Cultural Diplomacy,Branding and the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20

The Global Cultural Initiative (GCI) was a flagship cultural diplomacy effort introduced by the Bush Administration in the mid-2000s; one project of this initiative was the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20, a program of 19 films from five continents scheduled to tour the United States and abroad. This paper is a historical exploration into how the Bush Administration reconstructed American identity and culture through framing, and how that framing was embedded within cultural diplomacy initiatives like the GCI. This paper contributes to an understanding of how intercultural dialogue is often based on key messages and constructed ideas.     

Answering a Call for Service: An Exploration of Family Communication Schemata and Ethnic Identity's Effect on Civic Engagement Behaviors

This study explored whether family communication schemata, in tandem with ethnic identity, predicted civic engagement behaviors. The study revealed several significant and positive relationships: among the family communication schemata and civic engagement, between ethnic identity exploration and ethnic identity affirmation, among family communication schemata and ethnic identity exploration, and between ethnic identity affirmation and civic engagement. A path model was used to demonstrate that expressiveness and structural traditionalism, two family schemata, predict ethnic exploration which in turn predicts ethnic affirmation which leads to one type of civic engagement, membership in formal groups.     

Negotiating Narratives of Human Trafficking: NGOs,Communication and the Power of Culture

This article draws on interviews with anti-trafficking NGO employees in Thailand to illustrate the use of narratives as a tool for communicating cultural values. Drawing on theories of modernization, culture, and liberation psychology, I assess the way anti-trafficking NGO employees construct narratives, or “stories,” about human trafficking. These narratives rely on Western values associated with modernization, the role of NGOs in development, gendered constructions of victimhood, “Othering,” and Orientalism. Analyzing these narratives, I build a theory of “culture as a space of safety:” a self-reinforcing mechanism whereby employees ritualistically retreat from the overwhelming circumstances they confront in their work.     

High-Speed Internet Access to the Other: The Influence of Cultural Orientations on Self-Disclosures in Offline and Online Relationships

The global village metaphor, originally popularized by Marshall McLuhan, suggests that individuals connected to information and communication technologies become more involved with others from around the world. The speed at which messages are communicated is one factor why Internet-supported technologies create a sense of community. The diffusion of Internet networks to areas around the world naturally increases the potential for intercultural communication. Considering the cultural differences of the communicators and diminished social cues of the environment, the opportunity for misunderstandings may be elevated in intercultural Internet-based communication. The present investigation explores how two important components of culture—individualism and collectivism—influence communication behaviors in face-to-face and computer-mediated relationships. Self-disclosures, which are fundamental to relationship development, are specifically studied. The findings reveal that collectivism is associated with fewer self-disclosures in computer-mediated relationships than in comparable face-to-face relationships. The difference between self-disclosure behaviors in face-to-face and computer-mediated relationships is more pronounced among individuals high in collectivism than those high in individualism. Implications to social information processing theory and future directions for intercultural Internet-based communication research are considered.     

Toward Developing a Cross-Cultural Metacognition Instrument for Listening in First Language (L1) Contexts: The (Janusik-Keaton) Metacognitive Listening Instrument

This study has three main goals: (1) to test an instrument designed to measure first language metacognitive listening strategies in other cultural contexts, (2) to refine and revise the scale if necessary, and (3) to discern whether the notion that first language listeners use intuitive strategies to make meaning regardless of language is supported. Toward these goals, authors developed the Intercultural Metacognitive Listening Strategies Instrument, which displays evidence of validity in four populations and three distinct cultures: the United States, Germany, and Japan. Ultimately, this study supports the notion that there are intuitive strategies that listeners use to make meaning regardless of language.     

Family Problem Solving: A Comparative Study of Adult Children in Puerto Rico and the Upper Midwest

This study examined family problems and problem solving among American Upper Midwest and Puerto Ricans participants. Thematic and chi-square analyses provide a snapshot of how diverse families experience similar macro problems in day-to-day endeavors. Responses to each macro issue or strategy also suggest ways that the two cultural groups relate to family problems differently. Puerto Rico participants described and discussed significantly more communication-related problems and they also identified communicating about the problem less as something they had thought about to resolve the problem than did Upper Midwest participants. The article discusses how micro level values are inherent in macrocultural family problems.     

Paths to the Practices of Citizenship: Political Discussion and Socialization among Mexican-heritage Immigrants in the US

Building on research on immigrant political socialization and social connections in politics, I advance a theoretical model for how immigrants develop their sense of political discussion in a new nation. This model, the Social Contact Model of Immigrant Political Socialization, focuses on the influences coming from close-knit social groups and wider-ranging social networks. I apply the model through a qualitative study of Mexican-heritage immigrants in the US and the likely sources of socialization that influence their political discussion behavior. The findings provide some support for the theoretical model and suggest there are important differences between Latino immigrants and native-born Whites in how they learn to engage in political discussion.     

Complex but integrated: Exploring social and cultural identities of women Third Culture Kids (TCK) and factors predicting life satisfaction

The 21 st century, defined by cultural diversity and global mobility, has triggered an unprecedented increase in multicultural individuals, defined as people who internalised more than one culture. Contrasting evidence related to multiculturalism calls for more explorative research to understand cross-cultural identities. The present study explored social and cultural identities of adult female Third Culture Kids (TCKs) (n = 122), multicultural individuals who live mobile lives, and adjustment factors of a global mindset, social inclusiveness and essentialism to find predictors of life satisfaction. We classified social identity into four we-concepts: we-group, we-category, we-attributive and we-axiological, and cultural identity into three configurations: integration, categorisation and compartmentalisation. Our results suggested that TCK define social identity predominantly based on passport country (we-category) and relationships with family and friends (we-group). We indicated that axiological (value-based) social identification and global mindset buffered essentialism and categorisation known to disturb cross-cultural relationships. There was a general tendency for integrated cultural identity, with cultural configurations of categorisation and compartmentalisation correlating positively with essentialism. Hierarchical regression analysis evidenced that integrated multicultural identity, global mindset, and social inclusiveness were significant positive predictors of life satisfaction for female TCK. These results feed into a better understanding of the TCK configurations of collective identities and highlighted new factors related to TCK well-being.     

Culture and Classroom Communication: A Pilot Study in the Post-Soviet Republic of Armenia

Using participant observations and informal interviews, the study examined whether and how classroom communication in Armenia reflects Armenian culture and history, including the Soviet influence for close to seven decades and Armenia’s transition from one socio-politico-economic system to another, followed by internationalization of education and globalization. Findings of the study revealed three major themes that have impacted the classroom communication style: courtesy, immediacy, solidarity. While consistent in some ways with Soviet communism, these themes may have also been influenced by Armenia’s traditional and family-centered culture and history which predate Soviet communism, as well as by internationalization of education and globalization.     

An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community (6th Edition)

By covering underrepresented areas in the world, Al Jazeera English (AJE) can facilitate intercultural understanding among Americans. However, AJE is not widely available on television in the United States. Further, many Americans hold pre-formed suspicions of the channel. Through an online experiment, we find that pre-reception audience bias against AJE exists and correlates with prejudice against Arab Americans, limiting its conciliatory potential. However, Americans can change their views toward AJE depending on how it is covered by other media, or what we call “intermedia framing,” including both satiric soft news and hard news. An experiment finds that satiric news coverage decreases anti-Arab American prejudice and, when combined with exposure to AJE, elevates evaluations of the network.     

The relationship between cultural intelligence and performance with the mediating effect of culture shock: A case from Philippine laborers in Taiwan

This purpose of the present study was to explore the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) and its effect on performance of foreign laborers. We also examined the mediating effect of culture shock on the relationship between CQ and performance. Data were collected from Philippine laborers working in Taiwan. A paper-based survey, with a return rate of 76.4%, was completed by 382 Philippine laborers working in Taiwan's manufacturing industries. The results showed that CQ was positively related to the performance of Philippine laborers and negatively related to culture shock. In addition, we found that culture shock partly mediated the relationship of CQ and performance. These findings suggested that CQ can serve as a predictor for cross-cultural effectiveness. Implications for practice and direction for future research are offered.     

Cultural adaptation and societal context: The role of historical heterogeneity in cultural adaptation of newcomers

In today’s global world, it has become increasingly important for individuals moving to a different country for work, study, or permanent relocation to successfully adapt to this new culture. Responding to recent calls in the literature for more ecological approaches to the study of cultural adaptation, we examine the effect of host country historical heterogeneity—or, the extent to which a country’s current inhabitants descended from a diverse pool of ancestors—on newcomers’ cultural adaptation to that country. Across two studies, we find that higher levels of host country historical heterogeneity predict higher rates of cultural adaptation among newcomers. This relationship persists even when accounting for individual characteristics of the newcomers and sociocultural/economic characteristics of the home and host countries. These results suggest that a country’s historical levels of diversity may contribute to the successful adaptation of newcomers above and beyond their personal characteristics, their home country environment, or current conditions in the host country, including current levels of diversity. These results have practical implications for facilitating newcomers’ successful cultural adaptation.     

The Presbyopic Six: Exploring Marginalization of Protest and of Journalism in a Television-Online Advertising Campaign

This article is a textual analysis of a recent ad campaign for Varilux eyewear that features a fictional group of protesters known as "The Presbyopic Six." Varilux is a brand of eyeglass lenses marketed by Essilor, a French corporation. Viewers "follow" the protesters from their arrest for defacing a large-print book sign at a bookstore through booking, and through interviews with fictional journalist Lauren Lewis while incarcerated in a minimum-security prison. The ads suggest that new, more aggressive methods of protest have clearly passed the Presbyopic Six by. The campaign announces and celebrates their marginalization. The campaign also suggests that contemporary journalism is driven by the same kind of homogeneity. It could also be argued that a degree of evolution in protest and journalism is seen in these ads. Thus, the campaign may also be a veiled criticism of today's anonymous, aggressive protestors.     

The political skill and will of expatriates in acculturating to the politics of an organization in a new culture

This paper explores and conceptualizes the process through which expatriates acculturate to the politics of an organization in a new and dominant culture that differs from their origin culture. In addition to an overview of acculturation, we review research on the emergence and perception of political context in organizations, and on political skill and political will. We posit that politically-relevant situational characteristics in organizations and work interact with national culture to affect the intensity with which expatriates perceive politics in their organization. Based on their political skill (operationalized as high versus low) and their political will (operationalized in terms of concern for self versus concern for others), we describe the different political behavior expatriates will use as a means of acculturating to their political context and the effects those strategies have on their acculturative stress and individual effectiveness in the organization.     

Acculturation in a postcolonial context: Language,identity, cultural adaptation,and academic achievement of Macao students in Mainland China

The mainstream acculturation research focuses on international students and immigrants’ settlement in a new cultural environment, but little is known about the adaptation process of people from postcolonial areas relocating to their home country. Drawing from research on acculturation and postcolonial studies, this research examined the importance of language and social identity of Macao Chinese (N = 102; 50 males, Mage = 20.1) transitioning to universities in Mainland China. The results of path analysis showed that Chinese national identity and perceived Mandarin language proficiency were positively associated with each other, but they were linked to cultural adaptation through different paths. Perceived language proficiency was directly linked to social, academic, and psychological adaptation, whereas Chinese identity was indirectly associated with social and academic adaptation through acculturation to the Mainland Chinese culture. Moreover, academic adaptation was, in turn, associated with academic achievement (i.e., GPAs). The present study extends acculturation research to a postcolonial context, highlighting that national identity and language proficiency are important factors for successful cultural adaptation to the homeland. The theoretical and practical implications regarding intra-cultural adaptation barriers andprocesses in postcolonial contexts were discussed.     

The Relationships among Perceptions of Social Support,Intercultural Communication Apprehension (ICA), and Conflict Management Preferences in the Context of Cultural Adaptation

This study explores the relationships among perceptions of social support from family and friends, Intercultural Communication Apprehension (ICA) and intercultural conflict management preferences. Two hundred and ninety students, comprising primarily of international students, participated in the study. The results of the study revealed that, in regards to handling conflict with members of the host culture, increased perceptions of social support from family and friends lowered the level of ICA, and the decrease in the level of ICA led to increased preferences for the integrating and the compromising styles and decreased preferences for the avoiding and the dominating styles. Hence, the results of the study suggest that the influence of the perceptions of social support may extend beyond the mere alleviation of acculturative stress and psychological well-being and may have implications for the integration of immigrants and sojourners into the host culture.     

Motivated prejudice: The effect of need for closure on anti-immigrant attitudes in the United States and Italy and the mediating role of binding moral foundations

Why do people have anti-immigrant attitudes? We proposed that individuals’ need for cognitive closure—an epistemic motivation associated with an aversion to change in established environments—is predictive of a dislike of immigrants through increased binding to powerful groups. In four studies, collected in both Italy (Study 1) and the United States (Studies 2–4), we found that there were effects of need for cognitive closure on anti-immigrant attitudes, as well as indirect effects through binding. These results were significant controlling for participants’ political orientation (Studies 2–4), when either dispositional measure (Studies 1–3) or an experimental induction (Study 4) of need for cognitive closure was used, and when both general attitudes toward immigrants (Studies 1, 2, 4) and attitudes toward immigrants’ economic impact (Studies 3 and 4) were assessed.