Week 1

Cross Cultural Connections

Lesson of the Monkey & and the Fish (Quiz question)
Summary: Monkey goes over a river to “help” a fish, in reality the monkey is trying to eat the fish and the story uses language to subtly demonstrate that the monkey could be viewed as a savior but also as a manipulative character, highlighting the complexities in cross-cultural interactions where intentions can be misinterpreted.

  • TLDR: we don’t want to be like the monkey

12/11/25

Why study ICC (intercultural communication)? 7 Imperatives

  1. Self-awareness imperative

    1. recognize TFG

    2. become more aware of ethnocentrism

“make the stranger familiar, make the familiar strange!” (when analyzing culture)

  1. demographic imperative

    1. future US racial and ethnic demographic (Japan?)

    2. class diversity (and conflict)

    3. religious diversity

    4. “melting pot"?” (might be better metaphors?)

  2. economic imperative

    1. where was your laptop made?

    2. reality different parts were made in different countries

  3. environmental imperative

    1. floods and droughts lead to migration

    2. wildfires

    3. water rights and other natural resources

    4. pandemics

  4. technological imperative

cultural capital

  • “certain bodies of cultural knowledge and cultural competencies”

  • unequal access to tech

  • gap between cultural haves and the have-nots

colonialism

  • system by which a country maintains power over other countries or groups of people to exploit them economically, politically, and culturally

  1. ethical imperative

  • relativism vs universalism

  • even religious groups often disagree about the degree of the universality of the bible

  • for example all teachings int he new testament mainly guidelines for the christians of jesus’s time or can they be applied to christians in the 21st century?

Approaching different cultures

  • develop self-reflexivity: a process of learning to undesrtand oneself and one’s position in society

  • learn about others with cultural humility

  • be able to point out ethnocentrism or colonialism

Origins of ICC (Intercultural Communication)

  • began in post WW2 US

    • wanted to learn this to prevent future wars from taking place

Study of ICC Today 3 Major Approaches (QUIZ)

  1. Social science (functionalist approach)

  • assumption: 1. there is a describable, external reality, 2. human behaviors are predictable, and 3. cultural is a variable that can be measured.

  • Functionalist approach aims to identify and explain cultural variations in communication and to predict future communication

  • quantitative methods, surveys, hypothesis testing

  • most common in psychology, economics, and sociology

  1. interpretive approach

  • qualitative methods

  • participation observation & in depth interviews

  • smaller population, not only science but also arts and humanities

  1. critical approach

  • interested in power relations in communication

  • cultural differences is important only in relation to power differentials

  • “culture is a battleground” a place where multiple interpretations come together but a dominant force always prevails

  • goal is not only to understand human behavior but also to change the lives of everyday communicators

post-colonialism: ….

Social scientific (Functionalist): This research style emphasizes statistical measures.

Understanding quantitative approaches is critical to analyzing data and statistics. These are skills important in any walk of life.

Keywords: Numbers, surveys, explain, predict, test hypothesis, generalize, macro

Interpretive: Interpretive approaches emphasize using language to describe human behavior.

Understanding interpretive approaches is important to understanding how news is reported, how information is transferred, and how most people make decisions.

Keywords: Describe, understand, qualitative (non-numeric), fieldwork, micro

Critical: Critical methodologies analyze the large power structures that guide everyday life.

Understanding this approach helps students grasp the invisible forces that alter our lives.

Keywords: Power, struggle, culture-as-battleground, normative (as opposed to...?)