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Intercultural Communication

Carmen Tamas タマシ カルメン

MAY

Evaluation 26

• class participation 40%

• midterm 20% Stigma or Art?
Reconsidering the Japanese
Tattoo
• final presentation/report 40%
Wednesday, May 26, 10:40~
Alice Gordenker is an American journalist and long-term resident of
Japan. She majored in Japanese at Princeton University and studied for
two years at Japanese universities on scholarship from Rotary
International. After working in New York and Washington in international
trade and journalism, she returned to Japan in 2000. Since then, she has
made it her “life work” to report on Japan in English, through various media
including newspapers, magazines, television, social media, and, most
recently, film.

1

June 2, 16:20~
Special lecture
Doing business in the European Union. Romanian Business
Environment: Between Medieval Castles and Leading IT Market
Serban Georgescu, Director of Asian Studies, Romanian- American
University
Through the course of our lives, we have many opportunities to learn about
others– their cultures, their ways of being in the world, and their diverse
stories and meanings. We can choose to go toward these opportunities or
move away from them. We can live amidst differences and ignore them, or
notice the differences that divide us and plumb them for their riches.
(LeBaron & Pillay 2006)
A commitment to intercultural competence is not only a commitment to
learning more about other cultures and to the development of culturally
appropriate communication skills. It also involves the commitment to personal
awareness, to personal growth, to understanding, and to unlearning (if
possible) any biases, stereotypes, or prejudices… the complete elimination of
all biases within ourselves will remain an elusive, though always worthwhile,
goal to pursue. (Rothman 2008)
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Different physical abilities and intercultural
communication
Research on the deaf community has yielded a wealth of knowledge about
deaf culture as a minority culture. Deaf individuals tend to view themselves as
members of a linguistic minority within society and often do not view themselves as
disabled. Members of the deaf community tend to have a number of characteristics
in common: they share a physical attribute (i.e., their deafness) and tend to identify
as members of the deaf community; many deaf individuals are proud of their
language (e.g., American Sign Language), which is commonly used in poetry and art;
and deaf individuals also display a number of culturally characteristic behaviours,
the most pronounced of which are possibly behaviours that attract attention, such as
stomping feet, waving arms, tapping on the shoulder, or flashing lights.
(Encyclopedia Britannica)
The characteristics of an ethical intercultural communicator (Chen & Starosta
1998)
1. Regards people as equal, even when their beliefs of value differ
2. Actively seeks out and interacts with persons of diverse backgrounds (ethnic,
religious, gender, linguistic, physically disabled)
3. Listens attentively and refrains from making snap, negative judgments about the
behaviors of people who have a different cultural or linguistic background
4. Patiently asks questions to confirm the intended meaning
5. Recognizes that misunderstandings may arise due to linguistic and/ or cultural
differences
6. Seeks and provides (verbal and nonverbal) feedback to ensure that messages were
received as intended
7. Makes a genuine effort to learn about the language and cultural practices of
people who have been socialized in a different cultural context
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The characteristics of an ethical intercultural communicator (Chen & Starosta

1998)

8. Works from the perspective that the behavior of people who have a different
cultural background is apt to be rational when understood in its situational and
cultural context
9. Values intercultural cooperation and peaceful conflict mediation/ resolution
10. Recognizes diversity within cultural groups and acknowledges that no individual
can serve as representative of an entire community or culture
Race, the idea that the human species is divided into distinct groups on the
basis of inherited physical and behavioral differences. Genetic studies in the
late 20th century refuted the existence of biogenetically distinct races, and
scholars now argue that “races” are cultural interventions reflecting specific
attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake
of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century.

11. Seeks to include all voices in intercultural communication

12. Treats all people with respect and dignity, irrespective of their linguistic and
cultural background.

The many meanings of “race”

The modern meaning of the term race with reference to humans began to emerge in
the 17th century. Since then it has had a variety of meanings in the languages of the The term race has also been applied to linguistic groups (the “Arab race” or the
Western world. What most definitions have in common is an attempt to categorize “Latin race”), to religious groups (the “Jewish race”), and even to political, national,
peoples primarily by their physical differences. In the United States, for example, the or ethnic groups with few or no physical traits that distinguish them from their
term race generally refers to a group of people who have in common some visible neighbours (the “Irish race,” the “French race,” the “Spanish race,” the “Slavic race,”
physical traits, such as skin colour, hair texture, facial features, and eye formation. the “Chinese race”, etc.).
Such distinctive features are associated with large, geographically separated
populations, and these continental aggregates are also designated as races, as the (Peter Wade, https://www.britannica.com/topic/race-human)
“African race,” the “European race,” and the “Asian race.” Many people think of race
as reflective of any visible physical (phenotypic) variations among human groups,
regardless of the cultural context and even in the absence of fixed racial categories.