Communication, Culture and Confrontation

The Third Volume in the series Communication Processes engages in understanding processes of communication in relation to cultural configurations and contending forces that permeate them. Moving away from the conceptual reduction of communication to the technological metaphors of 'transportation' and 'transmission', the Communication Processes series undertakes discourse involving multiple voices, bringing together academic and grassroot viewpoints. The present book explores another level of analysis in which forms, ways and media of communication appear in connection with the cultures of communicators and their audiences.

This volume is positioned at the interface of culture and communication—exploring ways in which interaction, negotiations, and even conflicts are voiced. It re-examines our conception of culture to show that communities cannot be divided into polarities such as 'elite and popular' or 'dominant and subaltern'—establishing that such clear divisions cannot exist in society. Culture is therefore perceived as a field of contending forces: a milieu of exchange, encounter, confrontation, and possibly conflict

The volume argues that cultural configurations display themselves as evaluative forms of social communication, weaving human beings into collectives, and binding these collectives with one another, all permeated with the power parameter. It identifies seven different cultural forms such as rituals, narratives and songs, and discusses 18 case studies to suggest a complex model of cultural communication. It also discusses popular culture as the site of struggle between forces of dominant and subordinate communities.