Intercultural Dialogue: Questions of research, theory, and practice

‘Intercultural dialogue’, as a concept and ideology in the European Union, stimulates a rational 21st century society where people can engage in (intercultural) communication on a global scale, and can do so openly and freely in conditions of security and mutual respect. Intercultural dialogue connotes dialogic communication that is peaceful, reconciliatory, and democratic. Yet the term and its accompanying rhetoric belie the intercultural communicative undercurrents and their manifestations that people encounter in their daily lives.

The research-informed chapters in this book, which are situated in international contexts, provide more nuanced understandings, and many even challenge this non-critical ideology by suggesting that the concept of intercultural dialogue is inoperable and problematic under the present conditions of globalisation and migration, where there exists conflict, vulnerability, and instability. The different theoretical perspectives and analyses presented by the authors are a reminder that researchers in the field of intercultural communication require robust and appropriate theories, methods, and pedagogies in order to research these complex conditions and contexts, particularly where different languages and identities are present. The book is also a reminder of how context and power both (re)shape and contest the central tenets of intercultural dialogue―in particular, of who speaks for whom, when, how, and under what circumstances and conditions. This book was originally published as a special issue of Language and Intercultural Communication.

Prue Holmes is Reader in the School of Education at Durham University, UK, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She teaches and researches in intercultural communication and education. She has published widely in international journals, leads the AHRC-funded project ‘Researching Multilingually’, and holds several editorial board positions on international journals.

Melinda Dooly holds a Serra Húnter fellowship as teacher and researcher at the Education Faculty of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, where she teaches English as a Foreign Language Methodology and research methods courses. Her teaching and research address technology-enhanced project-based language learning in teacher preparation as well as with very young language learners. She has been involved in several national and international projects as both team member and as principal manager.

John P. O’Regan is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Institute of Education, University College London, UK, where he is a doctoral supervisor and leads the MA Applied Linguistics programme. His research interests include the political economy of global English, intercultural communication theory, identity politics, and critical discourse analysis. He is the author of articles covering a wide range of topics in the fields of applied linguistics and cultural studies.