Intercultural U History Project

Updated: January 4, 2007

"To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source; a tree without root.
(Chinese proverb)

The purpose of the IU History Project is to help establish a repository for historical artifacts relevant to intercultural research.  Photographs, relevant documents, oral histories (audio), relevant videos, etc. will be placed in the IUHP Archive.  Another purpose of the IU History Project is to encourage analysis of the history of intercultural research and provide a means for intercultural historians to discuss and write histories about intercultural research.

The IU History Project will be lead by William Hart, the founder of Intercultural U and author of several book chapters, journal articles and conference papers on the history of intercultural research.  See an excerpt from one of his book chapters below.  The excerpt explains well the motivations behind the Intercultural U History Project.

There are several ways to get involved in the IU History Project. Especially let us know if you would like to be on the IU History Project committee.  The IUHP committee will help development the mission for the project and guide in the collection and analysis of historical data gathered.  You may also want to join the discussion about the project in the IU Forums.

If you would like to add photos and documents to the IUHP Archive, please register on the Archive page and then send email to wbhart@interculturalu.com. Those who register can read and write comments on archive photographs, documents, etc.

In addition to building up content in the Archive, one of the first IUHP tasks will be to compile an intellectual genealogy of intercultural researchers and teachers.  The main purpose of the intellectual genealogy is to give people a sense of where they fit into the bigger picture.  While the information gathered for the genealogy will be more detailed, in short the geneology will allow individual researchers to get a sense of where they fit in the family tree.   I was a student of ______ who was a student of ______ who was a student of ________, etc. 

The IU History Project is currently in the beginning stages of development. Please check back regularly for updates or subscribe to the IU Campus Dispatch to received updates via email.

 

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Excerpt from "Franz Boas and the Roots of Intercultural Communication Research"

Why look back at the study of intercultural communication?  Why read or write on the history of intercultural communication research?  If simple curiosity alone, is not enough, then there are other reasons (Hergenhahn, 1992; Hart, 1999a).  We should study the history of intercultural communication to gain an appreciation of the work that has been completed in the past and to be humbled by the fact that many of the social problems that we currently study have been studied for nearly a century (e.g,, ethnocentrism).  Have we made progress?  We should study the history of intercultural communication to gain a deeper understanding of why we study what we study.  We should study the history of intercultural communication in order to recognize the fads and fashions of intercultural communication research. Why are certain topics considered important?  We should study the history of intercultural communication to avoid repetition of past studies and past mistakes.  We should study the history of intercultural communication to capitalize on a source of valuable ideas for further research.  We should study the history of intercultural communication to show gratitude to prominent scholars of intercultural communication.  We should study the history of intercultural communication to find role-models, especially for young scholars.  We should study the history of intercultural communication to gain a sense of identity. Intellectually speaking, where do we come from and who are we?

Hart, W. B., (2005). Franz Boas and the roots of intercultural communication research. In W. J. Starosta & G. Chen (Eds.), The International and Intercultural Communication Annual, Vol. 28 (pp. 176-193). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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