Cross-cultural may refer to:
By the 1970s, the field ofcross-cultural communication (also known asintercultural communication) developed as a prominent application of the cross-cultural paradigm, in response to the pressures ofglobalization which produced a demand for cross-cultural awareness training in various commercial sectors.
Cultural communication differences can be identified by 8 different criteria:
The appearance of the term in the titles of a number of college readers and writing textbooks beginning in the late 1980s can be attributed to a convergence of academicmulticulturalism and thepedagogical movement known asWriting Across the Curriculum, which gave educators in the social sciences greater influence in compositionpedagogy. Popular examples includedOurselves Among Others: Cross-Cultural Readings for Writers (1988), edited by Carol J. Verburg, andGuidelines: A Cross Cultural Reading Writing Text (1990), ed. Ruth Spack.
Cross-cultural studies is an adaptation of the termcross-cultural to describe a branch of literary andcultural studies dealing with works or writers associated with more than one culture. Practitioners of cross-cultural studies often use the termcross-culturalism to describe discourses involving cultural interactivity, or to promote (or disparage) various forms of cultural interactivity.
Cross-culturalism is nearly synonymous withtransculturation, a term coined by Cuban writerFernando Ortiz in the 1940s to describe processes of culturalhybridity inLatin America. However, there are certain differences of emphasis reflecting the social science derivation ofcross-culturalism.
The term "cross-culturalism" became prevalent in cultural studies in the late 1980s and 1990s.[2] An early proponent of the term was the Guyanese writerWilson Harris, who wrote inThe Womb of Space (1983), that "cultural heterogeneity or cross-cultural capacity" gives an "evolutionary thrust" to the imagination.[3][4]
Anthropology exerted a strong influence on the development of cross-culturalism in literary and cultural studies. French anthropologistClaude Lévi-Strauss was a key figure in the development ofstructuralism and its successor,post-structuralism. Cross-influences betweenanthropology and literary/cultural studies in the 1980s were evident in works such asJames Clifford andGeorge Marcus's collection,Writing Culture: the Poetics and Politics of Ethnography (1986). Harvard anthropologistClifford Geertz was cited as an influence on literary critics likeStephen Greenblatt, while other literary/cultural scholars turned to works byVictor Turner andMary Douglas.
Like multiculturalism, cross-culturalism is sometimes construed as ideological, in that it advocates values such as those associated withtransculturation,transnationalism,cosmopolitanism,interculturalism, andglobalism. Nevertheless, cross-culturalism is a fundamentally neutral term, in that favorable portrayal of other cultures or the processes of cultural mixing are not essential to the categorization of a work or writer as cross-cultural.
Cross-culturalism is distinct frommulticulturalism. Whereasmulticulturalism deals withcultural diversity within a particular nation or social group, cross-culturalism is concerned with exchange beyond the boundaries of the nation or cultural group. Recent reviews of cross-cultural studies also suggest that they are useful for understanding populations within single geopolitical boundaries.[5]
Cross-culturalism in literary and cultural studies is a usefulrubric for works, writers and artists that do not fit within a single cultural tradition. To the extent that cultures are national, the cross-cultural may be considered as overlapping the transnational. The cross-cultural can also be said to incorporate thecolonial and thepostcolonial, sincecolonialism is by definition a form of cross-culturalism.Travel literature also makes up a substantial component of cross-cultural literature. Of the various terms, "cross-culturalism" is the most inclusive, since it is free of transnationalism's dependence on the nation-state and colonialism/postcolonialism's restriction to colonized or formerly-colonized regions. This inclusiveness leads to certain definitional ambiguity (albeit one derived from the termculture itself). In practice, "cross-cultural" is usually applied only to situations involving significant cultural divergence. Thus, the term is not usually applied in cases involving crossing between European nations, or between Europe and the United States. However, there is no clear reason why, for example,Alexis de Tocqueville'sDemocracy in America or evenWoody Allen'sAnnie Hall (in which the protagonist experiences culture shock after traveling toLos Angeles fromNew York City) could not be considered cross-cultural works.
Although disagreement over what constitutes a "significant" cultural divergence creates difficulties of categorization, "cross-cultural" is nevertheless useful in identifying writers, artists, works, etc., who may otherwise tend to fall between the cracks of various national cultures.
The term "cross-cultural" emerged in the social sciences in the 1930s, largely as a result of theCross-Cultural Survey undertaken byGeorge Peter Murdock, aYaleanthropologist. Initially referring tocomparative studies based onstatistical compilations of cultural data, the term gradually acquired a secondary sense of cultural interactivity. The comparative sense is implied in phrases such as "a cross-cultural perspective," "cross-cultural differences," "a cross-cultural study of..." and so forth, while the interactive sense may be found in works likeAttitudes and Adjustment in Cross-Cultural Contact: Recent Studies of Foreign Students, a 1956 issue ofThe Journal of Social Issues.
Usage of "cross-cultural" was for many decades restricted mainly to thesocial sciences. Among the more prominent examples are theInternational Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), established in 1972 "to further the study of the role of cultural factors in shaping human behavior," and its associatedJournal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, which aims to provide aninterdisciplinary discussion of the effects of cultural differences.
In the early 21st century the term "intercultural theatre" is preferred to "cross-cultural theatre."
Cross-cultural narrative forms may be described in terms of common characteristics ortropes shared by cross-cultural writers, artists, etc. Examples includeprimitivism,exoticism, as well as culturally specific forms such asOrientalism,Japonisme.
Cross-cultural narratives tend to incorporate elements such as:
Music has long been a central medium for cross-cultural exchange. The cross-cultural study of music is referred to asethnomusicology.
