أطراس
Volume 7, Numéro 1, Pages 258-277
2026-01-15
‘the Gift Of A Bridge Is You Can See Both Sides:’ A Postcolonial Approach To Intercultural Communication In Leila Buck’s In The Crossing
Authors : Gandouz Olfa .
Abstract
The paper focuses on intercultural communication in Leila Buck’s play In the Crossing with a major reliance on a postcolonial approach to intercultural communication. Intercultural communication is manifested through the intersection between two intrinsically and ideologically different cultures. Indeed, Leila Buck puts on stage a Lebanese Israeli couple who learn about Lebanese culture from the stories of their grandparents. Buck uses different strategies to deconstruct binary opposition between the East and the West: the process of adaptation is achieved through translation, intelligibility and meaningfulness. Intercultural communication in the Crossing will be analyzed with a major reliance on Milton Bennett’s interpretation of adaptation as the key for crossing bridges and creating a cultural dialogue. Bennett perceives adaptation as “the process whereby one’s worldview is expanded to include behavior and values appropriate to other culture” (1998). There is an area of convergence between intercultural communication and post-colonialism because both theories raise questions about the relationship between different cultures. In his Orientalism, Edward Said asks questions about the relationship between multiple cultures: “How does one represent other cultures? What is another culture?” (325). Accordingly, the present paper will focus on the similarities between post-colonialism and intercultural communication to study Arab American identity, to criticize the notion of otherness and to subvert stereotypes against Arab American Muslims after the 9-11 events. Like Said’s postcolonial project which aims at blurring ethnic boundaries, intercultural communication is meant to create a multicultural fabric. According to Bennett, ‘the assumed result of intercultural communication is becoming a bi-cultural or multicultural person’ (15). The ultimate goal of this study is to show Buck’s criticism of the monocultural mindset, her challenge of the politicized discourse and her success at creating a cross-cultural communication.
Keywords
Intercultural Communication, Lebanese Israeli conflict, Arab American identity, Crossing boundaries.
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