ABSTRACT
This chapter examines transcultural interactions that might take place in the BRIC regions, approached as a TransArea. Evoking analogous, concrete images might contribute to a better understanding of the complex processes of contact with and between the BRICs. The chapter provides the reader with the technical terms used in transcultural research, an overview that might contribute to renew the classical terminology in cross-cultural management studies. Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz launched the concept of transculturality in his essay Contrapunteo Cubano del tabaco y el azcar in 1940, meaning by the term the connecting and coalescing of cultures, culture transfer, or in contact situations between different sociocultural groups. Regarding cultural encounters in migratory and diasporaic contexts, Appadurai's terms counter-classic assimilationist concepts such as the melting pot, as well as more recent ones such as fusion, blending, or hybridization.
