivistic in nature may help a person design more effective advertisements.

* knowing cultural groups to advertise products

etic

outside the system - super unfamiliar and outside from foundation

emic

in the system and insider view of life. interpretive perspective. compare communities to others.

etic framework

SPEAKING mnemic

* Each part of the framework is an etic concept that is potentially important in describing and understanding cultural particulars.
* understand all of the important aspects of any type of communication act or situation, regardless of the culture.
* all of the SPEAKING mnemonics are etic

scenes \`

physical and psychological settings in which the communication takes place.

participants

who’s involved in speech act and their roles and relationships

ends

the community recognized goal- know the purpose

acts (substance and sequence)

the act substance (important content matter) or topic and the act sequence (essential in ordering) or order of the interaction.

keys (less important according to Hansen)

prevailing mood and atmosphere - moods like humor etc

instrumentalities (less important according to Hansen)

both the physical means used to perform the act and the style in which it is performed. - ex: face to face

norms

should and should nots

genres (less important according to Hansen)

Genre is the form in which the act may be performed, be that song, poetry, prayer, joking, story

narrative

universal bc all cultures have stories

etic

* something happens in sequence and percieved outcome
* who are the characters? whats the problem? Whats the outvome?
* teaching outocomes: teach us things like fables (Western Appache story)
* narratives at the etic level are actions taken by characters in relation to a problem and the per- ceived outcome of those actions.
* Narratives teach us the way the world works, both at the level of general principle and at the level of particular contexts.
* Narratives also teach us about our social identities. Narratives that deal with members of groups we belong to and value further teach us who we are and where we fit in the world.

grand narratives

supernatural or myths on how world began or came to be

* understand place in world
* religion and maybe science

ritual

etic and universal since all cultures have

* some happen everyday such as greeting rituals: refuse to accept something at first -communication rituals
* some are more ceremony and pay homage to the sacred event

social dramas

of identifying and challenging misbehavior as well as the public efforts to redress or manage these normative violations are ideal sites for seeing the power of culture at work.

* grounded in cultural norms

three r’s of learning

rediscover, relate, and recognize

etic and emic of the christmas ox

* etic: he saw the structural part of buying the ox that they would appreciate but does understand why they are insulting him and attempts to understand why
* emic: Understanding why they are insulting the meat
* emic findings can expand etic knowledge
* framework to understand emic cultures and then fill it in as you understand

speech commuinty

community sharing rules and interpretation of speech, and rules for the interpretation of at least one linguistic variety.

speech event

speech activities governed by norms

speech act

action accomplished through situated language use

repetition (non verbal)

nonverbal reinforces what is happening in verbal code

contradiction (non verbal)

nonverbal and verbal usually go hand and hand but not always.

* “I am happy,” but the tone of her voice and the look on her face may contradict that message. nonverbal messages contradict verbal ones, the nonverbal messages have more credibility and power. This is because the nonverbal messages seem harder to manipulate consciously.

substitution (nonverbal)

require no verbal to get message across - waving

accentuation (nonverbal)

emphasize increased meaning to verbal

* but if the teacher slams a group of books down as she yells those

words staring right at you from only a foot away, you get a different message, an accented message.

complementary (nonverbal)

example, a hushed voice as you tell someone you love them; the stern facial expression as you express your anger;

regulation (nonverbal)

separated verbal and nonverbal communication for the purposes of discussion and analysis, most of our communication inherently involves both, remember how intimately these two types of communication are related. Looking at verbal and nonverbal communication individually may help us understand the source of certain intercultural difficulties, but in the long run we will understand intercultural communication better

when we consider both and their relationship to each other.

kinesis form of NVC (non verbal communication)

* body movement and facial features as means of communication - leaned early on and happens without realization

conversational maxisms

the interpretant searches for the *implicated* meaning, based on the violation of a maxim because we try to understand

Maxims: Quantity, Quality, Relevance, Manner

quality

what was said is (literal,) truthful and documentable (“real”)

* Idioms are common in all cultures with which we are familiar, but when used in intercultural settings they can create a lot of confusion such as kicked the bucket can be hard to understand in another culture

quantity

what was said is not more or less than is expected

* silence of what is appropriate - the Apache silence

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relevance

what was said is relevant and pertinent to the discussion

* forms of address

manner

what was said is clear and lucid given the demands of the situation

* interpretation for doctor scenario
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identity

the image by which we recognize ourselves and others,” (a) grounded in the interplay between similarities and differences, and (b) pertain to, and are intertwined in, the personal and social aspects of our lives

* cannot escape from

role expectations

what makes being a native american native, like the show Hansen played

language expectations

look a certain way might assume speak a certain way based on identity

identity markers

The case of categories for migrants to the U.S.

What do folks call migrants and what do these markers implicate for identities? all the examples from class

* pick what you call someone based on own biases

avowal

Fitting ourselves into our idea of what is allowed and expected of the identities we envision for ourselves

* encouraging others to support our identities
* acting out a certain way due to identity

ascription

Having an identity assigned by others

Reactive: explain past and present behaviors or to predict future actions (“friend”)

Proactive: also treat others in ways that pressure them to put on certain identities (“I don’t consider you \[x\].”)

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communication reflects identity

count on someone to do something

* how to act and common assumptions