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1: How To Use This Book

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    341179
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    IterculturalStoriesOfConflictAndResolution.jpegMy goal in offering this book is to collect a series of stories that lay out problems which arose from cultural differences and, in some cases, what was done to solve these misunderstandings and difficulties. Some sections of this book offer citations and references that direct readers to fuller accounts of the case studies and more detailed analysis of what was done.

    While these case studies may be helpful, it's important to remember that they don't represent the only possible solution or even the best solution. So, students of intercultural communication can bring their own perspectives, life experience, insights gained from study, and values to offer different approaches. These stories may be worth remembering, but not committed to rote memory.

    Other parts of this book will look at similar problems but will be offered without references to the case studies from which they were drawn. These terse descriptions are intended to promote discussion and invite solutions from the reader. It is true that it would be possible to do a quick internet search, in most cases, and end up with references to just what was done. But this would defeat one of the primary reasons for assembling this material. In a sense, this is a workbook. Readers are encouraged to think for themselves, but, always, to refer back to general theories and models of communication and particularly those conceptions and approaches that are specific to intercultural communication.

    Introductory textbooks tend to cover the most widely used theories, such as those offered by Hofstead and Hall, but there are others that can be useful. Some of these less-used approaches may be the best in situations where the standard solutions break down or don't readily work. This book offers an opportunity for the student to demonstrate mastery and move from being an apprentice to a journeyman, if not an emerging expert. I believe this is an exciting prospect and one that may well motivate the reluctant learner or the person who hates being made to memorize things and the move on.

    So it is that this text invites readers to active engagement. I hope the they will rise to the challenge. And if you have some really cool solutions, send them along. We may include them, and your narrative of how you arrived at them, it a future volume.

    Robb Lightfoot, Shasta College

    February, 2026


    This page titled 1: How To Use This Book is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Robb Lightfoot.

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