Intercultural Communication: A Critical Perspective

Written to encourage deeper understanding of and an active role in intercultural justice, Intercultural Communication: A Critical Perspective provides students with an in-depth examination of contemporary intercultural communication through the lens of power. Through this unique perspective, the book demonstrates how micro communication acts, encounters, and relationships between and within cultural groups can influence and be influenced by macro structures, organizations, and forces - and vice versa. The book begins by introducing the concept of intercultural communication and demonstrating how ubiquitous it is in our everyday lives. Subsequent chapters address the ties between culture, power, and intercultural communication; how powerful ideologies develop from cultural views and ways of life; and the interplay of cultural representation and speaking for or about a cultural group. Readers learn the ways in which individuals and structures of power shape identity, how different structures and groups remember and forget the past, and how racialization relates to intercultural communication. The final chapters explore power dynamics with regard to globalization, intercultural relationships and desire, and our roles in intercultural communication.Rona Tamiko Halualani is a professor of intercultural communication at San José State University. Dr. Halualani is the author of In the Name of Hawaiians: Native Identities and Cultural Politics, the co-editor (with Dr. Thomas K. Nakayama) of the Handbook of Critical Intercultural Communication, and the former editor-in-chief of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. She teaches courses on intercultural communication, critical intercultural communication, globalized intercultural communication, and culture and gender identity.