scholarly journals Kava Rootz

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arcia Tecun

This documentary film is a result of multi-sited ethnographic research between 2015-2019, which explores cultural identity, gender, music, and spirituality through contemporary and common kava practices. Drawing from over 17 years of participation in kava communities, this film is grounded in Tongan experiences, while also including a mobile and expanding Moana/Wansolwara/Oceanic perspective with contributions from Fijians, Sāmoans, Māori, and more. The knowledge holders in this film span across four territories, including Te Ika a Māui in Aotearoa, Utah (US) on Turtle Island, The Kingdom of Tonga, and Kamberra, Australia. They share a complex web of experiences, purpose, and tensions within the contemporary practices of common kava gatherings known in Tongan as faikava. Contemporary kava gatherings are spaces to release the pressures of modern life, nurture ancestral and social relationships, reveal truths, build community, produce and transmit knowledge, negotiate identity, heal, and foster positive well-being through comradery and openness. This film cannot cover all of the complexity of kava culture, yet attempts to be a meaningful introduction to the dynamic practices that are alive and expanding throughout the world.


Author(s):  
Forrest Craig ◽  
Corrin Jennifer

This chapter addresses the protection of cultural heritage in Oceania. How the peoples of Oceania relate to their environment is through the prism of heritage. That heritage is holistic, embracing all life, and is both tangible and intangible. Understood through cultural traditions, it defines their cultural identity and remains inseparable from their social, economic, and environmental well-being. The States of Oceania have not engaged with the protection of cultural heritage at an international level, and, while party to the World Heritage and Intangible Cultural Heritage Conventions, the level of protection is modest, though increasing in significance.



Author(s):  
Nancy Sherman

Stoicism has made a comeback as the ideal ancient philosophy for those seeking calm in times of stress and uncertainty. For many, it has become the new Zen, with meditation techniques that help individuals face whatever life throws their way. The Stoics address a key question of the time: how can one be master of one’s fate when the outside world threatens to unmoor one’s well-being? Making Stoic wisdom relevant and accessible, Sherman distills time-honored techniques for building modern resilience. Drawing on the thought of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca, and others, Sherman argues that Stoic resilience is miscast as rugged self-reliance. One is at home in the world, the Stoics taught, when one is connected to others in cooperative efforts. While self-mastery is essential, one draws on one’s deepest relationships for true strength and resilience. Bringing ancient wisdom to bear on twenty-first-century settings—from Silicon Valley leaders in search of lifehacks, to first responders in a pandemic, to soldiers on the battlefield—Sherman shows how Stoicism can both prepare individuals for an uncertain future and help them reduce the stress and anxiety of modern life. Stoic Wisdom will appeal to anyone feeling helpless or looking for deeper, meaningful strength and goodness in addressing life’s biggest and smallest challenges.



2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (suppl 4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Honnef ◽  
Stela Maris de Mello Padoin ◽  
Cristiane Cardoso de Paula ◽  
Tassiane Ferreira Langendorf

ABSTRACT Objective: to understand the intentionality of women's autonomous actions in labor. Methods: a study in Alfred Schütz's social phenomenology, developed with 15 puerperal women admitted to a university hospital in southern Brazil. Data were collected through phenomenological interviews and analyzed according to the adopted framework and the comparison with scientific productions. Results: the actions intended to receive physical and emotional support from their companions, from pregnancy, for a peaceful delivery with less pain, fast and without interventions. The intention was to do the right things for the child's well-being and, after delivery, to be painless and active to take care of their children. Final considerations: women's actions have intentionality arising from their knowledge, which is guided by the social relationships established in the world of life.



2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund

Abstract. Establishing new social relationships is important for mastering developmental transitions in young adulthood. In a 2-year longitudinal study with four measurement occasions (T1: n = 245, T2: n = 96, T3: n = 103, T4: n = 85), we investigated the role of social motives in college students’ mastery of the transition of moving out of the parental home, using loneliness as an indicator of poor adjustment to the transition. Students with strong social approach motivation reported stable and low levels of loneliness. In contrast, students with strong social avoidance motivation reported high levels of loneliness. However, this effect dissipated relatively quickly as most of the young adults adapted to the transition over a period of several weeks. The present study also provides evidence for an interaction between social approach and social avoidance motives: Social approach motives buffered the negative effect on social well-being of social avoidance motives. These results illustrate the importance of social approach and social avoidance motives and their interplay during developmental transitions.



2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-251
Author(s):  
Victor F. Petrenko ◽  
Olga V. Mitina ◽  
Kirill A. Bertnikov

The aim of this research was the reconstruction of the system of categories through which Russians perceive the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, and the world as a whole; to study the implicit model of the geopolitical space; to analyze the stereotypes in the perception of different countries and the superposition of mental geopolitical representations onto the geographic map. The techniques of psychosemantics by Petrenko, originating in the semantic differential of Osgood and Kelly's “repertory grids,” were used as working tools. Multidimensional semantic spaces act as operational models of the structures of consciousness, and the positions of countries in multidimensional space reflect the geopolitical stereotypes of respondents about these countries. Because of the transformation of geopolitical reality representations in mass consciousness, the commonly used classification of countries as socialist, capitalist, and developing is being replaced by other structures. Four invariant factors of the countries' descriptions were identified. They are connected with Economic and Political Well-being, Military Might, Friendliness toward Russia, and Spirituality and the Level of Culture. It seems that the structure has not been explained in adequate detail and is not clearly realized by the individuals. There is an interrelationship between the democratic political structure of a country and its prosperity in the political mentality of Russian respondents. Russian public consciousness painfully strives for a new geopolitical identity and place in the commonwealth of states. It also signifies the country's interest and orientation toward the East in the search for geopolitical partners. The construct system of geopolitical perception also depends on the region of perception.





1998 ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
V. Tolkachenko

One of the most important reasons for such a clearly distressed state of society was the decline of religion as a social force, the external manifestation of which is the weakening of religious institutions. "Religion," Baha'u'llah writes, "is the greatest of all means of establishing order in the world to the universal satisfaction of those who live in it." The weakening of the foundations of religion strengthened the ranks of ignoramuses, gave them impudence and arrogance. "I truly say that everything that belittles the supreme role of religion opens way for the revelry of maliciousness, inevitably leading to anarchy. " In another Tablet, He says: "Religion is a radiant light and an impregnable fortress that ensures the safety and well-being of the peoples of the world, for God-fearing induces man to adhere to the good and to reject all evil." Blink the light of religion, and chaos and distemper will set in, the radiance of justice, justice, tranquility and peace. "



2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (Special) ◽  

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is the entity regulating the healthcare sector in the Emirate of Dubai, ensuring high quality and safe healthcare services delivery to the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020, indicating to the world that further infection spread is very likely, and alerting countries that they should be ready for possible widespread community transmission. The first case of COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates was confirmed on 29th of January 2020; since then, the number of cases has continued to grow exponentially. As of 8th of July 2020 (end of the day), 53,045 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed with a death toll of 327 cases. The UAE has conducted over 3,720,000 COVID-19 tests among UAE citizens and residents over the past four months, in line with the government’s plans to strengthen virus screening to contain the spread of COVID-19. There were vital UAE policies, laws, regulations, and decrees that have been announced for immediate implementation to limit the spread of COVID- 19, to prevent panic and to ensure the overall food, nutrition, and well-being are provided. The UAE is amongst the World’s Top 10 for COVID-19 Treatment Efficiency and in the World’s Top 20 for the implementation of COVID-19 Safety measures. The UAE’s mission is to work towards resuming life after COVID-19 and enter into the recovery phases. This policy research paper will discuss the Dubai Health Authority’s rapid response initiatives towards combating the control and spread of COVID-19 and future policy implications and recommendations. The underlying factors and policy options will be discussed in terms of governance, finance, and delivery.



Author(s):  
Alyshia Gálvez

In the two decades since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect, Mexico has seen an epidemic of diet-related illness. While globalization has been associated with an increase in chronic disease around the world, in Mexico, the speed and scope of the rise has been called a public health emergency. The shift in Mexican foodways is happening at a moment when the country’s ancestral cuisine is now more popular and appreciated around the world than ever. What does it mean for their health and well-being when many Mexicans eat fewer tortillas and more instant noodles, while global elites demand tacos made with handmade corn tortillas? This book examines the transformation of the Mexican food system since NAFTA and how it has made it harder for people to eat as they once did. The book contextualizes NAFTA within Mexico’s approach to economic development since the Revolution, noticing the role envisioned for rural and low-income people in the path to modernization. Examination of anti-poverty and public health policies in Mexico reveal how it has become easier for people to consume processed foods and beverages, even when to do so can be harmful to health. The book critiques Mexico’s strategy for addressing the public health crisis generated by rising rates of chronic disease for blaming the dietary habits of those whose lives have been upended by the economic and political shifts of NAFTA.



2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Koczanowicz

The Dialogical concept of consciousness in L.S. Vygotsky and G.H. Mead and its relevance for contemporary discussions on consciousness In my paper I show the relevance of cultural-activity theory for solving the puzzles of the concept of consciousness which encounter contemporary philosophy. I reconstruct the main categories of cultural-activity theory as developed by M.M. Bakhtin, L.S. Vygotsky, G.H. Mead, and J. Dewey. For the concept of consciousness the most important thing is that the phenomenon of human consciousness is consider to be an effect of intersection of language, social relations, and activity. Therefore consciousness cannot be reduced to merely sensual experience but it has to be treated as a complex process in which experience is converted into language expressions which in turn are used for establishing interpersonal relationships. Consciousness thus can be accounted for by its reference to objectivity of social relationships rather than to the world of physical or biological phenomena.



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