Blog 5: Globalization & Intercultural Communication

     As a teenager growing up in the 1970’s in Yuma, Arizona, the world came to me via Richard, our newspaper boy, who delivered “The Yuma Daily Sun” each afternoon. Almost everything I knew about people and events outside Yuma, came directly from the local newspaper. (On days when we were really lucky, the rabbit ears allowed us to get the one channel on television, and we watched Walter Cronkite on the evening news). Communication was one-way and access to information was limited, primarily due to technology. “Letters to the editor” were the closest people could get to two-way communication!

My hometown newspaper

     Twenty-first century technology has expanded our worlds far beyond the boundaries of our hometowns or local television channels. People have access to information (news, as well as other genres) from almost anywhere in the world; we know more about people and events around the globe than any other generation in history. In addition, people can engage in conversations with people globally via Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram in real time. With the ability to communicate farther and wider, new questions need to be asked about "globalization” and “intercultural communication." How can we prepare students for the types of communication they will need in the not-too-distant future?

An example of a global media outlet



What is “Globalization” and “Intercultural Communication?

     The questions you might be asking are, “What is globalization and intercultural communication, and how is ‘intercultural communication’ different than any other kinds of communication?”  Globalization scholars define “globalization” as “the increasing interdependence and integration of social, cultural, political, and economic processes across local, national, regional, and global levels. People, artifacts, symbols, good, and services are exchanged more rapidly, frequently, and intensively, facilitated by the Internet, airline travel, wireless networks, and migration” (qtd in Starke-Meyerring 470- 471). “Intercultural communication” is a form of global communication that occurs across different cultures and social groups. In many ways, “intercultural communication” requires different skills than communication within one’s social and/or cultural group. When speaking with someone from the same culture, messages are more easily interpreted by each other due to shared values, beliefs, and expectations. When speaking with someone from a different culture, however, there can be problems in message transmission. Messages by be misinterpreted due to differences in communication expectations.

Non-examples of Intercultural Communication

     Let me illustrate the importance of “intercultural communication” through non-examples. Theoretically, news reporting is supposed to be unbiased, with reporters using the 5 W’s to drive the writing, but in the 1970’s, “The Yuma Daily Sun” wrote from only one perspective, usually Caucasian middle/upper class—decidedly not “intercultural”! I remember, quite vividly, reading an article on Cesar Chavez and the UFW. The article was less than flattering to Chavez (who just happened to be one of my father’s friends), but the “powers” in Yuma owned farms, so . . .  the article was written for the perceived audience. In the 1970’s in Yuma, Arizona, the audience (and economic support) for the local newspaper was small and consisted, primarily, of those involved in the agricultural community—farmers, farm equipment salespeople, and agriculture brokers. Even though a large percentage of the agricultural community was comprised of migrant farm workers, the paper did not consider their feelings about the UFW because they were not the targeted audience. It’s impossible to determine if the journalist who wrote the Chavez article knew there was an alternative perspective, but ignored it, or if he was completely oblivious to the concept of different points of view. Either way, the article was clearly biased and failed to consider minority voices. Reading an article like the one on Chavez today, most readers would recognize the bias right away.

      Even today, there are examples of global media outlets who do not think interculturally, although it is often more subtle than my Cesar Chavez example. Last October, Al-Jazeera Online ran a news story about the 100^th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. The headline includes the tag line, “everything you need to know about it,” but it is clearly written for an Islamic audience, or at least an audience who supports Islamic Palestinians. At the same time, “Jewish News Online,” another global outlet, also ran a story about the 100^th anniversary, but the story was about the celebrations being held for the “Jewish homeland.” These two articles—written on essentially the same topic—reveal decidedly different messages, appeals to only one cultural point of view. Each is a “single story”; it is only when read together that the more complete, balanced picture emerges.

Language is more than just language

     As the world expands and social media becomes even more ubiquitous, it is more important than ever that students learn to communicate well with others, particularly those from different cultures. It is highly likely that many students who are in high school today, will soon be part of globalized markets and transnational corporations, and even though many will never leave the United States physically, they will become part of a “digital” discourse community where speaking the same language (English, e.g.) is only the beginning. These future global employees and communicators will need to adopt the “mood, attitude, and actional possibilities of that place” (Bazerman 13). In other words, success in the world of global communication depends upon entrance into a specific discourse community. As James Gee observes, “We continually and actively build and rebuild our worlds, not just through language, but through language used in tandem with actions, interactions, non-linguistic symbol systems, objects, tools, technology, and distinctive ways of thinking, valuing, feeling, and believing” (13). If we want our students to truly communicate globally to diverse audiences, what and how we teach will necessarily need to shift.

Food for Thought: Moving from traditional curriculum to transnational

     Knowing that the world is becoming more connected and that students require expanded sets of communication skills begs the question, “How can education meet the needs our students?” First of all, we may need to ditch—or, at the very least, intensely augment—the usual 5-paragraph essay instruction in favor of teaching critical literacies. Students need to leave high school with the ability to “understand, critically assess, and productively use symbol systems (visual and verbal as well as multimedia systems)” (Starke-Meyerring 470). In addition, school districts may need to think beyond the walls of its schools by “partnering globally and building networked open-learning spaces that offer regular, just-in-time, and anytime opportunities for learners to interact with instructors, peers, and professional communicators in collaborative or coordinated courses, programs, or projects . . . and invite the voices and perspectives that are normally absent from textbooks and closed classrooms” Starke-Mayerring 495).


     I don’t know exactly know what instruction will look like in a few years, but I definitely know what it won’t look like:

Only Tangentially Related, but worth a watch!

     Below is a link to a tedtalk I discovered earlier this year and showed my students to help underscore the importance of viewing ideas from multiple perspectives. Even though Adichie is talking about literature, her thesis, "There is danger in a single," holds true for any type of writing. It is completely applicable to global communication! If you have never seen this, I highly recommend you watch this.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=adichie+ted+talk+the+danger+of+a+single+story&&view=detail&mid=EEFAA5D9D3CE19D33011EEFAA5D9D3CE19D33011&rvsmid=D64804F15F96EF00FE9CD64804F15F96EF00FE9C&FORM=VDQVAP

Next blog: Will be coming soon and be on Slam Poetry

Works Cited

Bazerman, Charles. “Genre and Identity: Citizenship in the Age of the Internet and the Age of

Global Capitalism.” Rhetoric and Ideology of Genre: Strategies for Stability and Change, 

          

          edited by Richard M. Coe, 2002.

“Discourses and Social Languages.” An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method,

          by James Paul Gee, Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2014.

     Starke-Meyerring, Doreen. "Meeting the Challenges of Globalization: A Framework for Global

     

          Literacies in Professional Communication Programs." Journal of Business and Technical 

          

          communication, vol. 19, no. 468, Sept. 2005, pp. 468-499.