The American Psycho

THE POWER OF STORIES

Slide

The power of power – who is more important?

Perspectives on intercultural communication

How intercultural communication came into being

• 1946 – the establishment of Foreign Service Institute (FSI)
• Top-bottom vs bottom-up expectations
• Interdisciplinary focus: linguistics, anthropology, psychology (an integrated approach)
• Increasingly centered in the discipline of communication

Three approaches to intercultural communication

Social science approach – reality can be described (used in the 40’s). it is used to predict behavior (done through surveys, observation)

Interpretative approach – reality is still external but it is subjective, since we are the ones who interpret reality. This implies that behavior cannot be predictable because of its spontaneity.

Critical approach – reality is subjective and external. They do not base their analysis on empirical data. These studies are conducted with the aim of changing behavior. Culture is seen as a site of power struggle.

A dialectal approach to intercultural communication

This approach integrates the three previous approaches, since nothing is static. Moreover, there are many elements that take part of culture and all of them must be considered.

Culture teaches us to see and interpret 🡪 the translation of perception into meaning _ existence of contradictory meanings of reality

Six dialectics

Cultural – individual dialectic: intercultural communication is both cultural and individual (idiosyncratic)

Personal – contextual dialectic: the role of context in intercultural relationships

Differences – similarities dialectic: people are simultaneously similar and different from each other; emphasizing only differences lead to stereotyping, emphazing only similaritiesw lead to ignoring important cultural variations

Static – dynamic dialect: some cultural and communication patterns tend to remain…

Culture  

Culture has been described trough and onion metaphor, or the iceberg metaphor.

The iceberg metaphor for culture

Image

Culture – core concept

Core concept in intercultural communication

A multidimensional concept – 3 dimensions:

• Social dimension
• Material dimension
• Mental dimension

31/01/2023

Hidden dimensions of culture:

Edward T. Hall 🡪 Cross-cultural communication

• Proxemics – how we interpret space

• Horizontal 🡪 
• Vertical 🡪 symbol of authority, respect,

• The silent language – perception of time

• Monochromic (linear time) cultures
• Polychromic (flexible time) cultures

Correlations

Tpc: give your opinion and respond to one of your colleagues + presentation about power distance

Low content vs high content cultures – the quantity the info we provide to pass a clear message  

16/02/2023

Identity and Cultural Communication 
Social and cultural identities

Other/othering

Other can have a neutral or negative connotations

Othering is based on establishing some differences. Is difference bad or good? Difference applied among equal is positive; difference is seen as negative if used as a perspective to judge the other.

Strange, stranger

…

Objectification:

The woman as the Other

Simone de Beavoir – she wrote the first academic book about women

IDENTITY

It is a social construction

What is social construction?

23/20/2023

Presentations

Many types of identities:

- sense of belonging

• National identity – related to the idea of citizenship; European citizenship – transnational identity; belonging to a certain region, being this interpreted as a part of a nation (for example, dialects/accent, gastronomy, customs and traditions) or part of different nations (for example, Iberians)
• Ethnical identity – [it becomes more evident when we leave a country]; like the gypsies/Roma people

Lingua -

Linguagem –

Ferdinand de Saussure – signifier and signified

Language can be about knowledge, tool, …

We cannot define language exhaustively

Translation

- it is indeed a bridge

- it can create barriers, miscommunication

Words have history and their own narrative. This happens because of its usage.

Pay attention – how would you translate it?

Nonverbal language

Various interpretations of the same attire for example