The Intercultural Communication Department at LMU considers itself to be an empirical science, which examines foreignness from various perspectives in real-life situations.
Ethnography of intercultural actions and interactions is the main focus, i.e. interpreting and explaining intercultural actions from the actor's point of view, while taking into account contextual and everyday cultural aspects centered on the following questions:
- What do individuals do when they act interculturally?
- How do people conceptualize intercultural action?
- How do we deal with problems and conflicts stemming from intercultural actions?
We believe that an ethnography of intercultural actions is only possible if the following ethical principles are followed:
- Equality of cultures
- Equality of the needs and expression of real individuals, regardless of whether they are natives or foreigners, members of a majority or a minority
- Equality of perspective and experience of both the researchers and of the subjects they research (“the studied”).
The Intercultural Communication Department at the LMU believes that all cultures are created equal. However, it does use some generalized cultural norms and/or trends, in single countries and regions, as examples. The focal point of the program is the theoretical approaches in both cultural studies and communication, which are also scrutinized for their practical relevance.
Furthermore, the following additional subjects are studied: the formation of stereotypes and prejudice, the influence of culture on perception, acculturation, ethnocentrism and identity, intercultural competence and intercultural learning, culture and economics, multiculturalism and ethnic boundaries.
As of the 2010/11 Winter semester, the Intercultural Communication Department has been given the privilege to offer a MA program. We highly recommend internships abroad, or in intercultural contexts. The Ethnology, European Ethnology or German as a Foreign Language majors, cannot be selected as a minor in addition to Intercultural Communication.
Students majoring in Business Administration and Economics can take Intercultural Communication as a required elective.
Students of other graduate programs can take Intercultural Communication dependent on the requirements of the examination regulations.