Prof Adrian Holliday gave a keynote speech at the Intercultural Communication Special Interest Group 2012 Seminar (under British Association of Applied Linguistics) at Department of Languages, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, on 17-18 May 2012.

1. Cultural travel: enrichment,
opportunity and change
Adrian Holliday

2. Negotiating individual vs. social structure
Underlying universal Particular cultural
Particular social &
cultural processes products
political structures
Artefacts
Cultural resources
Cultural practices
Nation: education,
Art, literature, the
language,
media, architecture etc
government etc
Small culture formation
Religion, ideology Statements about
Reading and making
culture
culture
Global position & Personal Discourses of and
trajectories Constructing rules and
politics about ‘culture’,
meanings
Affluence, power, Family, ideology, prejudice
ancestry, peers, Imagining Self and
economies, Cultural acts: outward
Other
juxtaposition with profession etc expressions of Self
others and Other
Confirming or resisting social structure

3. Resistance
Particular cultural
products
National structures
Personal Underlying universal
Restraint or trajectories: cultural processes Statements about
resource
Cultural Shared abilities to culture
Global position and experience &
read, negotiate and Cultural beliefs and
politics formation on make culture practices
the go
Innovation

4. Missed complexity of small culture
Observation Prejudice Easy answer formation
Children ‘They don’t use a There are a large variety of possible
‘They are respectful form of ways of showing respect.
address their
less polite address.’
parents by Within this cultural environment
than we
given name ‘We value politeness; using given names is approved by
are.’
and no title. they don’t.’ parents and does carry respect.
In every cultural arrangement
Children are ‘They don’t encourage
‘They are there are rules of formality.
expected to open, critical
more discussion.’ Within this cultural environment
keep quiet at
formal they are expressed in a particular
meal times ‘We value critical
than we ways. There may be other times
unless spoken discussion; they
are.’ and places where open, critical
to. don’t.’
discussion is encouraged.