On Inheriting the Fields of International and Intercultural Communication: A Personal Reflection*
Guest post by Yoshitaka Miike
To inherit is to receive as legacy, place adequate value on and make a part of one’s life. But to be a custodian of a great legacy is to guard, preserve, expand and promote it. It is to honor it by building on and expanding it and, in turn, leaving it as an enriched legacy for future generations.
– Maulana Karenga (1996, p. 551)
The International and Intercultural Communication Division (IICD) of the National Communication Association (NCA) was founded as a commission in 1971 and later formed as a division in 1984. I am thus the 42nd incoming chair of this flourishing division. When I think about the history of the IICD and its critical role in advocating diversity and advancing internationalization within the NCA, I feel the heavy weight of the gavel that Dr. S. Lily Mendoza at Oakland University passed to me in Washington, D.C. With an eye on the 100th Anniversary of the NCA next year, I would like to offer a personal year-end reflection on how we may inherit the fields of international and intercultural communication. More specifically, I wish to suggest that we (1) “create a community of a larger memory” of our fields (to borrow Dr. Ronald Takaki’s [1998] words), (2) clarify our theoretical ideas and practical issues without sacrificing their complexities, and (3) generate knowledge that bridges differences especially from non-U.S. and non-elite perspectives.
*Source: Miike, Y. (2013, December). On inheriting the fields of international and intercultural communication: A personal reflection. National Communication Association’s International and Intercultural Communication Division Newsletter, pp. 4-7.
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