Abstract
Fifty years after the publication of anthropologist Edward T. Hall's landmark book The silent language, which set Hall on course to becoming recognized as the founder of the field of intercultural communication, a puzzling question that remains is why Hall has managed to have such a significant impact on research and practice outside of anthropology, but very little lasting impact on anthropology itself. By examining anthropological writings on Hall's work between 1959 and the mid-1980s, this paper offers an understanding of how Hall came to be depicted and seen in American sociocultural anthropology and thus how, in the process, he failed to engage in a meaningful dialogue with his own discipline.
