ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Ronald L. Jackson examines 175 articles on culture and communication published in six U.S. mainstream communication journals between 1953 and 2005. He traces the semantic evolution of key terms such as culture, ethnicity, and identity and then adumbrates general trends in culture and communication studies in terms of research topics and methodological preference. He categorizes the 175 studies into four modes of inquiry: intracultural (research on communicative practices within a culture), intercultural (research on communicative practices in intercultural encounters), cross-cultural (comparative research on communicative practices across cultures), and critical cultural (research on power relations in intercultural settings). Based on his extensive literature review, Jackson concludes that the field still “suffers from the residue of one-sided, singular, patriarchal, racially biased and hegemonic interpretations of cultural experiences.” He urges scholars and educators to challenge the privileged position of Eurocentric canonical histories and epistemologies and assume the responsibility “to properly educate our students about the globally diverse culture in which they live.”
