Inter/Cultural Communication

Aiming to resist the emphasis on the social scientific approach that dominates the intercultural communication curriculum, Kurylo (communication arts, Marymount Manhattan College) assembles a group of intercultural communication, psychology, and other scholars and researchers from the US, Australia, Europe, and Japan for 15 chapters introducing intercultural communication to undergraduate students through multiple approaches: social scientific, interpretivist, critical, and dialogic social constructivist. They combine the four approaches to show students the diversity of issues relevant to understanding the topic. They include case studies, narratives, and examples, and focus on a broad definition of culture that is inclusive of gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, class, geographic location, generational identity, and other aspects; focus on learning about underrepresented cultural groups; integrate interpersonal topics like verbal and nonverbal communication; and emphasize research. They cover basic concepts, identity and group membership, and issues related to navigating a culturally complex world and applications of intercultural communication to advocacy and traditional and new media. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)