Postcultural Communication? – Intercultural communication from a postcultural position

Abstract

When we as scholars use the concept of intercultural communication in its classic definition, as communication between people with different cultural backgrounds, we perpetuate the notion that national differences influence communication more than other differences; in doing so, ethnic minorities in multicultural societies are silently/verbally excluded from national communities. The aim of the article is to develop a theoretical position, which is able to conceptualize intercultural communication in complex multicultural societies and function as a frame for empirical analysis. The theoretical position is presented as a postcultural prism composed by practice theory (Schatzki 1996, Reckwitz 2002, Nicolini 2012, Kemmis 2012), Intersectionality (Brah, Phoenix, Collins Rahsack) and positioning theory (Harre & Langenhove 1998).

Keywords

• Intercultural communication
• Culture
• Practice theory
• Intersectionality
• Positioning theory