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Title: Historical Intersections of Intercultural Studies (ll)

Historical Intersections of Intercultural Studies (ll)

Directions and Dynamics

by Michael Steppat (Volume editor) Steve J. Kulich (Volume editor)
©2026 Monographs LII, 388 Pages
Science, Society & Culture
Series: Intercultural Research, Volume 2

Summary

Like culture itself, the field of intercultural studies is a product of historical events and encounters. The values, norms, beliefs, and experiences of previous generations shape our current perspectives and procedures in this field. Inversely, our intercultural positionality also leads to different interpretations of history. We know that the same events will belong to different stories and assume a variable significance in more than one narrative (Louis Mink). Thus, we should place greater importance on the intersection between our intercultural trajectories and their historical directions both in research and in practical activities, as histories provide the dynamics necessary to understand the dimensions of our intercultural activities. Modifying the approaches of recent inquiries into histories of the field, this volume addresses and expands on earlier lines of research, while it also acknowledges and qualifies the common overemphasis on Western philosophical roots.
The SISU Intercultural Institute has contributed to the field with the Intercultural Research series, and this book fills important gaps in the literature. It makes a significant contribution by integrating major sociocultural developments like the pioneering work of Edward Hall and concepts of study abroad, and it presents multilevel perspectives on intercultural professional development and the complex field of area studies.
Professor Dharm Bhawuk, PhD, University of Hawai‘i

For many readers this book will be a “treasure chest” for the exploration of multiple views on the history of intercultural communication (research) and its connectedness with various academic disciplines and traditions. With its wide array of themes, from the groundbreaking research of Edward Hall to concepts of humanism in China, the text is highly recommended for beginners as well as advanced readers.
Prof. Dr. em. Jürgen Henze, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Contents
  • List of Figures
  • List of Table
  • Intercultural Research. Series Foreword (Michael H. Prosser)
  • Volume Foreword. Why Interculturality is Problematic (Wim M. J. van Binsbergen)
  • Notes
  • References
  • Tracing Developments of Intercultural Research and Practice (Michael Steppat & Steve J. Kulich)
  • 1. Our Main Tasks
  • 2. Objects of Inquiry
  • 3. The Challenges of Intercultural Histories
  • 3.1. Representation
  • 3.2 Temporality
  • Past / Present / …
  • Coexistence
  • Supplement and Iteration
  • 3.3. Objectivity
  • Detachment
  • Situated Claims
  • Bracketing
  • 4. Conclusion: Dynamic History
  • The Scope and Contents of This Volume
  • Historical Perspectives II Education and Pedagogy
  • East Asian Intercultural Dynamics 1: China
  • East Asian Intercultural Dynamics 2: Japan
  • Foundations and Pioneers
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
  • PART I Education and Pedagogy
  • 1 Conceptualization of Culture for Intercultural Communication Training (Ray S. Leki & Steve J. Kulich)
  • I. A Classic Interview with Edward T. Hall† with a Bibliography (Ray S. Leki & Steve J. Kulich)
  • I. Interview
  • Introduction: The Background of the FSI and Hall’s Related Contributions
  • The Point Four Program and Technical Cooperation Authority (TCA)
  • This Classic Interview
  • Introduction References
  • The Occasion: An Anniversary Symposium, 1997
  • The Context: The Early Days of the FSI and Anthropological Ideas in the 1950s
  • Reframing the Conceptualization of Culture
  • The Operationalization of Culture for Training
  • Early Awareness of Distinct Micro Cultures
  • Contributions to Interdisciplinary Integration
  • An Operational Psychoanalytic Process: Message—Channel—Slot—Button
  • Adapting Training to Keep Up with Rapid Volatile Change
  • II. Toward a Comprehensive Bibliography of Edward T. Hall’s Works (Steve J. Kulich & John C. Condon)
  • Introduction
  • Constructing a Chronological Bibliography
  • Online Resources
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • A Chronological E. T. Hall Bibliography
  • 2 A Short Conceptual History of Intercultural Learning in Study Abroad (Milton J. Bennett)
  • Introduction
  • A Clash of Assumptions
  • The Birth of Intercultural Communication
  • The Intercultural Communications Workshop
  • Exemplars of Intercultural Learning in Study Abroad
  • A Case Study of Moderate Success
  • Seminal Intercultural Learning Publications and NAFSA Benchmarks
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • 3 Stories of Storytelling: Autoethnography of Intercultural Professional Development (1) (George F. Simons)
  • PART 1: George Simons, Autoethnographic Reflections
  • Immigrant Roots
  • Fearless Mentoring, Curiosity
  • Prejudice, Hiding and Passing
  • Domestic Diversity, Community and Academic Engagement
  • Identity Through Exploring One’s Own Story
  • Fellowship and Career Shift
  • Cultural Discovery in Moving and Wandering
  • Consulting and Training
  • Partnering and Creativity
  • Hidden Valley Center for Men
  • Identifying as an Interculturalist
  • Sole Proprietorship and Publication
  • diversophy® is Born
  • Diversity Meets Cultures Abroad
  • Academic Takeaways
  • Gamification
  • Simulations
  • Expiry and Rejuvenation
  • Storytelling, Metanarratives and Neuroscience
  • Stimulating Synchronicity–The Intercultural Mission and Its Challenges Going Forward?
  • Notes
  • References
  • 4 Stories of Storytelling: Autoethnography of Intercultural Professional Development (2) (Weirong Li)
  • PART 2: Weirong Li, Autoethnographic Reflections
  • How do you sense that your ethnic, national, regional, family, genetic, etc., origins shaped you or played into your eventual diversity or intercultural work?
  • What elements in your education contributed to your interest in or prepared you for engagement in diversity and intercultural affairs? How did they do this?
  • What life experiences, activities, events, travels, etc. played into your thinking and activities around diversity and intercultural matters? How did they do this?
  • How do you see the future of this work and your role in it? What are its challenges, and your thoughts about meeting them? In what directions must the intercultural profession, its members and organizations move going forward?
  • PART II East Asian Intercultural Dynamics 1: China
  • 5 Why Propose “Transcultural Communication” Today? (Jiang Fei)
  • Introduction
  • Problem Awareness and Origin of the Research
  • Phased Global Consensus on Communication-Between-Cultures Research as a Starting Point for More Consensus
  • Cognitive Transformation of Communication-Between-Cultures Research
  • Locating China’s Intercultural Communication Studies
  • Concluding Without Conclusion
  • References
  • 6 Translation, Reconstruction, and Circulation of the Concept of Humanism in Modern China (1900s–1920s): A Case Study of Humanistic Thoughts by the Critical Review School (Yu Chang)
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Methodological Considerations
  • 3. Sources of Modern Chinese Humanistic Discourse
  • 3.1. Foreign Inspiration: Humanism in Western Intellectual History
  • 3.2. “Equivalence” Established: Entry of Neologisms into Modern Chinese Language
  • 3.2.1 Rendao and Renwen: On the Ancient Uses of the Words
  • 3.2.2 Rendao Zhuyi and Renwen Zhuyi: Uses in Dictionaries and Lexica
  • 4. Renwen Zhuyi Discourse: Alternative Approach to Modernity
  • 4.1. Wu Mi: Upholding a Humanistic Life
  • 4.2. Mei Guangdi: Involving Citizens in a Refined Cultural Agenda
  • 4.3. Hu Xiansu: Cultivating Moral / Intellectual Leaders
  • 5. Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • 7 Integrating Intercultural Studies, Chinese Studies, and Social Science Theory (Danny Hsu)
  • Introduction
  • The East/West Binary
  • Western Ideas and Chinese Cultural Identity
  • The Individual in Modern China
  • At the Intersection of Chinese Studies and Intercultural Studies
  • References
  • 8 Tracking the History of Intercultural Communication in China from the Perspective of Published Books (Suo Gefei)
  • Introduction
  • 1. Literature Review
  • 2. Research Design
  • 2.1. Research Object
  • 2.2. Theoretical Framework
  • 2.2.1 Who is the Beneficiary?
  • 2.2.2 How to Evaluate?
  • 2.3. Research Methodology
  • 3. Research Findings
  • 3.1. Trend of Development
  • 3.1.1 The Introduction and Founding Stage (1983–1999)
  • 3.1.2 The Burgeoning Stage (2000–2011)
  • 3.1.3 The Maturing Stage (2012–Now)
  • 3.2. Categorization of IC Books and Major Topics
  • 3.2.1 Major Types of IC Books
  • 3.2.2 Research Topics
  • 4. Discussion
  • 4.1. IC: A Field Full of Vitality in China
  • 4.2. Intercultural Mass Communication OR IC Studies in Higher Education
  • 4.3. Some Weaknesses of Current IC Studies
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • 9 Orientalism Revisited: British and American Portrayals of China (1750–1840) (Rongtian Tong)
  • 1. Introduction
  • 1.1. Orientalist Perceptions: The Case of China
  • 1.2. British and American Perspectives
  • 1.3. Orientalism in a Chinese Context
  • 1.4. Connections to Intercultural Communication
  • 2. British Interactions with the Chinese
  • 2.1. Early British Ambivalence Toward Chinoiserie
  • 2.2. The British Merchant Perspective
  • 2.3. The British Diplomat Perspective
  • 2.4. The British Missionary Perspective
  • 2.5. Synthesis of British Attitudes
  • 3. American Interactions with the Chinese
  • 3.1. Early Contact Between America and China
  • 3.2. The American Merchant Perspective
  • 3.3. The American Diplomat Perspective
  • 3.4. The American Missionary Perspective
  • 3.5. Conclusions on the American Perspective
  • 4. Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Supplement
  • References
  • PART III East Asian Intercultural Dynamics 2: Japan
  • 10 Internationality and Transnationality: Translation and Area Studies (Naoki Sakai)
  • 1. The National Studies of Japan and Area Studies on Japan
  • 2. Prescriptive Attitude/Anticipatory Desire
  • 3. Internationality and Mapping
  • 4. The Modern Regime of Translation and Internationality
  • 5. Many in One
  • 6. Translation as Continuity in Discontinuity
  • 7. Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • 11 Intercultural Image Studies of Okakura Tenshin’s English Works (Lin Zhi)
  • Introduction: New Paradigms in Intercultural Communication Studies
  • Toward a Dialectical Perspective
  • Intercultural Images in Okakura’s Works
  • The Western Images of Asia
  • Reimaging the Images of the West
  • The Self-constructed Images of Asia
  • Dynamic Process of Othering and Self-othering
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • PART IV Foundations and Pioneers
  • 12 Prefigurations of Intercultural Thinking: Explorations in Ancient Sources (Michael Steppat & Rongtian Tong)
  • 1. Introduction
  • 1.1. Significance of Historical Inquiries
  • 1.2. Difficulties and Limitations
  • 1.3. Major Regions
  • 1.4. Interdependent Texts and Categories
  • 2. Foreign Languages
  • 2.1. Barbarian Language and Speech
  • 2.2. Valorization of Foreign Languages
  • 2.2.1 Sources from Antiquity
  • 2.2.1.1 Greek Sources
  • 2.2.1.2 Roman Sources
  • 2.2.2 Medieval Sources
  • 3. Countering Ethnocentric Bias
  • 3.1. Sources from Antiquity
  • 3.1.1. Greek Texts
  • 3.1.2. Roman Texts
  • 3.1.3. Egyptian Narrative
  • 3.1.4. Chinese Sources
  • 3.2. Medieval Sources
  • 3.2.1. Europe, the Middle East, and Beyond
  • 3.2.2. Europe’s Place in the World
  • 3.2.3. Non-European Sources
  • 4. Travel
  • 4.1. Sources from Antiquity
  • 4.1.1. Greek Sources
  • 4.1.1.1 Non-Philosophical Texts
  • 4.1.1.2 Plato
  • 4.1.2. Commercial Travel and Minority Status
  • 4.1.3. Old Testament
  • 4.1.4. Chinese Sources
  • 4.2. Medieval Sources: Asia and Europe
  • 5. Cosmopolitan Thought: Sources from Antiquity
  • 5.1. Non-European Sources
  • 5.1.1. Old Testament
  • 5.1.2. Chinese Sources
  • 5.1.3. Middle Eastern and Indian Sources
  • 5.2. European Sources
  • 5.2.1. Greek Texts
  • 5.2.2. Europe and Asia: Alexander’s Mediation
  • 5.2. Foundational Religious Sources
  • 6. Further Aspects of Cultural Interaction
  • 6.1. Ancient Sources
  • 6.2. Medieval Sources
  • 7. Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • 13 The Non-Western Legacy: Bīrūnī as a Pioneer of Intercultural Thinking and Studies (Hamid Mowlana)
  • The Untold Legacy: Bīrūnī as a Pioneer of Intercultural Studies
  • Islam and the Pursuit of Knowledge
  • Biruni: Polymath and Innovator
  • Biruni’s Studies of Indian Culture
  • Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
  • About the Authors
  • About the Series

List of Figures

Figure 1: Core objects of inquiry for the histories of the intercultural communication research and practice field

Figure 6.1: Wu Mi, “L’Humanisme Positiviste d’Irving Babbitt”Figure 6.2: (《白璧德之人文主义》)

Figure 8.1: General distribution of 150 books

Graph 1: Major types of IC books

List of Table

Table 8.1: Comparison Between Intercultural Interpersonal Communication and Mass Communication

Intercultural Research Series Foreword

Michael H. Prosser

Chair of the SII International Advisory Board

Ancient Athens served as an intercultural and intellectual crossroads for Asia and Europe. The Greek philosopher, Socrates’ famous statement “I am neither a citizen of Athens, nor of Greece, but of the world” speaks eloquently of the impact of intercultural communication, comparative analysis, and the importance of identity clarification both in his and contemporary society. Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all looked outward from their own culture, identifying or debating major world value orientations such as goodness, justice, truth, and happiness. For East Asia, multiple schools of thought developed during the Spring and Autumn Period, shaping China’s cross-state communication. Confucius’ Analects articulated the role of ren (benevolence and kindness), li (propriety and right living through ritual), de (moral power), dao (internalized moral direction), and mianzi or lian (externalized social image and harmony). These Confucian orientations were integrated into what became the fabric of not only the Chinese state, but the educational and philosophical orientation of much of East and South-Eastern Asia.

All of these early cultural conceptualizations of identities and values strongly support the potentially positive intercultural, multicultural, and global world orientations that have enhanced a dialogue of civilizations and cultures, and stress factors that are unifying rather than divisive. The challenge continues to be substantial since intercultural, multicultural, and global communication might just as easily be highly negative with increasing war, poverty, crime, and pandemics. The goal of all those interested in promoting a better local and global society vastly prefers the former.

The location from which this series originates shows some of these dynamics and contradictions. Just as each nation and people must deal with highs and lows, China is grappling both with some of the positive dialogues of modernization and internationalization, and also the challenges of divergent cultural or global discourses. From the depths of the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan that rallied not only the nation’s, but the world’s sympathy, engagement and commitment to rebuild, to the heights of the spectacularly well-orchestrated and successful 2008 Beijing Olympics; from the ongoing challenges of natural disasters like floods or human tragedies and accidents or the global financial crisis, to the futuristic development of Shanghai and its visionary and record-breaking participation and cooperation at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, we see these human and intercultural dynamics at work.

I would suggest that intercultural communication-as-a-field has emerged to embody and embrace both these challenges of human clashes and the dialogues across cultures and civilizations. The anthropologists Edward T. Hall and Ruth Benedict serve as the symbolic grandparents of intercultural communication in North America, though neither set out to begin a new field. Others in North America in the 1960s and 1970s and coming from various viewpoints (see Vol. 2 for the complete list of influencing scholars) and I sought early to develop an intercultural communication discipline or sub-discipline, which has now spread broadly through much of the academic world.

When the field of intercultural communication began to develop rapidly in China during the 1980s and 1990s, Chinese scholars each brought and Sinicized many of these western intercultural theories and practical implications for China. Concerned international scholars have also sought to indigenize social and cultural psychology and the humanities to strengthen Chinese scholarship on intercultural communication. Currently many Chinese scholars, either in China itself, in North America, or other regions around the world, have developed robust theories and models or have postulated newer ones, as documented in the premier volume of this series, Intercultural Perspectives on Chinese Communication (2007).

The SISU Intercultural Institute (SII) of Shanghai International Studies University’s (SISU), under Steve J. Kulich (Gu Lixing 顾力行), has accepted a mandate to undertake an Intercultural Research series of volumes which seeks to publish “cutting-edge and seminal articles on the state of the intercultural field” in a variety of areas. As formulated in the establishment of the series, Kulich emphasized that “Each volume will focus on one primary domain and will include diverse theoretical and applied research from cultural, intercultural or cross-cultural approaches for that area, seeking to present and frame a ‘state of the art’ or an extended development summary on the topic.”

The SII is committed to close cooperation with both Chinese and international scholars, and that was reflected since the first, where domestic scholars of the CAFIC were joined by international scholars from various disciplinary or research perspectives to contribute IC research from their respective areas of focus. SII is also committed to highlight and bring some integration to the diverse disciplines that influence, contribute to or are informed by intercultural scholarship. This is illustrated particularly by efforts in that first and subsequent volumes to invite contributions from communication studies at both the interpersonal (jiaoji) as well as mass communication (chuanbo) levels and also to include the perspectives of cultural psychology, cultural anthropology and other related fields. The interdisciplinary nature of IC motivates the SII team to identify and integrate those aspects that contribute to shared foundations for the field, especially as these reflect intercultural, multicultural human development, or in short, to “develop a discipline to develop people.”

This focus on cooperation continued first with disciplinary assessment and development seminars (in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016, a continuing hallmark of the institute), the biennial thematic IC conferences held by Shanghai Normal University, dynamic cooperation among CAFIC Shanghai Branch institutions (which also includes regular cross-city scholar forums and the annual IC outstanding M.A. thesis conference) and international partners like the University of Bayreuth, Bavaria, Germany (from which the collaboration for this volume has emerged). Each volume has highlighted interdisciplinary and multi-perspective scholarship on Identity and Intercultural Communication: focusing on I: Theoretical and Contextual Construction (Vol. 2), and II: Conceptual and Contextual Applications (Vol. 3). Other volumes in the series take up the important topic of IC values—Value Frameworks at the Theoretical Crossroads of Culture (Vol. 4) and Value Dimensions and Their Contextual Dynamics Across Cultures (Vol. 5). Later volumes focus on subsequent themes, like IC and acculturation (Vols. 6 and 7), IC and comparative literature, which now has nationally listed disciplinary status (Vols. 8, 9, and 10), historical trajectories (Vols. 11 and 12), and other topics for IC disciplinary development.

Naturally, since Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press is publishing the series, Chinese academic contributions are especially encouraged, as well as those from the wider international academic community. In his foreword for the first volume, Intercultural Perspectives on Chinese Communication (2007), Shijie Guan noted that three features characterize the series: (1) It serves as an interdisciplinary platform for China’s IC research; (2) It emphasizes the importance of scientific methodology in IC research; (3) It focuses on the localization of IC research. He concludes his remarks by saying that “The publication of this series is an occasion to celebrate for the entire Chinese community: My hope is that it develops into a series that is interdisciplinary, methodology-promoting, indigenized into the Chinese settings and blend well theories with practice (p. xvi).” As he also notes in that foreword, “In today’s world, communication between various cultures have become an important task for human beings. Just as Lourdes Arizpe, chair of the Scientific Committee of the World Culture Report, 2000, says, ‘Cultural exchanges are in fact the axis of the new phenomena’ as global cultures develop and change (p. ix).”

Since the initial books by Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language, The Hidden Dimension, Beyond Culture, and The Dance of Life began to shape the early study of intercultural communication theoretically and practically, so too, it is reasonable to assume that these volumes might provide new impetus for the academic study of various cultural contexts. The historical development, frameworks and research approaches presented both by well-established and emerging scholars in these volumes will surely move the academic understanding of key intercultural topic areas ahead. Each volume’s contribution toward highlighting theoretical constructs, clarifying the “state of the art” and presenting cutting-edge research and practical applications will hopefully contribute to a new apex in the field of intercultural communication. To the ongoing development of the intercultural communication discipline both in China and abroad this series is dedicated.

International Academy for Intercultural Research (IAIR)
2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Charlottesville, Virginia

Volume Foreword Why Interculturality is Problematic

Wim M. J. van Binsbergen

African Studies Center, University of Leiden; Erasmus University, Rotterdam

The concept of interculturality has presented itself to the world as a program characterized by clarity and hope. It has often suggested that the constituent parts into which humankind seems to be divided are on the one hand unmistakably defined, internally integrated in themselves, and unequivocally marked within their own neat boundaries—but on the other hand, that between these parts constructive interaction and mutual understanding are possible, even on what is commended as a basis of equality—so that we may at long last be on our way Zum ewigen Frieden, to peace eternal (Kant, 1959). In light of the promises of interculturality as a collective representation, many of the historical ills of humanity—our divisiveness, group hatred, mutual exclusion, exploitation, mutual violence, historical inequality as in slavery and class formation, anomia (given the recent destruction—under the onslaught of globalization and of the technological innovations that made it possible—of long-established religious beliefs and cultural values) may appear to be ephemeral and epiphenomenal. Against the background of this lofty (even though patently unrealistic) prospect, it is little wonder that the concept of interculturality has conquered not only the media but also the world of scholarship over the last quarter of a century1—a trend to which the present Intercultural Research book bears witness.

The present composite argument, which I am offering here and have then offered at greater length in the chapter “The Shadow Play” (Intercultural Research Vol. 1), consists of several parts.

In that chapter contribution, I explore interculturality theoretically, trace some of its historical and disciplinary antecedents, and point out some of the limitations which have sprung from that origin. Here a major contradiction becomes apparent, whose negotiation causes considerable effort. As an anthropologist, I have been steeped in a dominant paradigm that, ever since the 1960s, has sought to deconstruct the self-evidence with which the actors themselves perceive their social world as composed of tribes, nations, cultures, and ethnic groups. But if such collectivities, in the hands of social scientists, may be reduced to nostalgic and even ideological figments of the imagination that have no real, tangible existence, does not that also mean that interculturality, as (presumably) the interaction between cultures, can only exist as a form of similarly ideological wishful thinking? We should try to free ourselves from deceptive elements that have cluttered around interculturality and yet retain the concept in order to put it to some better use. Within the limited allotted space, I shall cursorily take a sobering look at culture, identity, ethnicity, national and international political space, and at inequality—and seek to peer through the smokescreen that interculturality has oftentimes entailed as an intellectual and even political perspective.

We cannot give up the concept of interculturality: not only because humanity’s future seems largely to depend on it, but also because practically and personally our experience with possible and even realized interculturality has clearly been extensive. For me it has formed the backbone of my adult life as a person, offering some of the most valuable and instructive episodes of my life, and as an intellectual, pressing me to develop my thinking beyond the complacency of Eurocentric hegemony. This highly selective exploration (and our present scope does not allow for more—a series of books would be more appropriate format) will be frustrated by limitations of publication space and also by the inevitable personal constraints (disciplinary, theoretical, regional, paradigmatic, bibliographic, and linguistic) informing any intellectual product. The greatest handicap, however, may be that, in the course of this discussion, I seem to reject some assumptions of modern societal ideology, and to resist what some fellow scholars consider as a meaningful perspective toward a better world.2 Deconstructing ideas that for the people who hold them are a source of hope and an inspiration for political action, but that if ill-understood may invite anger, rejection, ridicule, even aggression: in such an endeavor, one may seem to deny—for the sake of some abstract, theoretical, uninspiring, lifeless truth—to specific and newly emancipating sections of humanity (nations that in the recent past still sighed under colonial rule; women; sexual minorities; people of color; recent intercontinental migrants) the very dignity, self-esteem, and pride they are struggling for or may have recently won, usually at the cost of long and painful historical battles. Can we still take seriously the promise—a basic tenet of critical intellectual life throughout the centuries and the continents—that grounded insight, gained as the result of painstaking critical reflection and the broadest empirical inspection, not only feeds intellectual life but also leads to a lasting, liberating insight changing the future for the better of humankind as a whole?

In extending this argument in the chapter “The Shadow Play” of which I have spoken above, a focus on Africa there as well as in some other places will turn out to be both timely and felicitous, alongside a concern with other important global regions. In our world’s cultural heritage, this continent has functioned not only as the labor reserve from which slaves and migrants have left for an often deplorable transcontinental future, but also as a laboratory for the dynamics of identity, ethnicity (especially in the post-Independence African context, intercultural is often an ill-analyzed synonym for merely interethnic: cf. Kom, 1995), inequality, the national and international political spaces in which these dynamics situate themselves, and the economic, ideological, and religious processes informing the transcontinental development.

On that continent are the scenes of several prolonged spells of my own fieldwork, in more than a handful of African countries between 1968 and 2011. Here also is the continent of my social-scientific and intercultural-philosophical competence as brought out in publications, extensive teaching, and decades of supervision of the research of others. I have been speaking six African languages, am conversant with a similar number of local African sociocultural settings, am at home in at least two African villages whose inhabitants are my close kin. I have been an ethnic activist for the Nkoya people of Zambia and have attained recognition as an African philosopher (cf. van Binsbergen, 2008). Transcontinentally, but also in my private personal life (when it comes to worldview, the continuity of generations, the place of humans in nature, the scope and limits of our ability to know and act) I often identify as an African—in line with the definition which the South African freedom fighter Robert Sobukwe would give of that identity: “any person who considers Africa, home.” This in itself, given my origin in a Northwest European urban neighborhood, should already be enough to believe in the possibility and actual existence of interculturality, following from the African context. But my parallel identities as a North Atlantic anthropologist and philosopher have rendered me self-conscious and lured me into an argument involving some critical reflections on interculturality, as well as on historical methodology.

Perhaps most important in the African part of my discourse is my claim that, while interethnic relations largely make up the socio-political space in Africa, this in itself does not mean interculturality. That is because African cultural orientations, especially in Niger-Congo-(>Bantu)-speaking Africa, tend to apply to huge geographic extensions, far from being neatly confined within the commonly recognized, and named, boundaries of ethnic groups such as exist in the locals’ consciousness.3 On the contrary, interculturality in Africa in the first place has come to involve evidence of (including but not limited to actors’ conscious reference to) transcontinental exchanges.

We might let ourselves be inspired, then, to a critical scrutiny of the words of philosopher Kwasi Wiredu:

Philosophical insight is not exclusive to any one race, culture, or creed. A corollary of this is that such insights can be shared across cultures. Of course, the same applies to philosophical errors. […] Philosophical dialogue is possible among the inhabitants of all cultures, and can be fruitful both intellectually and practically. (Wiredu, 1998, p. 154–155)

Notes

Details

Pages
LII, 388
Publication Year
2026
ISBN (PDF)
9783034352901
ISBN (ePUB)
9783034352918
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783034352895
DOI
10.3726/b22240
Language
English
Publication date
2026 (January)
Keywords
Intercultural studies intercultural research and practice intercultural communication cross-cultural encounters history of science Historical Intersections of Intercultural Studies (II): Directions and Dynamics Michael Steppat Steve J. Kulich
Published
New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, Oxford, 2025. LII, 388 pp., 7 b/w ill., 1 tables.
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Michael Steppat (Volume editor) Steve J. Kulich (Volume editor)

Michael Steppat (Ph.D. from University of Münster, Germany) is Professor of Literature in English at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and has been serving as international faculty member at Shanghai International Studies University. He has been a Fulbright scholar at the University of Texas (Austin) and professor at Arizona State University. He has received Fellowships from Amherst College and the John Kluge Center. Book publications include Honor, Face and Violence: Cross-Cultural Representations of Honor Cultures and Face Cultures and Literature and Interculturality (3 volumes). Steve J. Kulich (Ph.D. from Humboldt Universität zu Berlin) is Distinguished Professor at Shanghai International Studies University, Founder/Co-Director of its Intercultural Institute, and has served as President of the International Academy for Intercultural Research (IAIR). Widely published, he co-edited the Vol. 36(6) Special Issue on Intercultural Pioneers for the International Journal of Intercultural Relations (2012) and is Founding Co-Editor of both the Intercultural Research topical volume series and the Journal of Intercultural Communication & Interactions Research (JICIR).

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Title: Historical Intersections of Intercultural Studies (ll)