Intercultural communication: Where we’ve been, where we’re going, issues we face

Abstract

The purpose of this review is to critically analyze the state of intercultural communication literature. This review has three purposes. First, this review summarizes where the discipline has been, paying close attention to the discipline’s history and some key areas of research. Second, this review discusses where the discipline is going, with an emphasis on how the discipline is expanding into new contextual areas of research. Finally, the review presents challenges, issues, and areas for future discussion for intercultural communication.

Keywords:

• intercultural communication
• identity
• competence
• adaptation
• health care
• social media

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen M. Croucher

Stephen Croucher, PhD, is a Professor of Intercultural Communication at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His present research interests include immigrant cultural adaptation, organizational dissent, integrated threat theory, and religion and communication. He has published widely on issues related to cultural adaptation and organizational communication. He is the co-author (with Daniel Cronn-Mills) of Understanding Communication Research Methods: A theoretical and practical approach (Routledge, 2015), co-editor (with Tina Harris) of Religion and Communication: An anthology of extensions in theory, research, and method (Peter Lang, 2012), co-author (with Daniel Cronn-Mills) of Religious Misperceptions: The case of Muslims and Christians in France and Britain (Hampton Press, 2011), and author of Looking beyond the hijab (Hampton Press, 2008). Currently he is working on two books: Understanding communication theory: A practical approach (Routledge, 2016), and Global Perspectives on Intercultural Communication (Routledge, 2017).

Mélodine Sommier

Mélodine Sommier, M.A., is a doctoral student in Intercultural Communication at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her present research interests include discourses of culture, critical approaches to intercultural communication, and immigration and integration issues. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the cultural resonance of discourses of secularism in news media.

Diyako Rahmani

Diyako Rahmani, MA, is a PhD student of intercultural communication at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His main area of research is concentrated on the communication traits among the minority groups especially Kurdistan.