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As a Muslim…”: on the importance of intercultural responsibility in transnational cultural exchanges

  • Anyarat Nattheeraphong

    Anyarat Nattheeraphong is Assistant Professor and Chair of the MA Program in English at Mahasarakham University. Her research interests include teacher cognition, learner motivation, and intercultural communication.

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    and Christopher Jenks

    Christopher Jenks is Professor and Chair of Intercultural Communication at Utrecht University. Christopher specializes in the study of language in society and is particularly interested in the political and cultural implications of the global spread of English. His research interests include online communication, intercultural encounters, political discourse, and identity construction.

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Published/Copyright: September 2, 2024
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Abstract

Cultural exchange is increasingly becoming an essential activity of higher education as the world continues to experience widespread ethnocentrism because of war, migration, political provocation, and nationalism. Research in areas related to cultural exchange have also increased with the rise of teacher and student mobility, leading to an exciting body of scholarship. Several aspects of intercultural communication, however, remain under-researched in the study of cultural exchange. One such example is intercultural responsibility. The current study adds to this body of work by investigating how Muslim students that were part of a cultural exchange program in Thailand used notions of intercultural responsibility to make sense of their encounters and identities. The findings show that national and religious identities are both barriers to, and resources for, intercultural communication in general, and the social practices of Muslim students in particular. Intercultural responsibility is important to scholars and educators, as it can empower students to become agentive in their participation in intercultural communication, allowing them to reflect on and utilize their linguistic, cultural, and historical repertoire when interacting with individuals and communities that do not share their same cultural traditions and practices.


Corresponding Author: Anyarat Nattheeraphong, Department of Western Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham, Thailand, E-mail:

Funding source: Mahasarakham University

About the authors

Anyarat Nattheeraphong

Anyarat Nattheeraphong is Assistant Professor and Chair of the MA Program in English at Mahasarakham University. Her research interests include teacher cognition, learner motivation, and intercultural communication.

Christopher Jenks

Christopher Jenks is Professor and Chair of Intercultural Communication at Utrecht University. Christopher specializes in the study of language in society and is particularly interested in the political and cultural implications of the global spread of English. His research interests include online communication, intercultural encounters, political discourse, and identity construction.

Acknowledgments

This research project was financially supported by Mahasarakham University. We are immensely grateful for their financial support, which enabled us to collect data and analyze the results. This research project would not have been possible without their invaluable assistance. We also extend our appreciation to the participants who took part in this study, as their cooperation and willingness to share their stories and experiences were essential in gathering the data required for our research.

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Received: 2023-05-29
Accepted: 2024-08-14
Published Online: 2024-09-02
Published in Print: 2025-05-26

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  4. Imagination and investment: unraveling academic identity in Chinese doctoral candidates’ publishing journeys in U.S. higher education
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