Chapter 4
Cultural Patterns
Introduction
 Importance of History
 Intercultural interactions involve a dialectical
interplay between past and present.
 Many current situations cannot be
understood without knowing their historical
background.
 How we think about the past influences how
we think about ourselves and others.
From History to Histories
 Histories that shape our identities:
1. Political Histories
2. Intellectual Histories
3. Social Histories
4. Absent History
From History to Histories
Histories that shape our identities,
cont.:
5. Family Histories
6. National History
7. Cultural-Group Histories
History, Power, and
Intercultural
Communication
 The Power of Texts
 Narrative form of history
 Lack of access to production of
texts
 Importance of language
History, Power, and
Intercultural
Communication
• The Power of Texts, cont.
– History as a particular way of viewing the
world
– Availability of documents as a function of
power
– Modernist identity and the linear nature
of history
History, Power, and
Intercultural
Communication
 The Power of Other Histories
 The “grand narrative” has lost credibility.
 Histories that have been suppressed,
hidden, or erased are being rewritten.
 This enables us to examine what cultural
identities mean and to rethink the dominant
cultural identity.
History, Power, and
Intercultural
Communication
 Power in Intercultural Interactions
We are never "equal" in intercultural
encounters, because history has left us
in unbalanced positions that still
influence our interactions and identities.
History and Identity
• Histories as Stories
–Histories are stories we use to help us
make sense of ourselves and others.
–U.S. cultural attitudes encourage us to
forget history.
–This masks history’s influence on us and
leads to wrong conclusions about others.
History and Identity
 Nonmainstream Histories

Mainstream U.S. history does not include
all ethnic histories and racial histories.

Some people feel these histories
undermine national history, but

they act as markers in the maintenance
of cultural identity for many groups of
people.
History and Identity

Hidden Histories
Awareness of hidden histories helps others
understand how groups have negotiated
cultural attitudes in the past that are relevant
today.

Gender histories

Sexual orientation histories

Racial and ethnic histories

Socioeconomic class histories
History and Identity
 Hidden Histories, cont.

Diasporic histories chronicle the
migrations and dispersal of cultural
groups.

Colonial histories influence the
languages we speak.

Postcolonialism calls for independence
of states and colonialist ways of thinking.
Intercultural
Communication and
History
 Antecendents of Contact
 Childhood experiences concerning other
cultures
 Historical myths about other cultures
 The language we speak
 The tendency to be affected by recent, vivid
events
Intercultural
Communication and
History
 The Contact Hypothesis: the idea that
better communication between groups of
people will occur if they are put together
allowed to interact
Intercultural
Communication and
History
 Contact hypothesis conditions:
 Equal status
 Institutional support
 Voluntary
 Potential to extend beyond the immediate
situation
 Maximizing cooperation
 Equal numbers
 Similar beliefs and values
 Individuation of group members
BELIEFS, NORMS, &
VALUES
 THE AMERICAN CULTURE
 With your group establish “The American Culture”.
Brainstorm your ideas and in one paragraph share with
the class a detailed summary of your American culture.
 What values (shared standards of judgment about what
is right or wrong, good or bad, appropriate or
inappropriate, beautiful or ugly), beliefs (what people
know or believe to be true -i.e. believing in God,
science, freedom, democracy), and norms (shared
rules and expectations that are used to guide behavior
–i.e. we don't pick our noses in public) are considered
important to the American culture?
 300 WORD SUMMARY