Exploring the Relationship Between Adoptive Parents and International Adoptees: From the Perspectives of Cross-Cultural Communication and Adaptation

Purpose: To assess the moderating influence of cultural dynamics on the relationship between media framing and the perception of obesity among middle-aged women in Nairobi County, Kenya. Methodology: This study applied the one-group pretest-posttest experimental design. In the one-group pretest-posttest experimental design all study participants provided with the same treatment and assessment. The researcher therefore, collected data using the pre-and posttest questionnaires. The treatment administered was a television program titled Slimpossible, which showcased middle-aged Kenyan women suffering from the stigma of obesity who were participating in a competition to lose their weight. The multi-stage cluster sampling technique was applied in this study. Out of the target population of 1848 participants, the study sample was 317 academic female staff found in three public universities in Nairobi County, Kenya. In this research study, the analysis applied descriptive statistics and the inferential analysis tools such as the Factor analysis (The Keiser-Meyer –Olkin (KMO) test), Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis (logical regression). Findings: The study sought to assess the moderating influence of cultural dynamics on the relationship between media framing and the perception of obesity among middle-aged women in Nairobi County, Kenya. Therefore, the finding also brought about interactions between cultural dynamics and the independent media frames in connection to the perception of obesity. It was concluded that the perception of obesity from the African culture and Western culture was different. The respondents had positive outlook on middle-aged obese women opposed to the dictates of Western culture. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: In terms of contribution to theory, this study emanated from the cross-cultural communication theory. The theory recognizes the value of culture and how it relates to people’s perception on obesity. Hurn and Tomalin (2013) opined that some of the most strategic researchers in the field of cross-cultural communication include Edward Hall, Mildred Hall and Geert Hofstede in the 1950s.

Download Full-text

Writing Life Histories From the Field

Journal of Narrative and Life History ◽

10.1075/jnlh.2.1.07lif ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 61-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

William Schneider

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Culturally Diverse ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Cultural Representation ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cultural Communication ◽

Narrative Construction ◽

Cross Cultural Communication ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

Abstract This article raises issues of rendering oral narratives as text, the different needs of audiences in oral and literate settings, and how the relationship of narrator and collaborator influences the information and its presentation. Successfully addressing these issues demands that the anthropologist also consider the literary impact of the work. I conclude that the literary consideration raised in this genre of writing is basic to the most important of anthropological concerns, the cross-cultural communication of understandings. (Participant observation; life-history interviewing, editing, and narrative construction; cultural representation; writing for culturally diverse audiences)

Download Full-text

Balancing Acts: Culture as Commodity Among Business Consultants

Culture Unbound Journal of Current Cultural Research ◽

10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135319 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 319-337

Author(s):

Elias Mellander ◽

Anna-Mari Fagerström

Keyword(s):

Intercultural Communication ◽

Cultural Analysis ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Cultural Communication ◽

Cross Cultural Communication ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

Business Consultants ◽

The Relationship ◽

Shed Light

In this article the authors intend to analyze how the concept of culture is packaged, sold and delivered as a commodity. It is based on an ethnographic study of a Swedish consultancy in the field of cross-cultural communication and the relationship between the company and its clients. The clients were primarily foreign executives working in Sweden or Swedish expatriates, preparing for life abroad. The significance of culture-as-commodity will be explored from the perspective of the company as well as its clients in order to shed light on how the concept of culture can be communicated and what happens to it in the process. The study shows how the company combines theoretical perspectives from anthropology and intercultural communication with the aim to deliver a complex yet accessible understanding of culture to its clients. The analysis shows that these perspectives both clash and synergize, creating contradictions as well as turning culture into an accessible and useful tool for clients. The authors argue that researchers in the field of applied cultural analysis can learn from the example put forth by the balancing act between these two perspectives on culture performed by the company. The authors conclude that although the commodification process reduces and simplifies the meaning(s) of culture, the company still manages to put culture on the agenda, demonstrating to its clients how, why, and in what ways it matters to them.

Download Full-text

A Study of Cultural Empathy in Foreign Language Teaching from the Perspective of Cross-cultural Communication

Theory and Practice in Language Studies ◽

10.17507/tpls.0812.12 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 1664 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yunhong Jiang ◽

Jin Wang

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Training Model ◽

Foreign Language Teaching ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cultural Communication ◽

Cultural Empathy ◽

Cross Cultural Communication ◽

Communicative Ability ◽

The Relationship

Cultural empathy is the central part in the whole system of cross-cultural communication. Meanwhile, cross-cultural communicative ability is extremely important in foreign language teaching. It plays a crucial role in multiple ways. This paper explores the relationship between the cultural empathy and cross-cultural communicative ability, aiming to build an effective foreign language training model to improve students’ skills in cross-cultural communication. Through two investigations into cultural empathy and cross-cultural communicative ability obtained by sixty undergraduates from the English department at Zhejiang Ocean University, it further proposes that there is a positive correlation of the ability of cultural empathy with the cross-cultural communicative ability. This is of great guiding significance for foreign language teaching in China.

Download Full-text

Reorienting Deliberation: Identity Politics in Multicultural Societies

Studies in Social Justice ◽

10.26522/ssj.v4i1.1006 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 7-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rebecca Mason

Keyword(s):

Identity Politics ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Democratic Participation ◽

Cultural Communication ◽

Cross Cultural Communication ◽

The Relationship ◽

Erroneous Interpretation

Many political theorists argue that cross-cultural communication within multicultural democracies is not best served by a commitment to identity politics. In response, I argue that identity politics only interfere with democratic participation according to an erroneous interpretation of the relationship between identity and reasoning. I argue that recognizing the importance of identity to the intelligibility of reasons offered in the context of civic deliberation is the first step towards the kind of dialogue that democratic participation requires.

Download Full-text