The Culturalization of the Self

4th Conference of the Graduate School
Intercultural Communication – Intercultural Competence

Chemnitz, November 28 – December 1 , 2007
Venu: "Altes Heizhaus"

Discovering the self and understanding the pivotal role it plays in our sense of being human has been one of the longest and most challenging endeavors in the history of science. Deeply rooted in religious, metaphysical, and philosophical reasoning, theories of the self have always been at the core of our attempt to understand what it means to be human, to become a person, to develop an identity, to differ from others while still depending on them, understanding who those others are and relating to them in a meaningful way.

Due to the renewed attention modern academic discourse has given to what it calls "culture," the debate about the self has now also been culturalized. Accordingly, the concept of "self" has become tightly linked to that of "culture" and specialized subdisciplines such as cultural philosophy, cultural sociology, cultural anthropology, and cross-cultural and cultural psychology are now focusing intently on the self.

Dealing successfully with intercultural topics and issues has become increasingly important as can be seen in the emergence of such research areas like Intercultural Communication and Intercultural Competence.

Thus, since psychological knowledge is indispensable in this endeavour, psychological theories about culture, its meaning for the self and vice versa have seen a certain upswing in psychology, too. The theoretical and largely methodological debates between cross-cultural and cultural psychologists have motivated some to adopt more interdisciplinary and integrative approaches in psychological studies of the nature and culturalization of the self.

Against this background, leading scholars from various research fields (and cultures) will meet at this conference in order to discuss the current state of the field and its potential for future research directions.

Organizers:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Straub
Dr. Pradeep Chakkarath
Dipl.-Kfm. Maik Arnold

Additional information:
Flyer: Download (2,2 MB)

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TU Chemnitz : IKK

The Culturalization of the Self