In December 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its calls to action for reconciliation related to the oppressive legacy of Indian Residential Schools. Required actions include increased teaching of intercultural competencies and incorporation of indigenous ways of knowing and learning. Intercultural Communication as a discipline has primarily been developed from euro-centric traditions based in three domains of learning referred to as Bloom's taxonomy. Scholars and practitioners have increasingly identified problems in the way that intercultural competency is taught. The decolonization of education is implicated in finding solutions to those problems. Indigenization of education is one such effort. This chapter posits the Medicine Wheel, a teaching/learning framework that has widespread use in indigenous communities, for use in instructing intercultural communication. Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains, is missing the fourth quadrant of the Medicine Wheel, spiritual. Examples of the spiritual quadrant are offered.
A challenge for communication practitioners is facilitating increased representation of marginalized cultural groups in public dialogue. Utilizing a project between Gallup, New Mexico, and a Navajo community as a case study, this paper demonstrates how public planning across cultures can be conceptualized as a dialogic process. The author conducted a communication assessment of this eco-tourism project. Analysis revealed the importance of finding ways to meet the participatory needs of the marginalized community, instituting specialized communication practices, and purposefully preparing the contextual environment to support involvement in dialogue. These findings highlight the need for continued development of dialogic practices, and for closer ties among communication and planning scholars.
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