Culture

The Power of Feminist Rituals by Grace Kao

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion project

March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside... more
March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside table. It’s a book I read several years ago with a small group of feminist Christians when I was living in Blacksburg, Virginia. The following passage from one of her essays got me to thinking back to the 2012 PANAAWTM conference (Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry) I had attended just two weeks ago:

“Rituals are part of everyday lives: reading the newspaper, checking the weather, waiting for the mail to come, or talking with a family member at the end of the day. Rituals can also mark the extraordinary events in our lives: the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a birthday, marriage, anniversary, or divorce” (Stokes, 2002, p. 37).

We PANAAWTM attendees participated in two rituals that, while neither “everyday” nor “extraordinary,” were nevertheless symbolically very rich, meaningful, and unifying.

Lusoga Essay Series: Okwanghanga enimi dh'obuzaale n'engeri y'okukikolamu

by Cornelius Gulere

To be published in Lusoga journal "Amakobo" soon.

This essay is the first in the series to be written in Lusoga. It is intended as a sample for those studying Lusoga... more This essay is the first in the series to be written in Lusoga. It is intended as a sample for those studying Lusoga language and literature in high school. It raises the fundamental question of language policy in Uganda and give 25 reasons why Lusoga should be promoted and this should be done. This paper has deliberately left out the references which will appear in the journal.

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.

Multiculturalism and reification of culture: A constructivist-postmodern view

by Marco Gemignani

Navigating the Academy with an Accent by Amanda Pumphrey

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on Feminism and Religion project

“Where are you from?” I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me that question since moving to... more “Where are you from?” I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me that question since moving to California. I would be able to make a substantial payment towards my student loan debt by now. No one knows I’m “different” here in SoCal until I open my mouth. My thick Southern accent happens to be my signifier.

Before I moved to Claremont to begin graduate school, I never considered my accent a problem. Despite the fact that when I moved outside of my hometown to college only two hours away, some of my friends teased me about my accent. Since I grew up in the very southwestern corner of Georgia, I lived right along the Alabama border. Some of my college friends from other regions of Georgia thought I sounded more Alabamian. Still, mostly everyone I went to college with had some form of a Southern accent and that was okay. It was safe. It was normative.

“My Country’s Future”: A Culture-Centered Interrogation of Corporate Social Responsibility in India

by Rahul Mitra

Journal of Business Ethics (2012), Volume 106, issue 2, 131-147.

Companies operating and located in emerging economy nations routinely couch their corporate social responsibility... more Companies operating and located in emerging economy nations routinely couch their corporate social responsibility (CSR) work in nation-building terms. In this article, I focus on the Indian context and critically examine mainstream CSR discourse from the perspective of the culture-centered approach (CCA). Accordingly, five main themes of CSR stand out: nation-building facade, underlying neoliberal logics, CSR as voluntary, CSR as synergetic, and a clear urban bias. Next, I outline a CCA-inspired CSR framework that allows corporate responsibility to be re-claimed and re-framed by subaltern communities of interest. I identify such resistive openings via interrogations of culture (I focus on oft-cited Gandhian ethics here), structure (State policy, organizational strategy, and global/local flows), and agency (subaltern reframing of institutional responsibility, engagement with alternative modes of agency, and deconstructive vigilance).

Marginalizing or blending of transnational workers: Case of the Kingdom of Bahrain

by Magdalena Karolak

The Ancient Tea Horse Road and the Politics of Cultural Heritage in Southwest China

by Gary Sigley

Published in the China Heritage Quarterly (www.chinaheritagequarterly.org), No. 20, 2012.

In 2005, a tea caravan (mabang 马邦) emerged out of the mists of time and made an epic journey from Yunnan 云南 to... more In 2005, a tea caravan (mabang 马邦) emerged out of the mists of time and made an epic journey from Yunnan 云南 to Beijing, from the 'periphery' to the 'centre'.[1] The caravan, consisting of forty muleteers and over one hundred mules, was transporting a precious four-tonne cargo of Pu'er tea cakes (普洱茶饼) from the tea producing regions of southeast Yunnan to the capital of the People's Republic. The tea was highly valued as 'tribute tea' (贡茶), calling to mind the time when precious commodities from across the empire were offered up to the imperial court, and also reflecting in the present the rapacious demand for luxury and exotic goods amongst China's nouveau riche (and, we might add, as gifts to curry favour with those in positions of power) ...

Krpič, T. 2006. Suburbs in Our Minds: Art and Critique of Cultures of Fear in the Light of Cognitive Sociology. Teorija in praksa 43 (3-4): 523-539.

by Tomaž Krpič

Abstract

Author’s intention is to illustrate E. Zerubavel’s typology of mind, used as an analytical tool... more Abstract

Author’s intention is to illustrate E. Zerubavel’s typology of mind, used as an analytical tool for critical interpretation of modern cultures of fear and terror as presented in the movie Predmestje (Suburbs) of one of currently most influential Slovene movie director V. Möderndorfer. Typology of mind consists of three elements: the rigid, the fuzzy and the flexible mind. Author states that the rigid mind, as an essential element of culture of fear, contributes to the construction of many social phenomena, such as homophobia, xenophobia and general intolerance towards others, by rising cognitive boundaries and establishing rigid social order. By application of the fuzzy mind, contained in the form of artistic cognitive promiscuity, transgression of cognitive boundaries is possible. Yet, art itself, without certain moral background, cannot provide adequate social critique. Moral standards allow constitution of the third type of mind, the flexible mind, which mediate between the art and the social context. Author believes that Möderndorfer’s movie Predmestje presents an excellent example of interwoveness of above-mentioned typology of mind by indicating the shift of Slovenian society towards modern culture of fear and terror along with longing for more humane moral order.

The Dirty Legacy of Europe’s New Cultural Metropolis: The Ruhr Area’s Old Industrial and New Cultural Energies

by Jonas Leonhard Tinius

What is at stake when one of Europe's most densely populated urban conglomerates changes the frame of reference for its identity from industry to postindustrial culture? How are we to understand campaigns that seek to redefine an entire area into Europe's new cultural metropolis and what are some of the limitations as well as potentials of this more than conceptual imagination for the study of industrial landscapes, theatre, and space?

An Analysis of the Headscarf Issue in Feminist Debates in Germany

by Uluslararası İlişkiler

Berrin Koyuncu Lorasdağı, Hilal Onur İnce, "An Analysis of the Headscarf Issue in Feminist Debates in Germany", Uluslararası İlişkiler, Cilt 6, Sayı 24 (Kış), 2009

Bu çalışmanın amacı, Almanya’da başörtüsü meselesini feminist tartışmalar üzerinden incelemektir. Önemli ölçüde... more Bu çalışmanın amacı, Almanya’da başörtüsü meselesini feminist tartışmalar üzerinden incelemektir. Önemli ölçüde Müslüman göçmen barındıran Almanya, İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrasında kültür-odaklı millet anlayışının hâkim olduğu tarihsel arkaplanına yeniden dönmesiyle, Avrupa’da başörtüsü tartışmaları içerisinde istisnai bir yere sahiptir. Bazı Alman eyaletlerinde İslami başörtüsünün yasaklanması, bu tarihsel arkaplan çerçevesinde ‘çoğunluk Alman toplumu’ ile ‘azınlık Türk toplumu’ arasındaki problemli ilişkiyi ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Bu makalede Almanya’nın “kültür-ulusu” mirasının 2000’lerde başörtüsü “kavgasının” feminist tartışmaları – hem başörtüsü yasağını benimseyen hem de ona karşı olan- belirlediği ve bu nedenle Almanya örneğinde başörtüsü tartışmalarının kültür meselesine indirgenerek ele alındığı iddia edilmektedir.

"Cultura y felicidad en Kant"

by Ana Marta González

Teorema, vol. XXIII, nº. 1-3, pp. 215-232, 2004. ISSN 0210-1602

Complicating the Concept of Culture, Comparative Education, 2012

by Kathryn Anderson-Levitt

This article is part of a theme issue edited by Jürgen Schriewer, Alternative Approaches to the Global/Local Nexus: Meaning Constellations in the World Society.

This essay argues against a simple, reified view of culture as a set of ideas and norms belonging to a group or... more This essay argues against a simple, reified view of culture as a set of ideas and norms belonging to a group or nation, and considers the implications of a more complicated concept for discussion of world culture and the global/local nexus. Most anthropologists define culture as the making of meaning, with an emphasis on the process itself as contested. It follows that world culture is locally produced in social interaction, and that meanings are then reconstructed in the global/local nexus. Power matters, particularly the hidden power to make resources for meaning making widely available, and to make them attractive and scientifically persuasive. How actors succeed in claiming particular ideas as global and how the locals strategically respond are questions where anthropologists can contribute to understanding the global/local nexus and the exercise of power within the world polity.

The role of social expectations in forming moral judgments

by Sonya Sachdeva

With Rumen Iliev

It is one of the hallmarks of moral values that they do not rely on the customs of a particular society or the... more It is one of the hallmarks of moral values that they do not rely on the customs of a particular society or the conveniences of particular factions (Turiel, Killen, & Helwig, 1987). Contrast this to conventional or other social norms which are fluid and adaptable to various situations. Yet, it appears that moral rules are not always treated as such1. People have different expectations of moral behavior depending on whom that behavior is directed toward. For example, avoiding full disclosure is immoral for a friend but not for a stranger (Baron & Haidt, 1996). And, people are sensitive to power relations when making culpability judgments (Hamilton and Saunders, 1981). The meaning of behavior changes depending on who it is directed toward.  Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, or from the high end of the social totem pole or the low end, affects how you view the world and also your definitions of what is right and wrong (Haidt, Koller, & Dias, 1993; Harkness, Edwards, Super, 1981).

The Role of Cultural Narratives in Moral Decision Making

by Sonya Sachdeva

With Morteza Dehghani, Hamed Ektiari , Dedre Gentner, Ken Forbus

Cultural narratives such as those mentioned in religious texts and folk stories are instrumental in teaching core... more Cultural narratives such as those mentioned in religious texts and folk stories are instrumental in teaching core cultural moral values. In this paper, we investigate the role of cultural narratives in understanding novel moral situations. We examine whether the processes by which core cultural narratives are applied in people‘s lives follow the principles of analogical retrieval and mapping. In particular, we examine how analogical accessibility influences the use of canonical moral narratives. We also show how access to different moral stories results in differences in moral preference across cultures. We report on the results of two experiments performed among Iranian and American participants. Our results indicate that analogical accessibility to cultural narratives that are similar in structure to a given dilemma is the differentiating factor in our participants‘ responses across the different variants and between the two cultural groups.

The Norm of Self-Sacrifice

by Sonya Sachdeva

Culture and the Quest for Universal Moral Reasoning

by Sonya Sachdeva

"The Paradox of Freedom: John Dewey on Human Nature, Culture, and Education"

by Cherilyn Keall

Forthcoming in EDUCATION AND CULTURE.

Living at the Crossroads of Cultural Worlds: The Experience of Normative Conflicts by Second Generation Immigrant Youth

by Evelina Lou

Challenging Emancipation and Power through Cultural Resistance

by PADMORE AGBEMABIESE