ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Britta Kalscheuer explores the possibility of incorporating postcolonial theory into intercultural communication scholarship from a German perspective. She begins her theoretical excursion by briefly describing the development of intercultural communication as a field of study in the United States. Like Leeds-Hurwitz (Chapter 1), Kalscheuer credits Edward T. Hall for founding the intercultural communication field with his groundbreaking work on nonverbal messages and communication contexts. She then addresses some fundamental issues in intercultural communication theory and research: (1) an overemphasis on interpersonal interactions, (2) Eurocentric theoretical underpinnings, and (3) the treatment of culture as stable and homogeneous. Based on her review and critique, Kalscheuer discusses the possibility of incorporating the postcolonial approach with its emphasis on macro-analysis into conventional intercultural communication research with its focus on micro-analysis. Rather than uncritically adopting postcolonial theory, however, she recognizes the shortcoming of Homi Bhabha’s notion of “the third space,” which ironically failed to consider the impact of power on the in-between sphere of interaction, and introduces the theory of transdifference as an alternative postcolonial approach to the study of intercultural communication.
