Cross-Cultural Studies

A different kind of cultural frame: An analysis of panels in American comics and Japanese manga

by Neil Cohn

The growing interest and influence of Japanese manga (“comics”) in America has inspired comparisons between the... more The growing interest and influence of Japanese manga (“comics”) in America has inspired comparisons between the properties of the two cultures’ graphic systems. Various theories have hinted to the existence of structural variation between these cultures’ books, yet little quantitative data has served to support these claims. This study seeks to provide empirical evidence for these cross-cultural theories by examining 300 panels in each of twelve American and twelve Japanese comic books. It examines 1) how they highlight amounts of information, 2) their depiction of subjective viewpoints, and 3) the angle of view taken by their representations.

The effect of relational mobility on SNS user behavior : A study of Japanese dual-users of Mixi and Facebook

by Robert Thomson

The Journal of International Media, Communication, and Tourism Studies, 14 (2012): 3-22

Previous studies have shown clear cultural differences in how Japanese and American social network site (SNS) users... more Previous studies have shown clear cultural differences in how Japanese and American social network site (SNS) users interract with differing SNS platforms (see Barker and Ota, 2011; Fogg and Iizawa, 2008; Takahashi, 2010). In this study of 131 Japanese SNS users who use both Facebook and Mixi, self-disclosure, numbers of contacts, in-group numbers, and levels of perceived commitment on Mixi and Facebook were measured. The study found that such users showed a lower level of self disclosure, connected with fewer people and had fewer categories of contacts, and felt a higher degree of commitment on Mixi than on Facebook. It is suggested that these differences stem from differing responses to percieved relational mobility on each platform; Mixi being a socioecological environment which reflects low-relationally mobile Japanese society, and Facebook being a socioecological environment which reflects high relationally mobile North American social environments.

English in India’s National Development: Hindi-Dravidian Politics and the Retention of a Colonial Language

by Derrick Nault

Asian Englishes, Vol. 15, No. 1, Summer 2012.

The widespread usage of the English language in India today has been explained in numerous ways. Theorists most... more The widespread usage of the English language in India today has been explained in numerous ways. Theorists most commonly view it as a consequence of structural forces such as colonialism or contemporary globalization. Others stress local initiative in the form of prescient top-down language policy decisions or individual rational choice on the part of language learners. Although cultural diversity is occasionally mentioned as a factor promoting English in India, the role inter-ethnic language conflict has played in the process has been downplayed or received less attention. Focusing on Indian political developments in the colonial and postcolonial eras and assessing the impact of key actors and events on language policy formulation, this paper argues that sustained resistance from the Dravidian-speaking South to New Delhi’s plans to make Hindi India’s sole official language and eliminate English in education and government after independence was the key factor that laid the foundations for the spread of English in postcolonial India. If globalization in more recent years has encouraged Indians to learn and use English in ever increasing numbers, earlier linguistic and ethnic disputes between the North and South and the ad hoc language policy decisions they engendered were pivotal for making this possible. With this in mind, the paper recommends that social theorists revisit Indian history and reflect more deeply on the role played by ethno-linguistic discord in conditioning local and global patterns of English language diffusion.

Enhancing Postsecondary Intergroup Relations at the University Through Student-Run ESL Instruction

by Lynne Ronesi

This case-study research examines the prosocial potential of a cooperative-learning, content-based English as a second... more This case-study research examines the prosocial potential of a cooperative-learning, content-based English as a second language program in which native-born and immigrant undergraduate pairs work to develop the immigrant students' academic English. Majority and immigrant student interpretations of their partnerships regarding status and stereotype confirmation/disconfirmation were investigated. Twelve informants comprised 6 pairs representing the program's 3 cooperative models. All 6 native-born informants were White women ages 18 to 26. Four male and 2 female participants, ages 20 to 36, were immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, Cape Verde, and Hong Kong. Data collection included interviews, document review, and observation during two semesters. The theoretical frameworks are cooperative learning, decategorization, and investment informed data analysis. This research found partners' personalized interaction instrumental in promoting status equalization and undermining category-based preconceptions. Interaction between the participants' activated identities and the contact's structural features influenced the development of stereotype-disconfirming and -confirming relationships.

Laying down the law: Teachers’ use of rules.

by Gregory Bornmann

On JALT 95: Curriculum and Evaluation. (Proceedings of the JALT International Conference), Nagoya, Japan, November 1995

This paper offers an analysis of the way rules function in the classroom by applying insights generated by recent... more This paper offers an analysis of the way rules function in the classroom by applying insights generated by recent debates in legal theory. Members of the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement have been particularly adept at identifying the logical contradictions which are pervasive in legal discourse. These contradictions—between formal rules and ad hoc standards; between subjective values and objective facts; between intentionalism and determinism—render all legal disputes problematic. CLS theorists have also devoted a great deal of effort to demonstrating that law and society are interpenetrating, and thus inseparable. For this reason, the classroom as a basic social institution offers especially fertile ground for legalistic analysis.

Отражение социокультурной дифференциации современного общества в русской экспрессивной этнонимии рубежа XX-XXI вв. (=The Reflection of Socio-Cultural Differentiation of Modern Society in the Russian Expressive Ethnonymy of XX–XXI Centuries)

by Alexander Grishchenko

published in 'Prepodavatel' XXI Vek', Moscow, 2009, No. 2, part II, pp. 328-335

The article reviews Russian ethnic slurs (ethnophaulisms, ethnic nicknames), the activation of which at the turn of... more The article reviews Russian ethnic slurs (ethnophaulisms, ethnic nicknames), the activation of which at the turn of 20th – 21st centuries being connected with increase of the role of the ethnic issues in post-Soviet society. A range of the ethnic slurs reflects the age and gender and properly social differentiation of the society in the Russian regions (Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Yakutia, Adygea, Chuvashia) and in a number of former Soviet republics (Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Moldavia).

“Syncretism Made Concrete: The Case for a Hybrid Moreote Architecture in Post-Fourth Crusade Greece,” in Archaeology in Architecture: Papers in Honor of Cecil L. Striker, edited by Deborah Deliyannis and Judson Emerick. Mainz: Ph. von Zabern, 2005, 65-73.

by Heather Grossman

Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE

by Paul Hanges

Culture specific and cross-culturally generalizable implicit leadership theories

by Paul Hanges

Cross-Border Planning at the U.S.- Mexico Border: An Institutional Approach

by Sergio Peña

Journal of Borderlands Studies 22:1, 2007

The general objective of this article is to contribute to the understanding of crossborder issues from an urban... more The general objective of this article is to contribute to the understanding of crossborder issues from an urban planning perspective. Cross-border planning in this article is approached
as an institution-building process whose primary emphasis is on the facilitation of collective action with regards to the shared natural, built, and human environments constrained
by territorial politics and boundaries of nation-states. It is argued throughout the paper that the existing institutional framework at the U.S.-Mexico border has been the result of a “muddling
through” process. The existing cross-border planning institutions are the result of an adjustment process, to a great extent due to challenges to the status quo by border actors and organizations.
The main conclusion of the article is that the environment and the uncertainty that this poses for the future is an issue that decision makers have been able to “muddle through” more successfully and should continue doing so by fine-tuning and supporting existing institutions and continuing the incremental process of institution building.

Crossing Cultures Teachers Book Introduction

by Andrew King

originally published as the Introduction to the Teacher's Book to *Crossing Cultures: British Cultural Studies for 12th Grade Romanian Students* by Cavallioti (Bucuresti) and the British Council in 1998. A version of the first half was also published as “Crossing Cultures into the Reformă de Ĭnvăţământ Preuniversitar în România: Autoritarism socio-politic into capacititaţi intelectuale superioare”, Proceedings of IATEFL East 1998, ed. Reghina Dascal & Donard Britten, 1999, pp.257-266.

I was supposed to have produced a British Studies textbook for use in 'bilingual schools' but I redirected it towards... more I was supposed to have produced a British Studies textbook for use in 'bilingual schools' but I redirected it towards cross cultural studies where Britain was a mirror or Other that could be used by students to help think about their own socially constructed selves. This was the first textbook in Romania to introduce into Romanian schools the study of class, gender, race and sexuality at a time when homosexuality was still a prisonable offence. It was also - for Romanian schools - an early exponent of critical thinking rather than rote learning.

Crossing Barriers of Communication and Culture in Traumatized Societies

by Aleks Nesic

Personal Narratives and Cosmopolitan Identities: An Autobiographical Approach, Journal of Managment Inquiry, online first, March 2012

by Maria Daskalaki

The article addresses the debates on transnational communities and the construction of global identities by reflecting... more The article addresses the debates on transnational communities and the construction of global identities by reflecting upon personal narratives of frequent work-related mobility. It explores the process of “cosmopolitanization” through narratives of self-transformation during perpetual assignments of expatriation and repatriation. The discussion is based on autobiographical evidence, namely, personal diary vignettes, the analysis of which reveals the importance of emplacement and translocality in the reconstitution of identity during transient inhabitation of places. The article informs the studies on global or mobile careers exploring some aspects of a translocal identity in the context of practiced cosmopolitanism.

Familles, réseaux et confiance dans l'économie de l'époque moderne. Diasporas marchandes et commerce interculturel/Trading diasporas and cross-cultural trade: Family, networks and trust in the Early modern economy

by Guillaume Calafat

Published in 'Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales', 2011

Comment entretenir des relations de commerce durables avec des étrangers, différents par leurs ethnies, leurs langues... more Comment entretenir des relations de commerce durables avec des étrangers, différents par leurs ethnies, leurs langues ou leurs religions ? Comment leur faire confiance ou s’assurer de leur honnêteté malgré la distance matérielle ? L’historiographie a coutume de mettre en avant la forte cohésion ethnique des diasporas marchandes pour expliquer leur succès dans l’économie globalisée de l’époque moderne. Dans son dernier ouvrage, Francesca Trivellato remet en question cette vision essentialiste. À travers l’étude de la correspondance d’Ergas & Silvera, une société en nom collectif sépharade basée dans le port toscan de Livourne, l’historienne montre l’hétérogénéité de leurs réseaux marchands : les juifs sépharades pouvaient coopérer tout aussi bien avec des coreligionnaires qu’avec des catholiques, voire des hindous à Goa, en fonction des perspectives de gain qu’offraient les associés potentiels. Cela ne dissolvait pas pour autant les préjugés existants entre les différents groupes. L’ouvrage incite de manière convaincante à entreprendre une analyse comparée des diasporas marchandes et offre un exemple réussi d’histoire connectée.
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How did merchants build stable commercial relations with strangers, that is, with traders from other ethnic groups, who spoke different languages, and professed different religions? How did they trust each other and monitor their agents’ honesty in spite of the long distance that separated them? A common historiographic explanation points to the supposed strong ethnic cohesion of trading diasporas in order to explain their success in the global economy of the early modern period. In her recent book, Francesca Trivellato challenges this essentialist view. Through the study of the business letters of Ergas & Silvera, a general partnership based in the Tuscan port of Livorno in the first half of the eighteenth century, the author shows the heterogeneity of its trading networks: the Sephardim from Livorno could cooperate with coreligionists as well as with Catholics in Europe and Hindus in Goa, according to the incentives offered by various potential partners. This cooperation, however, did not lead to the dissolution of existing prejudices between the different groups. The book convincingly encourages scholars to compare trading diasporas and displays a successful example of a connected “global history on a small scale”.

Lookalike language (column 'English Today', 2012)

by Jan Blommaert

Взаимодействие культур и гибридизация языка

by Alexander Kravchenko

CROSSCULTURAL INTERACTION AND LANGUAGE HYBRIDIZATION

The role of language in mediating culture is... more CROSSCULTURAL INTERACTION AND LANGUAGE HYBRIDIZATION

The role of language in mediating culture is emphasized, and examples of language hybridization are given as an indication of ongoing changes in the Russian system of values.

Key words: language, culture, value system, language hybridization

Archaic Cyprus

by Marina Shcherdlovskaya

Computer-aided self-access language learning: views of Indonesian, Malaysian and New Zealand practitioners.

by Airil Haimi Mohd Adnan

(2011) - refereed proceedings.
Co-authored with Zarlina Mohd Zamari.

3rd International Conference on e-Learning (ICeL) / November 23rd to 24th, 2011, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), ITB Central Campus, Bandung, INDONESIA.

Crossing Barriers of Communication and Culture in Traumatized Societies

by Patrick James Christian

Paper presented to the 13th Intercultural Management Institute, American University, Washington DC 15-16 March 2012

Every day, thousands of men and women are deployed to conflict zones around the world from governmental,... more Every day, thousands of men and women are deployed to conflict zones around the world from governmental, intergovernmental, and private organizations in SW Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. They constitute a corps of dedicated interventionists who engage seemingly intractable issues of violence and development that plague cultures struggling with adaptation to change and growth. Very often these practitioners of conflict engagement are forced to operate insufficiently trained to cross barriers of language, culture, time and psychology. The use of under-trained personnel in conflict engagement risks both the public and private donor dollars spent as well as the success of the mission and the lives of those who serve. This paper addresses some of the gaps in cross cultural training for conflict zones such as power and solidarity; communicating in shame based societies; communicating through rage and trauma; strategic communication as part of identity management; and adapting western egocentric communication to sociocentric societies. The objective of this paper is to establish the necessity for specialized training to enable personnel from government and non-government organizations to successfully engage traumatized societies during conflict and post-conflict stability operations. Optimally, this training should develop critical methods, skills and strategies required to successfully cross boundaries of communication and culture in traumatized societies while conserving donor dollars and preserving life.

Gestión de Recursos Humanos en el Contexto Social y Cultural Chileno

by Gregorio Perez Arrau, Phd.

Asian Journal of Latin American Studies

La imposición en Chile de un modelo de economía de libre mercado a mediados de los años setenta, facilitó... more La imposición en Chile de un modelo de economía de libre mercado a mediados de los años setenta, facilitó posteriormente la introducción de políticas y prácticas de Gestión de Recursos Humanos (GRH) en las empresas. Desde entonces, profesionales y especialistas han adoptado el modelo como la mejor forma de administrar el personal, a fin de contar con un recurso que genere ventaja competitiva. Sin embargo, poco se sabe acerca de cómo se ha manifestado este fenómeno, y menos aún, cómo ha sido afectado por la cultura. Esta investigación apunta a describir las condiciones favorables para la llegada de la GRH en Chile, mostrar evidencia de la presencia de esta corriente en el ámbito universitario y empresarial, analizar algunos de los factores sociales y estructurales que condicionarían la forma en que se expresa y, finalmente, analizar algunos de los posibles efectos de la cultura nacional en la GRH. El estudio se basa en datos obtenidos de fuentes secundarias y en resultados preliminares de una investigación actualmente en curso.