Drawing from the critical cultural theory of Arjun Appadurai, this article interrogates the concept of culture underpinning much intercultural technical communication research. Appadurai suggested that intertextual connections between the cultural and the economic, political, demographic, and historical aspects of the globalizing world are essential for understanding cross-cultural communication. The cultural theory offered in this article opens the way for further cultural studies research to be of use in intercultural technical communication theory, research, and pedagogy.