Event Details

Academic Seminar Series with Lancaster University Confucius Institute

Abstract:

Amidst calls for epistemological diversity and plurality within intercultural communication in this talk I contest the notion that the field has reached an epoch of criticality or that the field has turned critically. In doing so, I problematise whether a dialectical approach for intercultural communication can move the field conceptually beyond the primacy of the intercultural subject as the knowing subject. I therefore build on recent developments within the field of applied linguistics in calling for a (re)engagement with dialectical thought in order to provide an analytic of how people, languages and cultures are (re)produced through engaging with political economy. This conceptual backdrop is used as a lens to problematise practical issues when engaging with contemporary discourses and representations about Chinese language and culture.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Ashley Simpson is a Lecturer in Language Education at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, UK. Dr Simpson is also Co-Head of Institute at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, UK. He has published extensively on Intercultural Communication.