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Edward T. Hall

Author profile

born

May 16, 1914 in Webster Groves, Missouri,, The United States

died

July 20, 2009

gender

male

website

http://www.edwardthall.com/

genre

Anthropology

About this author

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Born in Webster Groves, Missouri, Hall taught at the University of Denver, Colorado, Bennington College in Vermont, Harvard Business School, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University in Illinois and others. The foundation for his lifelong research on cultural perceptions of space was laid during World War II when he served in the U.S. Army in Europe and the Philippines.

From 1933 through 1937, Hall lived and worked with the Navajo and the Hopi on native American reservations in northwestern Arizona, the subject of his autobiographical West of the Thirties. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942 and continued with field work and direct experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the 1950s he...more Born in Webster Groves, Missouri, Hall taught at the University of Denver, Colorado, Bennington College in Vermont, Harvard Business School, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University in Illinois and others. The foundation for his lifelong research on cultural perceptions of space was laid during World War II when he served in the U.S. Army in Europe and the Philippines.

From 1933 through 1937, Hall lived and worked with the Navajo and the Hopi on native American reservations in northwestern Arizona, the subject of his autobiographical West of the Thirties. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942 and continued with field work and direct experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the 1950s he worked for the United States State Department, at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), teaching inter-cultural communications skills to foreign service personnel, developed the concept of "High context culture" and "low context culture", and wrote several popular practical books on dealing with cross-cultural issues. He is considered a founding father of intercultural communication as an academic area of study.

Hall first created the concepts of proxemics, polychronic and monochronic time, high and low context culture. In his book, The Hidden Dimension, he describes the culturally specific temporal and spatial dimensions that surround each of us, such as the physical distances people keep each other in different contexts.

In The Silent Language (1959), Hall coined the term polychronic to describe the ability to attend to multiple events simultaneously, as opposed to "monochronic" individuals and cultures who tend to handle events sequentially.

In 1976, he released his third book, Beyond Culture, which is notable for having developed the idea of extension transference; that is, that humanity's rate of evolution has and does increase as a consequence of its creations, that we evolve as much through our "extensions" as through our biology. However, with extensions such as the wheel, cultural values, and warfare being technology based, they are capable of much faster adaptation than genetics.

Robert Shuter, a well-known intercultural and cross-cultural communication researcher, commented: "Edward Hall's research reflects the regimen and passion of an anthropologist: a deep regard for culture explored principally by descriptive, qualitative methods.... The challenge for intercultural communication... is to develop a research direction and teaching agenda that returns culture to preeminence and reflects the roots of the field as represented in Edward Hall's early research."

He died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 20, 2009.(less)

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Books by Edward T. Hall

Average rating: 3.92 · 645 ratings · 72 reviews · 14 distinct works

	The Hidden Dimension by Edward T. Hall, Edward Hall, Adaptor 3.97 avg rating — 227 ratings — published 1966 — 8 editions	My rating:
	The Silent Language 3.92 avg rating — 145 ratings — published 1959 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Beyond Culture 3.87 avg rating — 137 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time 4.18 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1984 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Anthropology of Everyday Life 3.93 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1992 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall, Mildred Reed Hall 3.64 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1990 — 2 editions	My rating:
	West of the Thirties: Discoveries Among the Navajo and Hopi 4.18 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 1994 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Hidden Differences: Doing Business with the Japanese by Edward T. Hall, Mildred Reed Hall 4.00 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1987 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Handbook For Proxemic Research 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	My rating:
	Guide Du Comportement Dans Les Affaires Internationales by Edward T. Hall, Mildred Reed Hall 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1990	My rating:

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Quotes by Edward T. Hall

“One of the most effective ways to learn about oneself is by taking seriously the cultures of others. It forces you to pay attention to those details of life which differentiate them from you.”
― Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language

tags: culture , deaf , growth , silent

9 people liked it

“اليوم، حيث جميعنا غارق في معلومات من عدة مصادر، من السهل أن تفهم لماذا يشعر الناس أنهم يفقدون الصلة حتى في مجال تخصصهم. بالرغم من وجود التلفاز، أو ربما بسببه، يشعر الناس بفقدان الصلة بالعالم أجمع. ويزيد فرط المعلومات من الحاجة لأطر منظمة لجعل كتلة المعلومات التي تتغير بسرعة كبيرة متكامل.”
― Edward T. Hall

3 people liked it

“الخبرة المكانية ليست بصرية فقط، ولكنها متعددة الحواس”
― Edward T. Hall

2 people liked it

See all Edward T. Hall's quotes »

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