Culture Studies

No Tolerance to Intolerance! We are different but we are all equal!

by Tornike Metreveli

Yesterday in Tbilisi  a peaceful protest for LGBT rights to mark the International Day Against Homophobia ended... more Yesterday in Tbilisi  a peaceful protest for LGBT rights to mark the International Day Against Homophobia ended in a physical scuffle when religious groups violently disrupted the gathering. In this letter, I try to search for reasons for intolerance and explain the calamity of certain actors by structural factors.

Participating in Beauty Culture by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

by Feminism and Religion

originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project

At the most recent Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting, I got into an impromptu late night discussion with... more At the most recent Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting, I got into an impromptu late night discussion with several women friends about why some of us participate in “beauty culture” and how we feel as feminist Christian ethicists and moral theologians about our decisions. Each of us shared why we have chosen to wear make-up (or not), keep up with fashion (or not), dye our greying hair to mask the signs of aging (or not), or put in the effort to maintain a certain physique (or not). We also addressed what role our own mothers and larger communities have played in our decision-making processes.

Since it is certainly not my place to reveal what others disclosed behind closed doors over wine, let me expand upon a few things I shared that night.

First, I told them that when I used to work at Virginia Tech (2003-2009), I had both noticed and been a little self-conscious about the fact that I was the only faculty member in Women’s Studies who regularly wore make-up. My self-consciousness stemmed from multiple sources:

Globalization and Culture: Placing Ireland

by G. Honor Fagan

Culture de la mort

by Jean-Marie Hyacinthe Quenum

Migrants and Citizens: The Shifting Ground of Struggle in Canadian Literary Representation

by Naava Smolash

Co-authored with Myka Tucker-Abramson, published in Studies in Canadian Literature

Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia. Journal of Agrarian Change.

The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of... more The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of landholding, which are entrenched in notions of community consensus and existing occupation. The discrepancy between such orally recognized antecedents and the written word of law have been at the heart of the recent wave of dispossessions that have swept across the country. Contra the standard critique that corruption has set the tone, this paper argues that evictions in Cambodia are often literally underwritten by the articles of law. Whereas ‘possession’ is a well-understood and accepted concept in Cambodia, a cultural basis rooted in what James C. Scott refers to as ‘orality’, coupled with a long history of subsistence agriculture, semi-nomadic lifestyles, barter economies, and–until recently–widespread land availability have all ensured that notions of ‘property’ are vague among the country’s majority rural poor. In drawing a firm distinction between possessions and property, where the former is premised upon actual use and the latter is embedded in exploitation, this article examines how proprietorship is inextricably bound to the violence of law.

Corrupção, cultura e política na Índia

by Mirian Ribeiro de Oliveira

Boletim 'Observatório da Ásia', nº 2, 2012. Laboratório de Estudos da Ásia da Universidade de São Paulo (USP)

Keywords: Corruption; culture; politics; India; Social movements. 2011. Keywords: Corruption; culture; politics; India; Social movements. 2011.

Lookalike language (column 'English Today', 2012)

by Jan Blommaert

Memoria, trayectos y recorridos (Parte II) (2).Montevideo: Dosmil30, 2009.

by L. Nicolás Guigou

Memoria, trayectos y recorridos (Parte II) (2).Montevideo: Dosmil30, 2009.

...Pero tratemos de equilibrar la balanza: ya
admitida que las cronologías y nuestra manera de
adentrarnos... more ...Pero tratemos de equilibrar la balanza: ya
admitida que las cronologías y nuestra manera de
adentrarnos en la historia, es, precisamente
nuestra, ya antropológicamente relativizado– e
historizado- el propio conocimiento historiográfico,
un conjunto de saberes que entrecruzan
disciplinas varias, remiten a modalidades de
dialogar con nuestras tradiciones, nuestras
temporalidades y nuestros mitos desde otros
lugares.
Estas singularidades culturales, que organizan
las temporalidades e historicidades de diferente
manera, producen lugares.
Lugares que no llaman necesariamente ni a los
espectros de la “verdad histórica” – un
absolutismo disciplinario siempre en ciernes- ni al
caleidoscopio de las múltiples visiones y
perspectivas que se afincan en un relativismo
radical. Hay hilos, hilos de la memoria, que hacen
saltar ese recorrido lineal del tiempo intervenido
históricamente.

Religión, memorias y mitos.Las artes de narrar en la construcción de identidades.

by L. Nicolás Guigou

Religión, memoria y mitos. Las artes de narrar en la construcción de identidades.
Religión, memoria y mitos. Las artes de narrar en la construcción de identidades.
En: Anuario de Antropología Social. Montevideo: DAS-NORDAN, 2008. ISSN: 1510-3846

En la presente investigación se ha procurado unificar diversos ejes relacionados
con un conjunto de... more En la presente investigación se ha procurado unificar diversos ejes relacionados
con un conjunto de tematizaciones de interés antropológico,
intentando ahondar en la esfera de lo religioso en tanto eje
de construcción identitaria, a través de la indagación de las
mitologías, memorias y narrativas posibles en el marco de la
memoria colectiva y social de un grupo específico: la comunidad
rural denominada San Javier (Departamento de Río Negro,
Uruguay). La matriz religiosa de esta Colonia se afinca en su
propio proceso fundacional: San Javier fue fundado en el año
1913, en el Uruguay, por un grupo de inmigrantes rusos pertenecientes
a la “Comunidad Nueva Israel” (Novo Israilskaia
Obchina), corriente religiosa escindida de la Iglesia Ortodoxa
Rusa a mediados del siglo XVIII. En el presente artículo refiero
a la profundización en las narrativas de los habitantes de San
Javier, estudiando las diferentes temporalidades que atraviesan
a las mismas y las fragmentaciones espacio-temporales sobre
las cuales estas narrativas se construyen.

Sub-al terns’ bharat, superordinates’ India: Socio-Economics of Cultural disintegrity.”

by Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay

2000. “nicutOl ar bharot, uMcutOl ar India: SaNskritik aSONHotir arthoSOmaj” (Subal terns’ bharot, Superordinates’ India: Socio-Economics of Cultural disintegrity’ Proceedings of the National seminar on”National Integration and Folklore”. Department of Folklore, Kalyani University.Chakroborty, Barun ed. tulanamulak lokasangskriti Kolkata:Book Trust. (pp. 120-6)
1998 “nicutOlar bharot , uMcutOl an India: SaNskritik OSONHotir OrthoSOmaj” (Sub-al terns’ bharat, superordinates’ India: Socio-Economics of Cultural disintegrity.” National Seminar on the “National Integration and Folklore”. Department of Folklore, Kalyani University. 6-7 February, 1998. (INVITED)

A configuration model of organizational culture

by Daniel Dauber

SageOpen (forthcoming)

The paper proposes a configuration model of organizational culture, which explores dynamic relationships between... more The paper proposes a configuration model of organizational culture, which explores dynamic relationships between organizational culture, strategy, structure and operations of an organization (internal environment) and maps interactions with the external environment (task and legitimization environment). A major feature of the configuration model constitutes its well- defined processes, which connect the elements of the model systematically to each other such as single- and double-loop learning, operationalization of strategies, legitimization management, etc.. The model is grounded in a large review of literature in different research areas and builds on widely recognized models in the field of organization and culture theory. It constitutes a response to the call for new models, which are able to ‘capture the empirical complexity of contemporary organizations’ (Suddaby, Hardy & Huy, 2011, p. 237). The configuration model of organizational culture is of particular interest to scholars who investigate into cultural phenomena and change over time.

Argument in Support and Against of Hofstede Work

by Abed El-azez Safi

This individual paper aims to provide an overview about Hofstede’s work of describing the five culture dimensions and... more This individual paper aims to provide an overview about Hofstede’s work of describing the five culture dimensions and discusses both sides of these arguments.
Hofstede’s work on culture is the most widely cited in existence (Bond 2002; Hofstede 1997). His observations and analysis provide scholars and practitioners with a highly valuable insight into the dynamics of cross-cultural relationships. However, such a groundbreaking body of work does not escape criticism. Hofstede has been dogged by academics discrediting his work in part or whole. On the other side of this contentious argument are academics that support his work. Far more scholars belong on the pro-Hofstede team than do not, most quote Hofstede’s work with unabashed confidence, many including his findings as absolute assumptions.
"Undoubtedly, the most significant cross-cultural study of work-related values is the one carried out by Hofstede” (Bhagat and McQuaid 1982).
Much interest has been placed on culture in business in the last two decades, and it has never been as important in business terms as it is today. The study of the field began in earnest with the work of Hofstede with his landmark study of IBM (Hofstede 1980), and with Peters and Waterman who started the organisation culture sensation with “In Search of Excellence” (Peters and Waterman 1982). Preceding these studies however, was the work of Bartels (1967) who was one of the first to relate the importance of culture, illustrating the concept in decision-making and business ethics. Bartels identifies several criteria for the identification of cultural differences.
The paper will first defined the culture meaning and then give an overview about Hofstede study and his culture dimensions. In the same time the paper will review the main criticisms of Hofstede study, then we will conclude by suggesting that the researchers will work more in research like Hofstede to evaluate culture in terms of contemporary standards. Research is also needed to better explore the dimensions proposed by Hofstede and Bond to determine what more can be added.

American Irredentists: Mexican-Americans, Native Hawaiians, Eskimos/Aleuts, and Puerto Ricans

by David Cohen

The term "irredentist" is not typically used in reference to American ethnic groups. It comes from the... more The term "irredentist" is not typically used in reference to American ethnic groups. It comes from the Italian phrase terra irredenta, meaning “unredeemed land,” which was used originally in the late nineteenth century to refer to Italian-speaking territories under Austrian rule. However, this paper argues that "American irredentist" can describe Mexican-Americans, Native Hawaiians, Eskimos/Aleuts, and Puerto Ricans. Each of these groups is different, with a different history and a different culture, but considering them as American irredentists alters our way of looking at them and their special relationships to the United States.

Four Ways to Measure Culture: Social Science, Hermeneutics, and the Cultural Turn

by John Mohr

Published in the Oxford Handbook of Cultural Sociology, edited by Jeffrey Alexander, Ronald Jacobs and Philip Smith. Oxford University Press.

In this essay we review some of the ways that formal models have been used to study culture in the social sciences. We... more In this essay we review some of the ways that formal models have been used to study culture in the social sciences. We make use of two distinctions. We talk about the kinds of modeling projects that happened before as compared to those that happened after the sweep of cultural turns that moved through the social sciences over the last few decades. Second, we talk about types of modeling projects that have explicitly hermeneutic goals in comparison to those that don’t. Practitioners of the former sort want to use formal tools to make interpretations, to unlock useful readings of texts. Those of the latter persuasion seek robust measures of cultural forms that can be fitted onto other explanatory frames.....We begin with a discussion of the nature of formal models in the social sciences. We describe these as dually ordered systems of practice that are articulated into discursive formations that constitute distinctive styles of gathering, conceptualizing and analyzing data. We compare this mode of scholarship to more hermeneutic styles of research and this leads us to comment briefly on recent debates over method. The paper then shifts focus as we turn to a detailed discussion of four different types of formal modeling projects that have been especially important to the cultural sciences over the last century. We conclude by revisiting the problem of how to theorize a scientific hermeneutics by comparing our theorization of the practice of data analysis to Ricoeur’s theorization of the practice of text analysis.

Understanding Somalia through the Prism of Bantu Jareer Literature

by Mohamed Eno

In Ali J. Ahmed and Taddesse Adera, eds., The Road Less Traveled:
Reflections on the Literatures of the Horn of Africa.

This essay intends to touch briefly on the comparative cultures between Somalia and some of the communities in the... more This essay intends to touch briefly on the comparative cultures between Somalia and some of the communities in the neighboring countries. Second, the essay discusses the culture and literature of the Bantu Jareer, and their "thought and knowledge," which Sorokin calls "the very essence of civilization." To embark on this journey, we must unlearn much of what has been said of the Jareer, in particular, and of Somali culture in general. This is important if we are to discover what constitutes the aesthetics of Jareer history, literary art, social culture and thought. This act of unlearning what is committed to the official collective memory of the Somali demythologizes what I call "monoculturality of the camel complex" so pervasive in discussions of Somali culture. It is an act also that will help us uncover the Jarrer's "...tool of self-definition in relation to others."-Wa Thiong'o.

Mascareño, A. (2010): Algunas veces subir es bajar. Paradojas de los derechos culturales. En O. Ette y H. Nitschack (eds.), Trans*Chile. Un acercamiento transreal. Frankfurt: Iberoamericana-Vervuert Verlag.

by Aldo Mascareño

En esta constribución busco plausibilizar la hipótesis de que en el actual momento de despliegue de la sociedad... more En esta constribución busco plausibilizar la hipótesis de que en el actual momento de despliegue de la sociedad mundial no hay cultura que pueda afirmar, a este nivel, su autenticidad cultural de modo auténtico, pues para hacerlo debe someterla al cálculo de las estructuras políticas o jurídicas nacionales o supranacionales, las que modalizan las formas de autenticidad cultural despojándolas de su particularidad. Ilustro esta hipótesis a propósito de las discusiones en Chile en torno a la ratificación del Convenio 169 Sobre Pueblos Indígenas y Tribales en Países Independientes adoptado por la OIT en 1989 y que entra en vigencia en Chile en septiembre de 2009. Parto con algunas breves reflexiones teóricas en torno al concepto de cultura (I). Analizo luego el debate en torno a la ratificación del Convenio 169 en Chile. Hago esto en tres dimensiones: una de carácter objetual, en relación a la idea de pueblo (II), otra de carácter social, en relación a la distinción ellos/nosotros (III), y una tercera dimensión de carácter temporal, representada en la continuidad antes/ahora de los pueblos indígenas (IV). Concluyo con una breve reflexión a posteriori sobre la hipótesis más arriba planteada (V).

Hired Hands: Casualised technology and labour in the teaching of cultural studies

by Kieryn McKay

McKay, K. & Brass, K. (2011) "Hired Hands: Casualised technology and labour in the teaching of cultural studies", Cultural Studies Review, 17 (2): 140-64.

This article examines the uptake and application of podcasting in a particular higher education context, drawing on... more This article examines the uptake and application of podcasting in a particular higher education context, drawing on the the authors' experience in late 2008 when both were employed as casual tutors on large-scale first-year communications and cultural studies courses at the University of Western Sydney. The article maps out the limits of technological innovation within the teaching of cultural studies, as well as its limits in promoting the radical potential of a cultural studies approach. It also charts some of the effects and affects of an over-reliance on casualised labour, which we argue can have a profoundly destabilising and atomising impact on academic practice and student engagement. We argue there is a parallel between the appropriation of popular media technologies into the university and the current system of casual academic employment in Australia, in that both the podcast and the casual academic represent ‘new’ interfaces of outsourced academic labour. Stipulated from our positions as casual teachers in cultural studies, this article is written from an embedded perspective which conceptualises both the podcast and the casual academic in line with the most prevalent mode of their employment in the academy: as ‘hired hands’, appendages to traditional models of pedagogy.

The Negotiation for Space

by Yiru Lim

Lost in translation: testi e culture allo specchio: workshop papers

by Simonetta Falchi