A global agenda for ethical language and intercultural communication research and practice

Abstract

The second decade of this century has witnessed further global increases in the movement of peoples, both from nation to nation, and within nation states. This has increased the need for more equitable conditions in the communication that takes place between people who speak different languages, and who are moving between different social, economic and cultural contexts. This chapter sets out some of the recent research in intercultural communication which has engaged with these issues: first, in relation to the communication involving members of migrant groups within the nation state, including the positioning of students within the internationalised university; and then in relation to transnational mobility, pedagogy and intercultural training, and aesthetic and creative approaches to intercultural communication. The chapter advocates that intercultural researchers adopt both radically intersubjective and socially activist approaches in their work. In order to realise a truly global agenda for language and intercultural communication research and practice in the forthcoming decade, it is necessary not only to enhance the reciprocity in our dialogue regarding approaches to interculturality which emerge from both European and Asian intellectual and philosophical traditions; but also to engage proactively with scholars, artists and activists who work in the global South.