Cultural Essentialism and Neo‐Essentialism

Abstract This entry provides a theoretical and historical account of cultural essentialism and neo‐essentialism as they function in the study of intercultural communication. The development of intercultural communication as an academic discipline within the US American context emerged in the mid‐20th century from a presumptive metaphysics of essence that both sustained the field and led to multiple critiques by the end of that century. These critiques emerged largely from postcolonial scholars and US American scholars of color. The “postmodern turn” and increasing influence of queer theory also played a role in the critique of cultural essentialism. Despite these many critiques, essentialism remains tacitly at work in much contemporary intercultural communication scholarship. This tacit deployment constitutes a neo‐essentialism.