Ankara Universitesi ILEF Dergisi

Abstract

This essay examines the paradigmatic turns in the field of intercultural communication studies from its beginning to the present. Established in the mid-twentieth century to serve the political interests of the United States, the field was for decades positioned on the side of American hegemony and the status quo. Accordingly, its focus as a research field long remained the state and corporate organizations. For the same reason, the field has been slow in responding to paradigmatic shifts in the social sciences and to the historical and political events that have informed social life and intercultural encounters. Despite this delay, since the 1990s, critical social-constructivist approaches have begun to find a solid footing in the field. Critical approaches have problematized the field’s relationship with power, its understanding of culture and communication, its approach to macro conflict, and its negative view of “difference.” Critics have called on the field to distance itself from the status quo, to position itself on the side of disadvantaged social groups, and to promote social justice and an egalitarian society. They have also emphasized that intercultural encounters in the globalized world are not only face-to-face, drawing attention to intercultural interaction in and through the media, literature, and the arts. As a result, the field of intercultural communication has expanded to include mediated intercultural communication. Since the 1990s, some critical and activist scholars have begun to appear in the still-young field of intercultural communication, developing their critique of the field with insights from postcolonial literature. Drawing on their work, this article seeks to defend these approaches and the growing critical turn within the field of intercultural communication, highlighting its potential to promote a more egalitarian society.