Critical questions

Abstract

Present contradictions in the intercultural communication field – the pre-eminence of western communication models and the minimization and denial of particular international and racial cultural voices – delimit the possibilities for nuanced theory building, scholarship, and teaching that may address the greatest challenge facing the world community – fostering understanding and advancing peace and security. This article introduces the notion of avant-garde epistemic confluence as one possibility for engendering greater levels of inclusion of marginalized and silenced voices at the epistemic core of the field to effectively address the evolving intergroup, multi-ethnic, and inter-religious conflicts on the world’s stage. Mobilizing principles grounded in mindfulness and intercultural alliance building at the individual and disciplinary levels via research, theorizing, and teaching is a driving force. Advancing a pragmatic vision of the intercultural communication field in this twenty-first-century moment with the potential to address complex cross-cultural and intergroup social and political tensions is the central mission.