Rhetoric and Intercultural Communication

Abstract

The convergence of rhetoric and intercultural communication has led to the development of intercultural rhetoric, a subfield of communication, where culture is seen as an implied aspect of rhetoric. The term rhetorical tradition or rhetorical legacy in intercultural rhetoric studies refers to the culture-specific ways of framing and understanding arguments, namely, the general set of prescriptions for public advocacy that are distinctive to a particular cultural worldview. Studies with an intercultural rhetoric framework attempt to represent the cultural sensibility and rhetorical traditions invoked by a particular intercultural interaction. Rhetorical practices are seen as emerging from the beliefs and values of distinctive cultural communities, and the convergence of intercultural communication and rhetoric becomes evident when people act rhetorically, and their diverse cultural assumptions gradually or suddenly become apparent during intercultural interactions. It is also claimed that intercultural rhetoric illustrates how culture-based arguments are strategically constructed by advocates during intercultural interactions and how the arguments make sense within a particular cultural frame or worldview. Rhetoric is understood to be communication that emerges from a sociocultural context, is designed to invite a preferred response from an audience within a particular cultural context, and is directed to listeners who have a choice to respond. The enthymeme, the unspoken premise in practical reasoning, presumes shared cultural knowledge and consensus among listeners. It also presumes a commonly and culturally understood epistemological process for making and advancing claims for public acceptance. In addition, the connection between culture and rhetoric is seen in audience analysis, especially in the context of public speaking; the analysis of the audience by the speaker—the inquiry into audience values and attitudes to better persuade—is a form of cultural analysis that accounts for the possibility that the speaker might not share the same cultural values as the audience and is aware of this. Recent methodological developments have allowed critics to represent diverse rhetorical traditions more comprehensively and to discover novel ways to understand intercultural conflicts and mediate cultural differences. Conceptualizing rhetorical situations as intercultural communication suggests that intercultural and rhetorical theorists need to be mindful of the multivocal quality and cultural diversity of social discourses.