Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological Approach

This article aims to present a review of Edward T. Hall’s ethnographic and anthropological research to critically look at mediatization as a complex cultural process. This implies an explicit support of linguistic relativism and cultural materialism. Hall’s belief in lin­guistic relativism led him t...

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Main Author: Paolo Granatta
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Published: Universidad ORT Uruguay 2017-02-01
Series:InMediaciones de la Comunicación
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.ort.edu.uy/inmediaciones-de-la-comunicacion/article/view/2627
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author Paolo Granatta
author_facet Paolo Granatta
author_sort Paolo Granatta
collection DOAJ
description This article aims to present a review of Edward T. Hall’s ethnographic and anthropological research to critically look at mediatization as a complex cultural process. This implies an explicit support of linguistic relativism and cultural materialism. Hall’s belief in lin­guistic relativism led him to further research the communication processes by relying on a meditation that directly resulted from the anthropological research conducted by Sapir and Whorf in line with Boas’ tradition. Hall realized that the principles defined in relation with the study of languages and interpersonal communication could be applied with equally good results to the study of human behavior in general or to the entirety of cultural facts and culture in general. Moreover, he develops his concept of culture from a strictly ecological perspective or the idea that it results from the special connection between man and his environment. Hall’s approach combines and mixes within a systemic view of culture both the cultural ma­terialism advocated by Harris and White and the cognitivist tradition founded by Boas. This article shows the essence of Hall’s ecological approach according to which culture is conceived as a whole: a dynamic system, a coherent process of mediatization within which all the elements are deeply connected and therefore co-dependent.
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spelling doaj.art-3472c31b28144fd3a1906d55496b09232022-12-21T20:15:38ZspaUniversidad ORT UruguayInMediaciones de la Comunicación1510-50911688-86262017-02-01111110.18861/ic.2016.11.11.26272578Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological ApproachPaolo Granatta0Centre for Culture & Technology, University of TorontoThis article aims to present a review of Edward T. Hall’s ethnographic and anthropological research to critically look at mediatization as a complex cultural process. This implies an explicit support of linguistic relativism and cultural materialism. Hall’s belief in lin­guistic relativism led him to further research the communication processes by relying on a meditation that directly resulted from the anthropological research conducted by Sapir and Whorf in line with Boas’ tradition. Hall realized that the principles defined in relation with the study of languages and interpersonal communication could be applied with equally good results to the study of human behavior in general or to the entirety of cultural facts and culture in general. Moreover, he develops his concept of culture from a strictly ecological perspective or the idea that it results from the special connection between man and his environment. Hall’s approach combines and mixes within a systemic view of culture both the cultural ma­terialism advocated by Harris and White and the cognitivist tradition founded by Boas. This article shows the essence of Hall’s ecological approach according to which culture is conceived as a whole: a dynamic system, a coherent process of mediatization within which all the elements are deeply connected and therefore co-dependent.https://revistas.ort.edu.uy/inmediaciones-de-la-comunicacion/article/view/2627Edward T. Halllinguistic relativismcultural materialismintercultural communicationcultural ecology
spellingShingle Paolo Granatta
Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological Approach
InMediaciones de la Comunicación
Edward T. Hall
linguistic relativism
cultural materialism
intercultural communication
cultural ecology
title Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological Approach
title_full Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological Approach
title_fullStr Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological Approach
title_full_unstemmed Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological Approach
title_short Culture as Mediatization: Edward T. Hall’s Ecological Approach
title_sort culture as mediatization edward t hall s ecological approach
topic Edward T. Hall
linguistic relativism
cultural materialism
intercultural communication
cultural ecology
url https://revistas.ort.edu.uy/inmediaciones-de-la-comunicacion/article/view/2627
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