Journal of Culture-Communication Studies

Journal of Culture-Communication Studies

An Introduction to Critical Intercultural Communication

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Mohammad Amin Ghasemi Pirbalouti 1
Seyed Majid Emami 2
1 Ph.D. Student in Culture and Communication, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Culture & Communication, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Governance, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Culture & Communication, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran
10.22083/jccs.2025.524615.4045
Abstract
Introducion: Critical intercultural communication has emerged as a contemporary scholarly approach that offers an analytical framework for achieving a deeper understanding of intercultural relations and encounters. It emphasizes the analysis of power relations, structural inequalities, and both overt and covert contexts that shape cultural interactions. Unlike traditional perspectives that focus on surface-level cultural differences and individual communication skills, this approach conceptualizes culture as a dynamic and contested arena in which meanings, identities, and cultural relationships are continuously negotiated and redefined. This research provides a theoretical and horizon-opening introduction to the critical approach within intercultural communication studies. It traces the theoretical and historical foundations of this approach to the intellectual traditions of the Frankfurt School, Cultural Studies, and Postcolonial Studies. The study seeks to address several key questions: What is the position of the critical approach within the theoretical traditions of intercultural communication? What are its primary theoretical and historical foundations? How is intercultural communication defined from a critical perspective? What are its most significant conceptual components and theoretical insights? What future directions can be envisioned for this field?
Method: This study employs a documentary method for data collection and a descriptive-analytical approach for data processing and analysis.
Results: The findings demonstrate that the critical approach differs fundamentally from functionalist and interpretive paradigms in terms of its epistemological assumptions, research objectives, and conceptualizations of culture and communication. Its historical roots can be traced to three major intellectual traditions: the Frankfurt School’s emphasis on emancipation from social domination and repression; British Cultural Studies’ focus on culture as lived experience and as a site of struggle over meaning; and Postcolonial Studies’ examination of the enduring effects of colonialism on cultural, political, and intellectual formations.
From a critical perspective, intercultural communication is defined as a field concerned with power-laden, dynamic, and contextually situated encounters between cultural “selves” and “others.” This perspective moves beyond surface-level interactions to interrogate the macro-level structures of power—such as economic, governmental, legal, educational, media, and historical forces—that shape, regulate, and often constrain intercultural encounters. The key conceptual elements identified include:
• Elimination of oppression: The ultimate objective is to expose unequal power relations and contribute to the formation of more just and equitable human relationships.
• Culture as a site of struggle: Culture is not a fixed set of shared values but a contested terrain in which meanings are negotiated and dominant groups often exert control.
• Power: Power is a central and dual-faceted concept, functioning simultaneously as a mechanism of constraint and as a resource for resistance and agency.
• Contextuality: Intercultural interactions cannot be meaningfully understood without considering the broader political, economic, and historical contexts in which they are embedded.
• Historical forces: Collective memory and dominant historical narratives play a significant role in shaping contemporary intercultural identities and relationships.
• Ethical research methods: Research is understood not merely as knowledge production but as an ethical practice committed to social justice, researcher reflexivity, and the empowerment of marginalized communities.
Discussion: The study concludes that intercultural interaction cannot be adequately understood without attention to both visible and invisible power structures, the enduring consequences of discrimination and colonialism, and the contextual conditions that produce inequality. The critical approach offers not only an analytical framework but also a transformative and emancipatory practice aimed at fostering a more just society by rendering systems of domination visible. It calls for intervention at the macro-structural level to amplify marginalized voices and to create genuinely dialogic spaces for intercultural engagement.
Future directions for critical intercultural communication are likely to involve engagement with emerging global challenges. These include an “ecological turn” addressing environmental crises, a focus on health inequalities to uncover discriminatory institutional structures, and critical analyses of the digital sphere to examine how technologies reproduce and intensify cultural inequalities. Moreover, strengthening connections with postcolonial studies and indigenous knowledge systems is essential for the decolonization of knowledge and for challenging the hegemony of Western epistemologies. Ultimately, the critical approach encourages researchers and practitioners not only to describe cultural differences but also to actively participate in transforming the conditions under which meaning is produced and lived in an increasingly interconnected world.
Keywords
intercultural communication
critical approach
self and other
power
contextuality

Subjects

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