Meeting on the "narrow ridge" in intercultural communication with specific reference to the UFS

Abstract

This article offers an existential perspective on the possibilities of healthy intercultural communication in our communities where the participants share a common language such as English. While communication between different cultural groups is often problematic, it is argued that intercultural communication should ideally take the form of a meeting on the "narrow ridge" as the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878- 1965) would say. The general implications of communicating on the "narrow ridge" are highlighted and contextualised within the communicative circumstances at the University of the Free State (UFS). Various modes of intercultural communicative interactions are referred to as well as the similarities and differences between Botho!Ubuntu and existential dialogue. The article concludes that an existential perspective on intercultural communication provides no instant solution, but that it does awaken us to our communicative responsibilities.