We are a group of travelers walking along the culture boarders, dreaming of the possibilities of cultural exchange and understanding.
We are a group of gadflies biting into modernity, trying to deconstruct individual confusions through inter-subjective thinking.
We are a group of explorers roaming along the frontiers of disciplines, believing that interdisciplinary research will emancipate the closed domain.
We are a group of new free men transcending the dichotomy between us and them, trying hard to think from the others’ perspective.
We are a group of social reformers crossing the mediated society, imagining the unlimited extension of the media into a bridge of human communication.
We are a group of practitioners trusting dialogue and equal rights, searching during the cross-cultural journey for a home where human beings live in harmony.
Being interested in cultural studies, we stepped into the field of intercultural communication research in 1990s, when Professors Shan Bo, Shi Yinbin, Wang Handong, and Qin Zhixi formed a group and established the research orientation of comparative journalism and intercultural studies. In 2002 Intercultural Studies became one of the six research orientations in the application by School of Journalism and Communication at Wuhan University for the right to award doctoral degree in first rank discipline, which got official approval in 2003. The preparations for a doctoral program for intercultural communication soon followed, which was officially established in 2004, being the only one of its kind under Journalism and Communication as first rank discipline. At the same time Research Center for Intercultural Communication was founded at the university level, the director of which is Professor Shan Bo, who collaborated with Université Michel de Montaigne - Bordeaux 3 of France and inaugurated consecutive “International Conference on Intercultural Communication”, which is held annually.
We make great efforts to engage in international and interdisciplinary research, collaborating with Berlin University (Humboldt University) and founded Intercultural Research Interest Group, working together with experts in sociology, psychology, anthropology, and political science. Continually, we have visited overseas research institutions, attending international conferences, being visiting scholars, and engaging in joint research efforts. Enthusiastically we have embraced cultural practice, experiencing foreign cultures in person, conducting intercultural investigation in ethnic minority villages, and providing advice for the government policy on building harmonious society. Earnestly we have paid close attention to cutting-edge of intercultural communications research, publishing an annual review of Western Intercultural Communications Research. Unceasingly we absorb young scholars into our research team. In 2010 Intercultural Communication Innovation Research Team composed of young teachers Xiao Jun, Si Jingxin, Liu Xue, Yang Man, Li Jiali and Weng Ziyang was selected as one of the first Post-70s Innovation Teams of Wuhan University.
Our undertaking is forever grounded in deep understanding of the human need for spiritual communication. We anticipate that more and more scholars will join us for the journey of intercultural communication research. |
