'Culture' and 'Communication' - New insights, New opportunities.

I am truly amazed at how fast the weeks have flown by as always. Now that the final project has been submitted, I can finally take some time to take stock of all that I've experienced in this course over this semester. In sum, the course has offered me fresh and insightful perspectives especially with regards to my ideas about both Culture and Communication.

1. *Fresh perspectives on....Culture

One of the main takeaways of this course for me is a whole new understanding of the concept of 'culture'. I used to think 'culture' had to be something to do with the histories and traditions associated with a particular ethnic group, or at least the ways of living associated with only certain geographical entities (nations and cities for example). Through this course, I really saw how cultures may not have to be bound by clearly demarcated boundaries, including geographic ones.

For example, communities with seemingly identifiable 'cultural' characteristics can be found 'online', in a sort of virtual space where their members may not actually make up a perceivable 'presence' in reality. Communities can also be formed when people have common interests or occupations. Thus we have professional and academic communities, who develop their own conventions for communicating with each other through particular forms of discourse (Topic scheduled for Wk 10; I also recall one group's project presentation that showed us an approach to analyzing abstracts of sociology journals, which I found interesting).

It seems that biology may also have a part to play in creating distinct 'cultures' - we saw how different genders seem to constitute different 'cultures' (Lecture 9). Each possesses characteristics that are somewhat unique for each of them, including characteristics to do with they way they communicate. These distinctions have been attributed to the differences in the way roles and statuses have been allocated to the different sexes in larger society. Thus, features of the 'macro' context (society) can affect the 'micro' context (behaviour in communication with one another).

Among the topics covered, computer-mediated communication (Lecture 8) seems to be a relatively new area of research that has much potential for further expansion and development in the decades to come. When the platforms that may be used for CMC are evolving everyday, we can expect the dynamics observed between individuals in CMC to be changing rapidly. Therefore, the range of issues associated with CMC that may be studied will also evolve to incorporate new kinds of communication phenomena that arise. For example, we may examine the highly popular use of social applications like Facebook today and how it has impacted real-world communication over time. An example of an issue to probe is: to what extent has its widespread use led to changing acceptable standards for the amount of personal information we disclose in public? It is likely that our acceptable boundaries have changed compared to the past, owing to the use of these types of CMC platforms.

2. *Further perpectives on...Communication
I learnt also that there are many lenses we can use to study communication. The focuses of our analyses range from broad to narrow -for example, we may study phenomena as small as speech acts (Wk 2) to larger elements such as entire discourses (Wk 4 and Wk 5) as a whole. Thus, I learnt to see how 'culture' imposes norms on not just how we structure our discourses in a broad sense, but also on the smallest aspects of how we relate to one another (apologizing, complimenting, initiating/closing conversations, etc).

I am thankful also for the opportunity to learn how to understand cultural differences using frameworks and concepts that may apply universally to all human cultures. For example, frameworks that employ the concepts of power and politeness provide a relatively easier way of understanding why different cultures may favour a particular communicative style over another, from an outsider's point of view.

For example, with a concept of individualism-collectivism distinctions across cultures, a North American woman who is more direct in asserting her opinions in a group discussion should not be judged as being overly bossy too quickly. We who are outsiders to their culture should be able to explain her behaviour in 'cultural' terms, and not to impose our judgments on her based on our own standards and norms. Conversely, we should also not be quick to imagine that all North Americans will speak in a particular way because on the whole, the society is perceived to be more individualistic. In other words, these 'grand communicative styles' arising from cultural traits are but useful as possible ways of interpreting, but definitely not surefire ways of generalizing about an entire community of people.

>>Summary

All in all, one important thing I've learnt would be that the study of cross-cultural communication requires not only a sound knowledge of analytic frameworks and concepts. At the end of the day, it seems that one also needs to keep an open mind, to possess a willingness to empathize and appreciate things from new perspectives of the people whom we seek to establish communication with in our everyday lives. These I believe, are the keys to paving the way for effective and meaningful cross-cultural communication.