Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2012

Liberating Intercultural Technical Communication from “Large Culture” Ideologies: Constructing Culture Discursively

Godwin Agboka

Abstract

Although contemporary writers on culture have argued for more dynamic approaches to culture in intercultural technical communication scholarship, much of the theoretical position on culture is still heavily based on “large culture” ideologies. Yet, not only do these ideologies fail to account for cultural practices and values within less comprehensive groups within culture, but they do not accommodate the inputs individuals make in specific communication contexts. This article draws from the existing body of work and the critical cultural perspectives on culture advocated by contemporary anthropologists and sociologists, mainly Arjun Appadurai (1996), to argue that we construct culture discursively to address cultural issues in intercultural technical communication. A discursive paradigm of culture sees culture as “socially constructed” in which culture is under construction and reconstruction by active cultural actors, who construct their identities and negotiate systems of knowledge and meaning that come to play during intercultural contacts.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2012-04-01
DOI
10.2190/tw.42.2.e
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (15)

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    Developing Intercultural Socioemotional Communication Skills: A Hybrid Student …
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  3. Veeramoothoo (2022)
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  4. Rajan (2021)
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  5. Richter (2020)
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  6. Wang (2019)
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  7. Hopton et al. (2019)
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  8. Acharya (2019)
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  9. Agboka (2014)
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  10. Agboka (2013)
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Cites in this index (20)

  1. Wang (2010)
    Convergence in the Rhetorical Pattern of Directness and Indirectness in Chinese…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Schafer (2009)
    Introducing Heuristics of Cultural Dimensions into the Service-Level Technical …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Wang (2008)
    Toward a Critical Perspective of Culture: Contrast or Compare Rhetorics
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Matveeva (2007)
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 20 →
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
Also cites 12 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 30 View in citation network →

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