Reconsidering “Intercultural Understanding” From a Critical Perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to critically reconsider the discourse of “intercultural understanding” in TEFL in Japan. Drawing on the critique of liberal multiculturalism from a critical perspective, it especially problematizes the liberal form of “intercultural understanding” that excessively emphasizes the superficial words such as diversity and tolerance, and critically discusses its pitfalls. It then uncovers the invisible violence of the liberal assumptions. In the concluding remarks, to overcome the problems of the liberal form of “intercultural understanding” and reframe “intercultural understanding” itself, it finally argues that research on “intercultural understanding” in TEFL should be based on the ideas of critical multiculturalism and critical multicultural education.