Speech 27: Intercultural Communication

In this class, we will enhance the way we perceive the notion of culture and how it affects and is affected by the communication process. Martin and Nakayama note that, "learning about intercultural communication is not about learning a finite set of skills, terms, and theories. It is about learning to think about cultural realities in multiple ways.[1]" Starting from a working definition of culture, we will introduce variations of the definition of culture depending on particular perspectives. This course offers a critical survey of major theories and concepts in intercultural communication encounters. Our goal will be to address how we use our intercultural knowledge to help enrich our lives and the lives of those around us. Our class will be structured into three main units. We will begin the quarter by discussing theoretical questions concerning the study of intercultural communication and answer questions of why the study of intercultural communication is important. The second unit of the course will be spent briefly discussing the intercultural communication processes. Lastly, we will turn our attention to the application of intercultural communication across a wide range of topics, including education, politics, media, and other social justice contexts.