Human-to-non-human relations in intercultural communication: a posthuman perspective

This empirical paper is situated within the broad and interdisciplinary field of intercultural communication. Research within this field has long focused on human relations wherein, the binary relationship between ‘self’ and human ‘other’ dominates our understanding of interculturality (Ferri, 2020). This paper engages with current debates on the need to accommodate posthumanism in our understanding of intercultural communication. Auger and Dervin (2021, p.vii) argued for the need to think about intercultural encounters beyond human subjects and to accommodate interactions between living objects and non-living objects. The paper builds on other contributions (e.g., Ferri, 2020, among others) which engage with this critical subject by advocating for the relevance of materiality in intercultural communication.

While the contributions I draw upon focus on material entities like objects, I discuss both material and non-material culture: food, naming, and death. I use critical posthumanism (Braidotti, 2019) to challenge hierarchy of species and promote interconnectedness between ‘humans, and other animals, humans and artefacts, humans and nature’ (Pennycook, 2018, p.445). This allows for more engaging research into the study of intercultural communication and materiality.

I employed qualitative research methods, mainly semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis to gain insights into the significance of material and non-material culture in intercultural communication.