Toward a New Set of Practices in Intercultural Communication

This paper argues that one of the major challenges in establishing mutually responsible and respectful, not to mention effective forms of intercultural mediation rests on recognizing the very different cognitive frames of those involved in such ventures. Fostering more balanced forms of communication between let us say “cultural interpreters” or “mediators” and those being “interpreted” or “mediated” rests on a recognition of the divergent cognitive frames brought to the interaction. Explicitly or implicitly, consciously or unconsciously the former usually bring universal and general frames of knowledge to the table, that are, moreover conceived of as being superior to the particular and concrete forms of experience which often enough characterize their interlocutors. The challenge of establishing some modicum of trust between these different actors is discussed in terms of a pedagogy of shared experience and the development of new forms of embodied knowledge among the different participants to the interaction.