THEORY ‘ESC’ & the Intercultural Communication of Values
- May 12, 2022
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: IJRISS, Language and Literature, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue IV, April 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
THEORY ‘ESC’ & the Intercultural Communication of Values
Stanley Naribo Ngoa (Ph.D., Wits)
Professor of Communication Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences,
National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Abuja Nigeria.
Abstract: Like ‘Buying the news and not the paper …’ an exploratory study which describes a pattern of newspaper consumption that gives meaning to an otherwise ordinary activity, a pattern of communal cultural consumption and a phenomenon that reveals a unique socio-cultural reality of the larger Nigerian environment, this paper will attempt to situate some other otherwise ordinary activity as a Cultural Product that promotes Intercultural Communication of Values.
Within the context of this paper, these otherwise ordinary day-to-day activities are viewed as rather puissant agents of 21st Century contemporary political power dynamics. They include: Gossip, Rumour and Religion – i.e. – all, potent agents of political propaganda; and as such, ‘Established Structures of Community’ (‘ESC’). Put differently, information and experiences drawn from our day-to-day lives create meanings for political issues as they relate to our daily lives and the decisions we make as citizens.
Using as evidence some common experiences from Nigeria, post-apartheid Republic of South Africa and the United States of America (USA) as its units of analysis, this paper argues that Gossip, Rumour and Religion are not simply Cultural Products, but also, the Intercultural Communication of values; as Gossip, that ‘small-talk’ often viewed as ordinary activity soon balloons into Rumour – normative or suspect evidence that gives meaning to the decisions we make.
The paper concludes that, the general objective of the use of gossip, rumour and religion as tools of political propaganda has always been to convince as many people as are targeted; and that is what qualifies the ‘ESC’ as Intercultural Communication of Values.
Key Words: Cultural Product, Intercultural, Communication, Values, “ESC”.
Note: The original version of this article was simply a verbal presentation at the9th International Conference on Intercultural Communication ICIC2017.
I. INTRODUCTION:
‘Buying the News & not the Paper…” [ ] is an exploratory study which describes a pattern of newspaper consumption that gives meaning to an otherwise ordinary activity. It is a pattern of communal cultural consumption and a phenomenon that reveals a unique socio-cultural reality of the larger Nigerian environment. It explains a readership behavior which radically enriches and shape human energy into a ‘structured feeling’ of gratified usage of media product.
