Theoretical perspectives on communication and cultures

This chapter provides an overview of contemporary theoretical perspectives in culture and communication scholarship, based on a review of articles published 2010-2014 in 5 well-known culture and communication journals. The analysis identified four characteristics of each article/abstract: meta/theoretical perspective (critical, interpretive, social science), research context (face to face, mediated etc), focus (intracultural, cross cultural, intercultural), and target cultural group (e.g., African-Americans, Asians, etc); as well as primary topic/s addressed. The review revealed a broad range of topics, foci and contexts. In addition, while the tripartite framework appears useful in understanding the range of current meta/ theoretical perspectives, there is a lack of interrogation of these Western approaches, as well as a lack of attention to economically, politically and geo-strategically less-powerful countries, resulting in "silent zones" in our theorizing. The chapter then calls for scholarship that really matter to contemporary humans as as nearly half of humans live on less than $2.50/day, there are more displaced people in the world than at any other time in human history, and ethnic and religious conflicts threaten the stability of vast world regions. Finally, specific research strategies are identified that may enhance our knowledge and more effectively apply this knowledge to critically important global communication challenges.