Anthropological semiotics: A methodological and conceptual approach to intercultural communication studies in organizations

Abstract

Approaching a study object isn’t necessarily approaching the reality we are about to study. The discrepancy between facts and situations on the one hand, and the narratives arising from researching them, on the other, can sometimes be as great as to generate knowledge that only partly corresponds to the reality it is trying to explain or describe. Conceptual constraints derived from limited paradigms of analysis, together with inadequate methodological approaches are among the most affecting factors.

“Together implies, rather than merely considering the relationship between self OR (or even AND) other, that we can build something that eventually is ours” (Casmir 1999, 112–13)

The author is currently working on her PhD project about intercultural communication dynamics in tourism organizations in the Mexican Caribbean, focusing on the Italian-Mexican interaction. The present paper arises from the doctoral research activities in Communication Sciences carried out by the author within the Postgraduate Programme of Political and Social Science, in the School of Political and Social Science at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México — National Autonomous University of Mexico). The research activity is made possible by the financial support of the scholarship given by the DGEP (Dirección General de Estudios de Posgrado — General Direction of Postgraduate Studies) of the same university.