Communication in Personal Relationships Across Cultures

Filling the void in interpersonal and intercultural communication, Communication in Personal Relationships Across Cultures examines the communication practices of non-Western cultures. The international cast of contributors assembled here leaves behind the biases typical of most research and theorizing done in this area of communication and enables the reader to develop a thorough understanding of how people communicate in non-Western societies. Chapters focus on communication practices in China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Iran, Africa, and totalitarian societies. Through both emic and etic approaches, this groundbreaking volume explores how members of a culture understand their own communication, and compares the similarities and differences of specific aspects of communication across cultures. Covering all major theories in this expanding field, and suggesting areas for future research, this engaging collection will interest both students and professionals in communication, psychology, and sociology.

William B. Gudykunst (Ph.D., Minnesota, 1977) is Professor of Speech Communication at the College of Communications, California State University, Fullerton. Bill has written and edited numerous works for SAGE, including the Handbook of Intercultural and International Communication, 2/e, and Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, 3/e as well as the best-selling introductory undergraduate texts Building Bridges: Interpersonal Skills for a Changing World (Houghton Mifflin) and Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication, 3/e (McGraw-Hill). He is extremely well known in the discipline and is one of its most prolific writers/scholars in the areas of intercultural communication and human communication theory. Stella Ting-Toomey (PhD, University of Washington) is a professor of human communication at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). She has published numerous books and over more than 100 articles/chapters on the topics of intercultural conflict competence and ethnic identity negotiation process. A recent book title is Understanding Intercultural Communication, Second Edition (with Leeva Chung; Oxford University Press). Her publications have also appeared in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Communication Monographs, Human Communication Research, and The International Journal of Conflict Management, among others. Dr. Ting-Toomey’s teaching passions include intercultural conflict theory and practice and intercultural communication training. She is the 2008 recipient of the 23-campus wide CSU Wang Family Excellence Award, and the 2007–2008 recipient of the CSU-Fullerton Outstanding Professor Award. She has lectured widely throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe on the theme of mindful intercultural conflict competence.