Suchergebnisse

In this paper I discuss the role of intercultural communication in times of crisis. First I give an account of current crisis communication research and consider how it relates to the academic field of intercultural communication. I then discuss how the understanding of crisis is constructed through communication in the public sphere and highlight how this implies a challenge to intercultural communication studies. The case of religious climate change contributions is used to illustrate how the language and voice of the Other can interrupt ongoing debates on crises and expand the participants' imagination and interpretive horizons. This leads me to point out the key role of listening in intercultural communication. I end by arguing that both the practice and theory of intercultural crisis communication needs to develop a mode of intercultural listening and learning rather than strategic persuasion and proclamation.

In this paper I identify key features of communication and then ask in what ways power is a feature of intercultural communication. I discuss this by making use of key concepts from postcolonial theory: Empire, marginalisation and hybridity. Secondly, I discuss how the understanding of intercultural communication practice and theory should be informed by ethical considerations. I argue the presence of Empire puts a moral obligation on the relatively powerful to be aware of his or her role and function when communicating with the relatively weak and vulnerable.

In this article the broader topic of communication and identity is addressed through a discussion of intercultural involvement and national identity in the case of Norway. The main research question is how Norwegian expatriate development workers discursively sustain, challenge and (re)construct Norwegian national identity. Discussing this I draw on material from a recent study where I interviewed twenty-three development workers (). In the analysis I identify three main types of contributions development workers make to the construction of a Norwegian national identity and label them according to three priestly roles: the prophet who criticises the powerful, the counsellor who comforts and strengthens his flock, or the priest as a unifying symbol of the group.