This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Intercultural Communication

Code: 103099 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Journalism OT 3
Journalism OT 4

Contact

Name:
David Rull Ribó
Email:
david.rull@uab.cat

Teachers

Carlos Sanandres Martinez

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

The subject of Intercultural Communication is Found within the area of Theory, History and Structure of communication, forming part of the mention in Analysis and Planning of the Communication.

 


Objectives and Contextualisation

The course on Intercultural Communication aims to raise students' awareness of interpersonal and intergroup relations within the intercultural media context resulting from globalization, to help them acquire a set of critical tools to analyze this geopolitical situation that shapes intercultural communication, to practice a new methodology for analyzing this hybrid society, and to develop a critical perspective on the relationships established between individuals, groups, and institutions who, coming from diverse sociocultural experiences, discourses, and representations, form intercultural communication networks where they engage in dialogue or rejection, agreement or confrontation, the exchange of experiences or the rejection of others'.

Intercultural communication, moving beyond the ethnocentric approach used in traditional analyses of communication networks, explains the complex and dynamic social relationships that develop at both interpersonal and collective levels, shaped by highly diverse social and political contexts in an accelerated process of globalization.

We will show that cultures are not homogeneous or static entities but rather hybrid and dynamic. We will demonstrate that cultures do not engage in dialogue with one another; rather, the individuals or groups that compose them are the ones who end up debating or confronting each other. This study will be carried out from an interdisciplinary perspective as a transversal vector of intercultural communication.

The multicultural perspective requires a different analytical methodology in which supposed or imagined identities are dissected to uncover the classificatory and exclusionary systems that constitute them. We analyze the exclusion and inclusion of individuals and groups within those who can 'speak' and manage communication, or who are silenced and muted by political and media powers.

The content of the course will be sensitive to aspects related to respect for fundamental rights of equality between women and men, human rights and the values of a culture of peace and will seek to promote personal growth and professional commitment to oneself. and the community and, nevertheless, as the Catalan Audiovisual Council suggests, “to show the different social realities, not allowing the creation of contents that can encourage or justify homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia and transphobia, disseminating the denunciation of discriminatory acts and presenting good practices in relation to equality and non-discrimination ”(Recommendations on the treatment of LGBTI people in the audiovisual media, CAC, 2017).

Course objectives:

  • Reflect on cultural diversity and its presence in the media.

  • Become familiar with some of the most relevant authors in the study of cultural otherness.

  • Identify cultural and linguistic stereotypes related to cultural otherness.

  • Learn to apply the acquired knowledge in the production of a journalistic piece.

  • Complete various journalistic exercises within the course's area of specialization.


Competences

    Journalism
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  • Demonstrate adequate knowledge of Catalonia's socio-communicative reality in the Spanish, European and global context.
  • Differentiate the discipline's main theories, its fields, conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and approaches that underpin knowledge of the subject and its different areas and sub-areas, and acquire systematic knowledge of the media's structure.
  • Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
  • Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
  • Properly apply the scientific method, raising hypotheses regarding journalistic communication, validating and verifying ideas and concepts, and properly citing sources.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Value diversity and multiculturalism as a foundation for teamwork.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse a situation and identify its points for improvement.
  2. Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
  3. Apply scientific methods in a cross-cutting manner in the analysis of the relations between technological change and media access.
  4. Appraise the social impacts of technological mediation in modern communication.
  5. Compare Catalonia's socio-communicative reality with the Spanish and European context from the point of view of cultural industries.
  6. Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  7. Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
  8. Identify situations in which a change or improvement is needed.
  9. Identify the fundamentals of theories and the history of communication.
  10. Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
  11. Propose new methods or well-founded alternative solutions.
  12. Propose new ways to measure the success or failure of the implementation of innovative proposals or ideas.
  13. Propose projects and actions that are in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and obligations, diversity and democratic values.
  14. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
  15. Propose viable projects and actions to boost social, economic and environmental benefits.
  16. Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  17. Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  18. Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  19. Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  20. Value diversity and multiculturalism as a foundation for teamwork.
  21. Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.

Content

A detailed schedule outlining the content of each session will be presented on the first day of the course and will be available on the course’s Virtual Campus, where students will find all teaching materials and necessary information for effective course monitoring. Should the teaching modality change for reasons of force majeure according to the competent authorities, the teaching staff will inform students of any modifications to the course schedule and teaching methodologies.

The course will be divided into:

  • Theoretical classes
  • Practical sessions (derived from theoretical teachings)
  • Seminars
  • Fieldwork

 

Theoretical classes (programme)

Session 1: Understanding

  • A history of the “others”
  • The description of the “others”
  • Key concepts in anthropology
  • Otherness and language
  • Otherness and war

Session 2: Listening

  • Music and identity
  • Language and sound
  • Music, beliefs and religiosity
  • Case studies

Session 3: Looking

  • Visual language
  • Looking at the “others”
  • The photographic gaze. Stereotypes and clichés
  • The cartographic gaze. Maps and power

Session 4: Eating

  • Food and communication. Around the fire
  • Food and culture. Grandmothers as cultural transmitters
  • Food and beliefs
  • Food and taboo

Session 5: Narrating

  • Tools and strategies to explain the “others”
  • Journalism and language
  • Journalism and otherness
  • Journalism and racism

 

Practical sessions

In the practical classes, autonomous working groups of 2 or 3 students will be formed with the aim of producing journalistic workrelated to interculturality, such as:

  • Journalistic essays
  • Digital cartographies
  • Social media profiles
  • Others (at the discretion of the teaching staff)

The functioning and dynamics of the practical sessions will simulate those of a newsroom, where the teaching staff will provide guidance on the different assignments, how to produce them, and submission deadlines.

 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Seminars 34 1.36 3, 7
Type: Supervised      
Personal work 16 0.64 3, 7
Type: Autonomous      
theory 100 4 3, 7

Training activities in ECTS credits, their learning methodology and their relationship with the skills to be achieved.

 

In the event that the student commits any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, this assessment act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instituted. In the event that several irregularities occur in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.

 

  

Learning activities

 

Learning methodology

 

Skills

 

 

DIRECTED ACTIVITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theoretical Classes

 

Master Classes

25%

CG1; CE1; CE3; CE4; CE11; CT1

 

 

Seminars

Treball d'un grup sobre un tema o activitat específica.

10%

 

CG1; CG3; CE1; CE3; CE4; CE11; CT1; CT2; CT11

 

SUPERVISED ACTIVITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tutories

 

Individual or group face-to-face activities aimed at developing knowledge in practical situations and solving learning problems.

5%

 

CG1; CG4; CE1; CE3; CE4; CE11; CT1; CT2; CT11

 

 

AUTONOMOUS ACTIVITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading, analysis and synthesis of texts, preparation and completion of assignments. Comprehensive reading of texts and study, reviews, bibliographic essays and creation of diagrams, conceptual maps and summaries.

 

55%

 

CG1; CE1 ; CE3 ; CE4; CE11; CT2; CT11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

 

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
demonstration of the knowledge acquired in theory classes Test 0 0 3
Practices demonstrations of acquired practical knowledge practices 0 0 3, 7
Practises demonstrations of acquired practical knowledge practices 0 0 2, 1, 3, 6, 7, 10, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21
test individual or group interventions 0 0 3, 5, 9, 19, 18, 16, 17, 4

The assessment system will be based on attendance and participation in the theoretical sessions and practical seminars of the course (with participation being evaluated), as well as the development and submission of assignments according to the instructors’ guidelines:

 

Theory

  • Submission of written essays in class: 5%

  • Submission of a review of one required reading chosen from the books by Perceval (2013), Kapuscinski (2019), or Todorov (2009): 20%

  • Oral presentation in class of a news item related to the subject area: 15%

 

Practice

  • Practical assignments (journalistic essay, cultural cartography, and/or social media project) and oral presentation of the work: 60%

The student must obtain a minimum score of five (5) in all course activities. Otherwise, the student will fail the course, regardless of whether the rest of the activities have been passed.

Plagiarism in any of the course assignments will result in a failing gradefor the entire course.

Class attendance and participation are mandatory in order to pass the course. Throughout the course, students will be requiredto submit various assignments such as:

– Short essays on topics discussed in theoretical classes
– A review of one required reading chosen by the student
– Group presentation of a news item related to the subject of the course

 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism in any of the course work will be penalized with a general failure of the course.

 

Attendance and participation

Attendance and participation in class are mandatory in order to pass the course. Throughout the course the student will have to complete various assignments such as:

- Short essays on issues raised in theory classes

- Review of a compulsory reading to be chosen by the student

- Group presentation of a news item related to the subject of the course.

 

Artificial Intelligence

For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed only in those tasks explicitly indicated by the professor. Students must clearly identify which parts have been generated with this technology, specify the tools used and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The non-transparency of the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a partial or total penalty in the grade of the activity, or higher penalties in cases of seriousness.


Bibliography

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bohannan, L. (1966). “Shakespeare en la selva” a: Honorio, Honorio M. (2010) Lecturas de antropologia social y cultural, UNED - Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, pp. 53-65. [ed. original: Bohannan, L. (1966). “Shakespeare in the bush”, a: Natural History, Agusut-September 1966].

Kapuscinski, Ryszard (2019). Viajes con Heródoto. Anagrama.

Perceval, José María (2013). El racismo y la xenofòbia. Crítica.

Todorov, Tzvetan (2008). El miedo a los bárbaros. Galaxia Gutemberg.

 

COMPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alfaro, Santiago (2008). Ciudadanía Intercultural. Conceptos y pedagogías desde América, Fondo editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Ali, Tariq (2002). El choque de los fundamentalismos. Cruzadas, yihads y modernidad. Alianza editorial.

Amselle, Jean-Loup (1990). Logiques métisses. Payot.

Anderson, Benedict R. (1991). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of  Nationalism. Verso (trad.esp. Comunidades imaginadas: reflexiones sobre el origen y difusión del nacionalismo, México, FCE, 1993).

Appadurai, Arjun (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, University of Minnesota Press.

(trad.esp. La modernidad desbordada: dimensiones culturales de la globalización, Buenos Aires, FCE, 2001).

Appadurai, Arjun (2006). Fear of Small Numbers. An Essay on the Geography of Anger, Duke University Press.

(trad.esp.: El rechazo de las minorías. Ensayo sobre la geografía de la furia, Barcelona, Tusquets, 2007).

Ashmaoui, F. (2005). The Image of the «Other» in the school books in Europe and in the Arab World.

Augé, Marc (2006). Los no-lugares, espacios del anonimato: antropología sobre la modernidad. Gedisa.

Bañón Hernández, Antonio Miguel (1996). Racismo, discurso periodístico y didáctica de la lengua. Universidad de Almería.

Baricco, Alessandro (2008). Los bárbaros. Ensayo sobre la diferencia. Anagrama.

Benhabib, Seyla (2002): The Claims of Culture. Equality and diversity in the Global Era. Princenton University Press.

Berdah, Jean-François, Bloch-Raymond, Anny, Zytnicki, Colette (2007). D’une frontière à l’autre, migrations, passages, imaginaires. Meridiennes.

Bertomeu, María Julia; Gaeta, Rodolfo; Vidiella, Graciela (2000). Universalismo y multiculturalismo. Eudeba, Buenos Aires.

Bhabha, Homi K. (2010): Nación y narración entre la ilusión de una identidad y las diferencias culturales. Siglo XXI.

Bolufer, Mónica (2005): “Geografías imaginarias, fronteras en transformación. Los límites de lo ‘europeo’ desde la antigüedad al presente”. Saitabi, 55, 9–28.

Bravo López, Fernando (2012). En casa ajena. Bases intelectuales del antisemitismo y la islamofobia. Bellaterra, Barcelona.

Burke, Peter (2013). Hibridismo cultural. Akal.

Buruma, Ian; Margalit, Avishai (2003). Occidentalism. The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies. Penguin.

Canestrini, Duccio (2009). No disparen sobre el turista; un análisis del turismo como colonización. Edicions Bellaterra.

Capone, Stefania (1999). La quête de l’Afrique dans le candomble. Khartala.

Cornejo Polar, A. (1997). Mestizaje e híbridez: los riesgos de las metàfores. UMSA.

Devji, Faisal (2005). Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality and Modernity. Cornell University Press.

Douglas, Mary (1996). Purity and Danger : An Analysys of Concepts of Purity and Taboo. Routledge and Kegan Paul (trd.esp. Pureza y peligro: un análisis de los conceptos de pureza y tabú, Madrid, siglo XXI, 2005).

Eco, Umberto (2003): Mouse or rat? Translation as negociation. Phoenix.

Eco, Umberto (2012). Construir al enemigo, Lumen.

Eddine Affaya, Tour (2012). “Occidente en el pensamiento árabe moderno”. Dossier-Daftar.

Erner, Guillaume (2006). La Société des victimes. La Découverte.

Flandrin, Jean-Louis, Cobbi, Jean (1999). Tables d'hier, tables d'ailleurs : Histoire et ethnologie du repas. Odile Jacob.

Flori, Jean (2002). Guerre sainte, jihad, croisade.Violence et religion dans le christianisme et l’islam. Seuil

García Canclini, Néstor (1992). Culturas híbridas: Estrategias para entrar y salir de la modernidad. Sudamericana.

Glucksmann, André (2005). Le Discours de la haine. Pluriel, Hachette.

Goody, Jack (2005). El Islam en Europa. Gedisa.

Gray, John (2004). Al Qaeda y lo que significa ser moderno. Paidos.

Grimson, Alejandro (2001). Comunicación Intercultural. Norma.

Gruzinski, Serge (1999) : La pensée métisse. Fayard.

Gruzinski, Serge (2004). Les Quatre Parties du monde: histoire d’une mondialisation. La Martiniere.

Guha, Ramachandra (2007). India after Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Macmillan.

Gutman, Amy, (2003). Identity in Democracy, Princenton University Press.

Kapuscinski, Ryszard (2007). Encuentros con el Otro. Anagrama.

Lafuente, Fernando R. (2007). “España como estereotipo de sí misma”. El orientalismo al revés. Homenaje a Edward W. Said. Llibros de la Catarata.

Leavitt, David (2011). El contable hindú. Anagrama.

León, Emma (ed.) (2009). Los rostros del Otro. Reconocimiento, invención y borramiento de la alteridad. Anthropos.

Lustig, Myron W.; Koester, Jolene (2003). Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Across Cultures. Snippet views.

Martel, Frédéric (2011). Lacultura mainstream. Cómo nacen los fenómenos de masa. Taurus.

Martín-Barbero, Jesús (2001). Al sur de la modernidad: Comunicación, globalización y multiculturalidad. Nuevo Siglo.

Morales, Agustín (2017). No somos refugiados. Círculo de Tiza.

Moore-Gilbert, Bart (1997). Postcolonal Theory, Verso.

Nalborczyk, Agata S. (2004). The Image of the “Other” in the contacts of Europe, Asia, Africa and America.

Nash, Mary (2005): Inmigrantes en nuestro espejo, Barcelona, Icaria.

Noufouri, Hamurabi; Feierstein, Daniel; Rivas, Ricardo; Prado Juan J. (1999). Tinieblas del crisol de razas. Ensayos sobre las representaciones simbólicas y espaciales de la noción del ‘otro’ en Argentina. Cálamo.

Omar, Sidi M. (2008). Los estudios postcoloniales. Una introducción crítica. Universitat Jaume I.

Pelletier, Philippe (2011). L'Extrême-Orient. L'invention d'une histoire et d'une géographie. Gallimard.

Pieterse, Jan Nederven (2012). Globalization and culture: Globalmelange. Rawman.

Pitts, Jennifer (2008). Naissance de la bonne conscience coloniale. Éditions de l’Atelier.

Pullman, Philip (2010). Contra la identidad. Seix Barral.

Rattansi, Ali (2011). Multiculturalism. Oxford University Press.

Ricoeur, Paul (1983). “Appropiation”. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences, 182–193.

Rodríguez Moya, Salvador (2011). Racismo en el fútbol profesional. Realidad social y dimensión mediàtica. Tesis.

Rodrigo Alsina, Miquel (2003). “Identidad cultural y etnocentrismo: una mirada desde Catalunya”. Victor Sampedro y Mar Llera (eds.) Desafíos actuales de la comunicación Intercultural, Bellaterra, 197–221.

Ruiz Jiménez, José Ángel (ed.) (2010). Balcanes, la herida abierta de Europa. Conflicto y reconstrucción de la convivència. Plaza y Valdés.

Salmon, Christian (2010). Kate Moss Machine. Península.

Samovar, Larry A.; Porter, Richard E.; McDaniel Edwin R. (2011). Intercultural Communication. Language Arts & Disciplines.

Sartori, Giovanni (2001). La sociedad multiétnica. Taurus.

Sémelin, Jacques (2005). Purifier et détruire. Usages politiques des massacres et genocides. Seuil.  

Sen, F. (2002). Islam in Deutschland. Beck.

Sen, Amartya (2006). Identity and violence: the illusion of Destiny. Penguin

(Trad. Identitat I violència. Qui té interès a convertir la identitat en conflicte?, Barcelona, La Campana,2009).

 Steiner, George (1975). After Babel. Oxford University Press.

 Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2007). “Par-delà l’incommesurabilité: pour une histoire connectée des empires au temps modernes”. Revue d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, 54, 5, 34–53.

 Taguieff, Pierre-André (2001). La fuerza del prejuicio. University of Minnesota.

 Ziegler, Jean (2008). La haine de l’Occident, Paris, Albin Michel.


Software

No special knowledge of any program is required, although students will have to use tools to make presentations, maps and others.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 11 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed