Intercultural Communication in the Third Space: In-Betweenness and Hybridity in Migrant Women Writers’ Transnational Fictions

Abstract

This study underscores the transformative impact of migration and considers transnational fiction by im/migrant women writers as a source for Intercultural Communication research. Chapter 1 opens with the notion of “transnationalism” in migration research and distinguishes between transnational writing and cognate terms with reference to American literary studies. In addition to transcending national boundaries as finished products, transnational works take, as their main theme, various forms of border-crossing, intercultural contact, and cross fertilization. They feature linguistic hybridity to signal cultural hybridity and in-betweenness. In its more general sense, hybridity involves mixing and blending. However, if one emphasizes the process, which involves negotiating world views and values across cultural boundary lines, hybridity becomes a more elusive concept. Intercultural encounters occur in power networks, and the accompanying hybridization challenges participants differentially. I insist that Intercultural Communication inquiry on culture and identity, two key terms in the field, turn to literary texts and consider how they represent hybridity and in-betweenness. Chapter 2 proposes a tool kit to read transnational fictions from the perspective of Intercultural Communication. Chapter 3 analyzes Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah and The Night Counter by Alia Yunis. Chapter 4 explores hybridity and in-betweenanes in Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande and Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez. Chapter 5 juxtaposes the findings and considers the ways in which Intercultural Communication can use transnational fiction as a rich source for intercultural communication research. I propose Literary Intercultural Communication as a new research area within Intercultural Communication inquiry.