From the perspectives of intercultural communication studies (ICS) and Michel Serres’s concept of quasi-objects, this theoretical paper attempts to indicate the possibility of a non-traditional approach to communication. This approach focuses on the functions of “objects” or physical and meta-physical matters as actors in communication and examines how the main “subject” and “objects” of communication dynamically emerge through interactions, so this approach is different from the traditional approach to communication that tends to tacitly presuppose humans as the main “subjects” and things as passive “objects” in communication. In terms of ICS, the paper demonstrates how varied types of “objects” manifest as the actual main “subjects” in communication, using the following theoretical frameworks and concepts: Ishii(1997)’s three-layered structure of culture, Kluckhorn & Strodtbeck (1961)’s value orientations, Condon & Yousef (1975)’s classification of human nature, nature, and the supernatural, Hall (1969)’s proxemics, Ikeda & Kramer (2000)’s three types of spaces based on Gebser (1949/1986), and the concept of global culture. On the basis of Serres (1980)’s concept of quasi-objects, the present paper also discusses how a set of quasi-objects and quasi-subjects interact with one another to dynamically co-construct a relevant influential force or the main “subject” of communication. Finally, the paper illustrates the possibility of this unique approach to communication with an example of intersectional racism in Japanese society.
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