Mardin’de Kültürlerarası İletişim Ve Kültürel Kimliğin/Farkın İnşası-Engin
Intercultural Communication and Construction of Cultural Identity/Difference in Mardin

Summary/Abstract: In this study, cultural identity and interculturality are examined by the data of the ethnographic research carried out on in Mardin, a multicultural city located in the south east of Turkey. Intercultural communication is understood as any communication practices including the creations, negotiations and circulation of meaning between different cultural groups/ethnicities or individuals feeling of belonging to those cultural communities. In this context it is analyzed that how culture, cultural identity and politics are articulated by focusing intercultural communication and cultural/symbolic borders between different ethnicities and cultural communities in Mardin. This study is based on the qualitative data gathered in the ethnographic fieldwork containing participant observation and the depth interviews with some participants from different cultural and ethnic groups (Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Syrians, Armenians). Hence, the article analyses and discuses the conclusion of the ethnographic research. Therefore unlike traditional behavioralist’s intercultural communication approach the study argues that the collective features of ethnic communities/identities do not form a community or a culture by itself. A particular culture or a ethnic community do not solely determine the communicative practices and meanings necessarily. Rather, cultural specificities and differences, namely identities, are constructed socially and politically in intercultural communication and d intercultural interactions.

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