An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community - Softcover

Going beyond an `American' assessment of the field, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication assumes that no culture is privileged over another, be that culture from across the globe or a subculture or subgroup around the corner. Issues of identity, nationality, assimilation, and inter-group relations promote appreciation of diversity among people. Fred E. Jandt walks students through the key concepts of communication and culture, addressing such topics as: barriers in intercultural communication; dimensions of culture; multiculturalism; women, family, and children; and culture's influence on perception.

Fred E. Jandt was born of second-generation German immigrants in the multicultural south-central region of Texas. After graduating from Texas Lutheran University and Stephen F. Austin State University, he received his doctorate in communication from Bowling Green State University. He has taught and been a student of intercultural communication for more than 40 years, developing his experience through travel and international training and research projects. While Professor of Communication at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, his reputation as a teacher led to his appointment as SUNY’s first director of faculty development. He has retired as Dean of the Palm Desert Campus and Professor of Communication at California State University, San Bernardino, where he was named Outstanding Professor. He has also been a visiting professor at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. He has extensive experience in the areas of intercultural and international communication, negotiation mediation, and conflict management. He was one of the first scholars to introduce the study of conflict to the communication discipline with his text Conflict Resolution Through Communication (Harper & Row, 1973). He has subsequently published many other titles in this area, including the successful trade books Win-Win Negotiating: Turning Conflict Into Agreement (Wiley, 1985), which has been translated into eight languages, and a casebook on international conflict management, Constructive Conflict Management: Asia-Pacific Cases (SAGE, 1996) with Paul B. Pedersen. For several years, he conducted the training workshop “Managing Conflict Productively” for major corporations and government agencies throughout the United States. Jandt continues to train volunteers who are learning to become mediators in the California justice system.