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

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.

Do Women Win? Transnational development NGOs, discourses of empowerment, and cross-cultural technology initiatives in the Global South

“…Through the case study of the W omen W in's DST project, unpacking subject positions of girls through Girl Effect programming and participatory culture enables us to see the hidden power dynamic operating between the girls and W omen W in. In providing a critical case study of W omen W in's DST project, our hope is that future deployments of digital media in transnational contexts will interrogate the intricate layers of subjectivity and agency produced by both the representations themselves and the means of producing representations.For scholars and practitioners of intercultural professional communication, the W omen W in DST project is reflective of "large culture" ideologies, privileging the Global North's postfeminist discourses of empowerment and The Girl Effect, as well as utopian perceptions of participatory, digital media culture, over the microcultural factors that shape the lives of the individual girls and their communities(Agboka, 2012). Despite the fact that the individual girls and their communities are the subject of these DST videos, the prevailing narrative structure and the visual design reflects large culture ideologies.…”

"Unblackboxing" Technology Through the Rhetoric of Technical Communication: Biometric Technology and Ghana's 2012 Election

“…Similarly, Agboka (2012) identifies that the discussion of culture in intercultural technical communication is heavily influenced by "large culture" sentiments. The focus on "large culture" leads to a concentration on dominant groups in a country to the neglect of cultural practices of less dominant groups (p. 161).…”

“…This perspective is common because of the belief that each culture is unique and hence has "its own specialized knowledge related to what constitutes an acceptable and a credible presentation of information" (Amant, 2006, p. 49). As Agboka (2012) indicates, "the worry is that this conceptualization can be a catalyst for stereotyping,…[and] they may limit our appreciation of diversity among groups." Worst still, "stereotyping can lead to tokenism, and tokenism can lead to essentialism.…”

“…Essentially, approaches to international/intercultural technical communication research have emphasized the importance of culture as the most important factor to consider (Agboka, 2012;Ding & Savage, 2013;Lovitt & Goswami, 1999;Sun, 2004Sun, , 2006Sun, , 2012Thrush, 1993;Walton, 2014). The problem is that scholars have narrowly discussed culture, over-generalized or presented stereotypical and static representation of international audiences (Agboka, 2014;Sun, 2012).…”

“…This confirms earlier studies that make similar claims. Scholars such as Thatcher (2006, 20011), Fukuoka et al (1999), Agboka (2012Agboka ( , 2013a, Boiarsky (1995) As a born and bred Ghanaian, I can say that Ghana is a collectivist society. As Utley It is not by mere coincidence that after the "forward" section is written, the Chair signs his name as Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.…”