Intercultural Communication

Kathryn Sorrells is Professor of Communication Studies at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and is currently serving as Department Chair. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in intercultural communication, critical pedagogy, performance, cultural studies, and feminist theory. She combines critical/cultural studies and postcolonial perspectives to explore issues of culture, race, gender, class, and sexuality. Kathryn grew up in Georgia; has lived in different regions of the United States; has studied and worked in Brazil, Japan, Turkey and China; and has traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, and parts of Latin America. The critical, social justice approach she uses to study and practice intercultural communication is informed by her experiences growing up in the South during the tumultuous and transformative civil rights movement and her subsequent participation in the antiwar; women’s; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT); and labor and immigrant rights movements. Kathryn has published a variety of articles related to intercultural communication, globalization, and social justice and is co-editor along with Sachi Sekimoto of Globalizing Intercultural Communication: A Reader (Sage, 2015). She has been instrumental in organizing a campus-wide initiative on Civil Discourse and Social Change at CSUN aimed at developing students’ capacities for civic engagement and social justice. Kathryn is a recipient of numerous national, state, and local community service awards for founding and directing Communicating Common Ground, an innovative service learning project that provided students opportunities to develop creative alternatives to intercultural conflict. Additionally, Kathryn has experience as a consultant and trainer for nonprofit, profit and educational organizations in the areas of intercultural communication and multicultural learning.  

Chapter 1: Opening the Conversation: Studying Intercultural Communication
Definitions of Culture
Studying Intercultural Communication
Intercultural Praxis in the Context of Globalization
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 2: Understanding the Context of Globalization
The Role of History in Intercultural Communication
The Role of Power in Intercultural Communication
Intercultural Communication in the Context of Globalization
Intercultural Dimensions of Economic Globalization
Intercultural Dimensions of Political Globalization
Intercultural Dimensions of Cultural Globalization
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 3: Globalizing Body Politics: Embodied Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Hip Hop Culture
Constructing Social Worlds Through Communication
Marking Difference Through Communication
The Social Construction of Race: From Colonization to Globalization
Resignifying Race in the Context of Globalization
Hip Hop Culture: Alternative Performances of Difference
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 4: (Dis)Placing Culture and Cultural Space: Locations of Nonverbal and Verbal Communication
Placing Culture and Cultural Space
Displacing Culture and Cultural Space
Case Study: Hip Hop Culture
Cultural Space, Power, and Communication
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 5: Privileging Relationships: Intercultural Communication in Interpersonal Contexts
Topography of Intercultural Relationships
Intercultural Relationships in the Workplace
Forming and Sustaining Intercultural Relationships
Cyberspace and Intercultural Relationships
Intercultural Alliances for Social Justice in the Global Context
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 6: Crossing Borders: Migration and Intercultural Adaptation
Migrants
Historical Overview of World Migration
Migration Trends in the Context of Globalization
Theories of Migration and Intercultural Adaptation
Case Studies: Migration and Intercultural Adaptation
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 7: Jamming Media and Popular Culture: Analyzing Messages About Diverse Cultures
Media, Popular Culture, and Globalization
Popular Culture, Intercultural Communication, and Globalization
Global and Regional Media Circuits
Producing and Consuming Popular Culture
Popular Culture, Representation, and Resistance
Resisting and Re-Creating Media and Popular Culture
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 8: The Culture of Capitalism and the Business of Intercultural Communication
Historical Context: Capitalism and Globalization
The Culture of Capitalism
The Intercultural Marketplace
Case Study 1: Consuming and Romanticizing the “Other”
Case Study 2: Consuming and Desiring the “Other”
Case Study 3: Consuming Cultural Spectacles
Economic Responsibility and Intercultural Communication
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 9: Negotiating Intercultural Conflict and Social Justice: Strategies for Intercultural Relations
Intercultural Conflict: A Multidimensional Framework of Analysis
Case Study 1: Interpersonal Context
Case Study 2: Intergroup Context
Case Study 3: International and Global Context
Strategies for Addressing Intercultural Conflict
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References
Chapter 10: Engaging Intercultural Communication for Social Justice: Challenges and Possibilities for Global Citizenship
Becoming Global Citizens in the 21st Century
“Hope in the Dark”: From Apathy to Empowerment
Intercultural Alliances for Social Justice
Case Study: Community Coalition of South Los Angeles
Summary
Key Terms
Discussion Questions and Activities
References