Intercultural Knowledge Building: The Literate Action of a Community Think Tank

Abstract

Intercultural rhetoric is the study of literate practices that use cultural difference to build knowledge and support wise action. This paper documents the practice of a community think tank on urban workforce issues and examines the strategies used in this dialogue to 1) design an intercultural forum, 2) structure inquiry within diversity, and 3) build intercultural knowledge. It asks, can such literate action produce significant, transformative knowledge? The study draws on conceptual tools of activity theory and social cognitive rhetoric to explore the conflicts built into this process and the mediating role of documentation. It argues that two important outcomes of intercultural inquiry are its ability 1) to construct a richly situated representation of workforce issues--as a social and cognitive activity, and 2) to build a guide for action that emerges not solely from the arguments of causal logic, but from culturally negotiated “working theories,” attuned to multiple realities and possible

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