Intercultural Interaction. A Multidisciplinary Approach to Intercultural Communication

1st edition. — UK, Great Britain, CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne, 2009. — 384 p.“Intercultural interaction” refers to the behavior (including, but not limited to, verbal and nonverbal communication) that occurs when members of different cultural groups engage in joint activity. Such a definition raises a number of questions, including how to distinguish different cultural groups and what interaction entails. Traditionally, nationality or ethnicity has been taken as the criterion for distinguishing cultural groups, but in fact the situation is much more complex than this. We are all members of multiple different cultural groups (e.g., professional, organizational, religious), each of which can be said to have its own culture in terms of values, norms, and patterns of behavior. So what then counts as “intercultural” interaction? There is no definitive answer to this question, but Spencer‐Oatey and Franklin suggest that an interaction becomes intercultural (rather than intracultural) when the cultural difference between the participants is significant enough for one or more of them to notice its impact. Analysts of intercultural interaction are thus chiefly concerned with the impact of culture on the dynamics of engagement with others. Numerous different approaches can be taken, and in this entry we focus on three issues that are often of concern to the interactants: achieving understanding, managing relations, and analyzing identity and personal growth.