総評 : /bunka/と研究者・教育者との主体-客体の関係(特別企画II)

抄録

Based on the reading of three contributed articles, this response paper proposes a dialectical way of looking at /bunka/ (culture). In the traditional research and education in Intercultural Communication, /bunka/ has been treated as the object of research or teaching. However, as a researcher or an educator interacts with the object of /bunka/, a new /bunka/ emerges out of symbolic interaction that occurs between the researcher/educator and /bunka/. This newly emerged /bunka/ then becomes a subject and reflects the researcher/educator. Therefore, a researcher/educator is a subject and simultaneously an object as well as /bunka/ is both a subject and an object. In essence, this paper recommends that a researcher or a teacher should fully integrate self-reflexivity in research or teaching: they should not only describe how one positions in relation to the object of /bunka/ but also examine how one is reflected and defined by /bunka/.