Research as an intercultural ‘contact zone’

Abstract

Contemporary researchers need to work across many cultural boundaries between ethnicities, between disciplines, between universities and industry, between professional cultures, and between various workplace cultures. While many authors have sought to characterise aspects of this boundary work, there remains little research on how researchers, especially research higher degree students, might be adequately prepared to work sensitively in these cultural borderlands. This article draws upon the post-colonial concept of the ‘contact zone’ to reconceptualise the knowledge and skills required by the successful intercultural researcher. It demonstrates how recognition of and engagement with cultural difference can create deconstructive, productive possibilities for innovative research and new knowledge. The article also examines the consequences of a lack of intercultural sensitivity and equity – the symbolic violence and exploitation present in the contemporary research arena. This recasting of research has significant implications for future research training.

Keywords:

• contact zone
• intercultural skills
• knowledge production
• post-colonial theory
• research
• research training

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments of Christa Critchley and the Australian Research Council, Rio Tinto, CSR Sugar Ltd., the Queensland Government Department of State Development & Cooperative Research Centre for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology, who supported this research.