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Abstract
This theoretical essay examines the need for greater understanding of the cultural mind of sojourners by examining the role of embodiment and sentience in our theorizing of "culture shock" and cultural adaptation. Theoretical and empirical/experiential bases for treating sensual experiences as a basis and form of human discourse are provided, followed by a brief historical overview of the theorizing of culture shock and cultural adaptation. "Sensual shock" is advanced as sensitizing concept that serves as a corollary to existing theories of adaptation. A brief exemplar from previous research demonstrates the relevance of sensual shock to intercultural sojourns. Finally, the theoretical and practical benefits of this shift toward understanding cultural discourses in theorizing are explored.
Keywords: Cultural Adaptation, Culture Shock, Sentience, Senses, Intercultural
Confronting Our Epistemological Limitations
Culture infuses our theorizing. Although most intercultural communication scholars would agree with this assertion, academic literature has made only small steps in the direction of fully acknowledging the problem, let alone rectifying it. Min-Sun Kim (2009) suggests that theorizing suffers from both ethnocentric and Eurocentric biases. In the interest of promoting awareness of and rectifying this problem, some scholars, such as Ronald Gordon (1997), pinpoint domains Western communication theory has obscured or neglected. Four areas that Gordon cites are: a lack of full consideration of the "relational self"; "human emotion and the human 'body'", "'nature' and 'spirit'", and the "communal core" of communication.
The central focus herein involves the absence of the senses experienced by the human body in one domain of our theorizing. Bennett and Castiglioni (2004) describe how Western thinking has obscured the body and lived experience, carefully noting the epistemological traditions that deflect attention from embodiment. While most scholars would agree that the sensual life of individuals is culturally shaped in some ways, less consensus exists about the significance of the fact that the senses are culturally shaped. If we accept the propositions that Western thought is predisposed toward omitting careful consideration of embodied experiences and that these experiences play a vital role in the development and evolution of discursive practices, then the task of reintroducing the body in our theorizing must entail a mindful process of exploring influences that shape cultural life. One way of beginning the reintroduction of embodied experience is through...