Human Encounters

Table Of Contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• About the author(s)/editor(s)
• About the book
• This eBook can be cited
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: Understanding in a Global World
• Globalization: A word with many meanings
• Globalization and the nation state
• Purity, Creole or hybrid?
• To understand and be understood
• Understanding, lack of understanding and misunderstanding
• Golden moments
• Different categorizations
• To communicate is to negotiate about meaning
• Chapter 2: Culture: Something We Have or Something We Do?
• What is culture?
• Descriptive concept of culture
• Essentialist cultural understanding: Culture is something we have
• Dynamic cultural understanding: Culture is something we do
• Phenomenological approach
• Culture as a verb
• Different labels: Dynamic approach
• Summing up different understandings of culture
• Cultural dimensions
• Cultural frames of reference
• Chapter 3: Communication is Creating Something Together
• Communication models
• The classic model of communication process
• Meaning and understanding
• Stereotypes: Putting people into boxes
• Prejudices: “Frozen stereotypes”
• Othering
• The danger of culturism
• Ethnocentrism, cultural relativism and empathy
• Meta-communication
• Content communication and relational communication
• Symmetry and asymmetry in communication
• Cross-cultural and intercultural communication
• Intra-cultural and intercultural communication: Cultural Distance
• Theory and practice: Models of analysis in communication
• Chapter 4: Process Analysis: Building Bridges
• Various forms of intercultural communication
• Intercultural communication using static cultural approach
• Contrasts between assumptions and values: An essentialist case
• Intercultural communication using the dynamic cultural approach
• Culture Filter model
• A case illustrating the use of the culture filter model
• Communication without intention
• The importance of context
• High context and low context
• Chapter 5: Semiotic Analysis: Interpreting Signs
• Semiotics: The study of signs
• Codes are systems of meaning
• Icon, index, symbol and position of the sign
• Model of semiotic analysis
• Production of meaning
• Unlimited semiosis
• Signification and meaning
• Metaphor, irony, metonymy and idiom
• Chapter 6: Hermeneutic Analysis: Understanding
• Prejudice, pre-judgement and pre-understanding
• Horizon of understanding and the fusion of horizons
• The hermeneutic circle: Circle of understanding
• Three stages of understanding in human encounters
• Closed and open communication
• From individual to society
• Hermeneutics as an analytical tool
• The many faces of power
• A case for analysis
• Chapter 7: Verbal Communication: Language
• Spoken verbal language
• Written verbal language
• Sign language
• Human language skills
• Grammatical competence
• Communicative competence
• Language and perception of reality
• Learning languages: A gateway to new universes
• Words are ambiguous
• Denotation and connotation
• Sounds may create difficulties
• Different intonation gives different meanings
• Different construction of sentences: Syntax
• Grammar is different
• The habits of the mother tongue are transferred
• Different uses of “yes” and “no”
• Pragmatics: Language in use
• Use of etiquette
• Use of turn-taking
• Use of silence
• Use of non-words and listening words
• Use of humour
• Understatements and overstatements
• Use of irony
• Communication strategies
• Modes of expression
• Communicative style
• Rhetoric: Strategies of persuasion
• Logical reasoning
• Emotional arguments
• Analogical reasoning
• Translation
• Formal equivalence: Word-by-word-translation
• Dynamic equivalence: Content translation
• Concept translation
• Interpreting
• Paralanguage
• Chapter 8: Non-Verbal Communication: Body Language
• What is non-verbal communication?
• Body language
• Five sign classes
• We communicate with the body
• The face
• The smile
• Eye contact and gaze
• Gestures
• Body movements: Kinesics
• Posture
• Touching, body contact, and greeting customs
• Use of distance and space: Proxemics
• Other non-verbal signals
• Appearance
• Dressing
• Odour
• Taste
• Colours
• Gift-giving
• How to use body language
• Chapter 9: Identity: Who Am I?
• How do we become who we are?
• Descriptive cultural identity
• Dynamic cultural identity
• Living in different worlds
• Group identity and multiple identities
• Identification: Playing our cards
• Split or whole personality?
• “Third-culture kids” or “Trans-cultural kids”
• Being a stranger
• The U-curve or valley of uncertainty
• Re-entry or reverse culture shock
• Adults move, children are moved
• “We” and “the others”
• Where are the borders?
• Minority and majority
• Chapter 10: Context and Reality: Why Are They Doing This?
• Cultural frames of reference or contextual factors
• The sphere of worldview components
• Functions of the worldview
• Worldview as religion and philosophy of life
• Worldview as key to interpretation
• Sphere of social components
• Collectivistic and individualistic societies
• Honour and shame
• Spheres of communication
• Sphere of individual components
• The Johari window model: A glance into yourself
• Perception: We see through our experience
• Emotions communicate
• Sympathy and empathy
• Understanding time
• Linear time
• Cyclical time
• Event time
• Chapter 11: To Understand Oneself and Others
• Understanding using our experience: Interpretative schemes
• Expectations of each other
• Sticking your finger into the earth
• Conflict management
• Conflicts of interest and negotiations
• Conflicts of values and mediation
• Conflicts of relationship
• Conflicts of power: Ruling techniques
• Conflicts of culture
• Ethical demand and ethical challenges
• The frog and the sea
• Bibliography
• Index
• Series index