ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights and unwinds a key concept—“intercultural struggle” or “struggle of power interests”—of critical intercultural communication studies in analysing intercultural communication relations. More specifically, I break down the notion of “intercultural struggle” in terms of two key aspects—status quo normative order and differentiated power interests—to consider when analysing intercultural encounters, relations and contexts and how this bears out theoretically and methodologically. By identifying what we mean when we examine “intercultural struggles”, critical intercultural communication can better analyse the complex operations and assemblages of power that are “struggles” and how these reconfigure intercultural relations in thorny and sophisticated ways.
