Semi-strangers:Daily Communication And Conflict Negotiation Of A Rural China Co-cultural Group

Taking Tujia Protestants of Youyang as a study case and employing Orbe's co-cultural theory as an analytical framework,this ethnography delves into intergroup communication within rural China "acquaintance society" in the time of social transformation and defamiliarization.Youyang,an ethnic minority autonomous county in Southwest China,has a rich history of anti-church cases.Previous studies have shown that the lack of intercultural communication channels and the absence of reciprocal intergroup relationships result in misunderstandings and conflicts.In the prevailing circumstance,Tujia Protestants of Youyang are still seen as a marginalized,underrepresented co-cultural group due to their deviation from mainstream religious culture.As dominant group members,non-Christian people demean those who believe in Jesus not only through the discourse of body and intellect,but also through judgments on the basis of dominant values.Having been influenced by the communication logic in the acquaintance society,Tujia Protestants of Youyang tend to choose non-aggressive and non-seperated co-cultual practices and try avoiding confrontation by all means.It turns out that acquaintances are apparently maintaining their relationship with each other without fierce conflicts,however the lack of intergroup understanding and tolerance of cultural difference actually causes an even larger gap between the two sides and harms the harmony of social relations in the "acquaintance society".In the context of daily communication,Tujia Protestants of Youyang and dominant group members are mainly involved in intergroup communication in four social circles,including family,neighborhoods,church members and church-secular relationships.Communication strategies such as "replacing words with acts","criticizing secretly and keeping silent in public","expressing understanding","compensatory" and "superficial compromise with re-interpretations" carried out by Tujia Protestants when dealing with conflicts,are not found in the original framework of co-cultural theory.They are not similar to any new types of co-cultural practice discovered by other researchers either.These are unique co-cultural communication strategies related to the communicative logics of"acquaintance society".In this way,Tujia Protestants of Youyang can maintain close relationships with their non-Christian acquaintances,and ease intercultural conflicts by"sticking to the principle of reconciliation","saving face" and "separating names from reality".This research applies "thick description" to reveal how the "acquaintance society"influences co-cultural communication under a specific context.And these findings may contribute to the existing theoretical framework of co-cultural communication.Based on the ethnography,the author argues that Tujia Protestants of Youyang are semi-strangers that were generated within the community,rather than strangers who came from the outside.The finding of such intermediate state can contribute to intercultural communication research as it modifies the polarization of terms like "stranger" and"acquaintance".The author uses a new term,"semi-stranger",to describe co-cultural group members in rural China society.In this way,the research sheds light on a better understanding of intergroup communication within "acquaintance society".First,the term"semi-stranger" illustrates how co-cultural group members and dominant group members maintain acquaintances in their daily life while they become distant on the level of religious belief.Second,both sides experience pressure of conflicts during intergroup communication.Last but not least,co-cultural group members in rural China society are like handstones laid in the soil and they co-exist with dominant group members all the time.They are not strangers wandering on the margins,but deeply embedded in the soil of"acquaintance society".From the standpoint of co-cultural group members,semi-strangers show strong motivation of "embeding" in intercultural communication which means they are eager to win tolerance and acceptance from the dominant structure of society.Meanwhile,dominant group members see cultural heterogeneity as destructive power to inherent relationships of "acquaintance society".Hence,they hold contradictory attitudes and acts against semi-strangers and form resistance to co-cultural communication.However,the resistance can also be interpreted as a requisite reactive force for the native soil to support insertions.In this sense,there always stands a chance for semi-strangers and dominant group members to run-in through intercultural communication and to work together in enhancing development and multiculturalism in the transforming period of rural China society.