Abstract
Discourses about interculturality do not merely discover, describe, and analyse intercultural communicative practices that already exist in an objective manner, but actively co-construct them (Risager, 2011; Dervin, Gajardo, & Lavanchy, 2011; Holliday, 2011). Intercult ural trainings and training programmes (as well as any other discourse on interculturality) provide particular discursive resources for thinking about, relating to and communicating with others and thus significantly shape ideas and practices. As Blommaert (1995, p. 5) describes it:
we should not only worry about intercultural communication per se, but also about the way in which it is perceived, interpreted, construed, and structured by all kinds of people, including ourselves. In short, we should be committed to investigating the ideologies surrounding intercultural communication.
The present chapter analyses an intercultural training programme, Alelo’s Virtual Cultural Awareness Trainer, in the context of the War on Terrorism. The questions guiding the investigation are: What understanding of culture underlies the design of this programme? How are Self and Other constructed and portrayed? What function does this particular conceptualisation serve in the political context of the War on Terrorism?
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Zotzmann, K. (2015). Increased Understanding and Empathy through Intercultural Training? The Case of Alelo’s Virtual Cultural Awareness Trainer for Military Personnel. In: Dervin, F., Machart, R. (eds) Cultural Essentialism in Intercultural Relations. Frontiers of Globalization Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137498601_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137498601_9
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