Description

Cross-Cultural Communication: Concepts, Cases and Challenges is a collection of essays written by academic leaders in the field. This text consists of three parts. In Part I, cross-cultural communication concepts are introduced. The reader is presented with frameworks that are helpful in classifying cultures and understanding cultural norms. In Part II, cultural case studies are presented. These case studies include the rarely studied Garífuna culture of Belize and demonstrate how ethnic contributions can be systematically marginalized by majority groups. In Part III, challenges and implications of cross-cultural communication are argued. These final essays are powerful and provocative. They argue, for example, that the conflict between the police and inner city residents is not a crime issue per se but a cross-cultural communication problem; that multiculturalism in Canada has failed key segments of society; that globalization is primarily a cultural rather than an economic issue; and that ethnicity and race are the true cultural treasures of society.