Publication date:
11 October 2007Publisher
Multilingual MattersDimensions:
210x148mm6x8"
ISBN-13: 9781847690173
A straightforward guide to understanding the hidden cultural challenges of adapting to life abroad. Combining intercultural theory and the voices of sojourners who talk about their experiences, it maps out the process of resisting, accepting and adapting to cultural difference. We see that all sojourners, from tourists, to expatriates to immigrants, go through a similar learning dynamic. We learn that intercultural experiences can be deep or shallow, and that hidden cultural difference can increase sojourner prejudice. The book examines intercultural sensitivity while avoiding “feel good” idealizations about cross-cultural contact. It brings clarity to debates regarding the importance of cultural difference and the effects of globalization. An essential resource for sojourners, language teachers and intercultural educators.
This book is a timely intervention in the field of intercultural communication and the forms of learning that underpin it. It takes issue with existing approaches that construe intercultural learning as a largely linear process, and argues that things are considerably more complex.