scholarly journals The contribution of anthropological structuralism to the development of the concept of "cultural identity" as the object of contemporary anthropological research

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Bojan Žikić
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Identification ◽  
Cognitive Operations ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Contextual Characteristics ◽  
The Way

The concept of "cultural identity", as a matter of anthropological consideration today – in the sense of its dynamic and relational character, but before that as a means of signifying human groups and simultaneously expressing what the members consider their contextual characteristics – is based on the process of cultural identification, which is the product of the act of division, delineation and classification as culturally cognitive operations arising from the experience of the surrounding reality. The initial anthropological interest in these acts we find in anthropological structuralism and its intention of searching for rules of logic which determine the ways in which we shape our world and the symbols we use to do it. Viewing identification as an attempt to establish logical reasons for a certain quality to be signified in this way in general, has its basis in the way in which structural anthropologists explained the establishing of symbolic connections between different human groups, or rather the meaning of the signs used for this purpose.

Oral Literature and Transculturality: A Study of Contemporary Cameroonian Songs

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-64
Author(s):  
Anne Obono Essomba
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Culture Shock ◽  
Oral Literature ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
Hybrid Product ◽  
The Way

Globalization led by Europe has spread so-called 'universal' values across the globe, which seems to have cultural intermingling as its backdrop. All human endeavors are based on a culture that has become multidimensional. All the time, in their diversity, cultures try to complement and absorb each other. However, in this meeting of cultural giving and receiving, it takes on a new face, the culture shock.  This encounter causes major changes in our modern societies, giving way to a loss of cultural identity and internal imbalance. This article aims to analyze the way in which contemporary Cameroonian musicians use cultural and linguistic facts for communication purposes and other arguments. The aim of our work is to show how the various songwriters have found, through song, a new mode of resistance so that African traditions escape sedimentation. In this way, they reconcile the elements of oral tradition and the contributions of modernity to create a hybrid product. To illustrate our point, we have chosen oral texts from different regions of Cameroon.  In order to better understand the transcultural reality in the texts, we will highlight the marks of traditional and modern aesthetics, then show that the transcultural is seen as a space of symbiosis between the traditional and the modern.

The Articulating-Self Inside Out

2020 ◽  
pp. 73-86
Author(s):  
Somayeh Noori Shirazi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
The Self ◽  
Iranian Woman ◽  
Inside Out ◽  
The Way

This chapter maps the different ways with which an Iranian woman artist, Katayoun Karami, critically responds to the stereotypes about the depiction of cultural identity in the artworks of female artists with a Middle Eastern background. The key point of Karami's response is the way she applies her self–portrait to articulate the self and her subjectivity, which is analysed in this chapter by examining one of her works named the Other Side. In this installation, the artist demonstrates the construction of gender identity in today's Iran through her personal perception of veiling. Working within the frameworks of feminist and Orientalist discourses, this chapter aims to explore how Karami's lived experience as a continual activity of becoming has been formed through the experience of veiling, and what strategies are deployed by her to interrogate the presumptions about the image of the veiled body in Western and Iranian contexts.

Lack of Transparency, Accountability, and Victims' Participation in Decision Making: Haiti's Major Threat

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 14-16
Author(s):  
Adlin Noël
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
The People ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
The Way

I was born and for the most part raised in Haiti. For almost five years, I never went back, including when the earthquake struck. Thanks to my anthropological research organized by Dr. Schuller, I now have a better understanding of Haiti's struggle to recover from the earthquake. I have been enlightened by different testimonies and observations from camp residents during this ethnographic research. I realize now that the root of the situation is way more complex than I would have ever imagined. I knew very well that the environment was not suitable for the people after the quake. However, how are we to evaluate the amount of aid that has been promised to Haiti? Is this aid even reaching the victims? Is there a relationship between those in charge of distribution and the victims? Is the aid that we send to Haiti actually helping the way in which we want?

AUTHOR AND A CHARACTER OF WITOLD GOMBROWICZ IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY OF LITERATURE

2019 ◽  
pp. 334-340
Author(s):  
Kateryna Strohanova
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Witold Gombrowicz ◽  
Cultural Process ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Self Image ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Psychological Features

The review of Witold Gombrowicz’s self-image due to questions and tasks of anthropology of literature pro- vides a possibility to make an analysis of such aspects and motivators as family, civilization process, role in national cultural process, position in social formations. Analysis is based on Gombrowicz’s prose, memoirs and personal correspondence. Psychological portrait of character-narrator and author himself – autobiographism is pronounced in each Gombrowicz’s main character – is depicted very clearly and has the signs of emotional influences experienced by the writer in his childhood and further years. These influences have formed Gombrowicz’s philosophical concepts, especially his theory of Form, and deter- mined writer’s position in questions of national and cultural identity. Answers on one of the most important issues that anthropology of literature tries to resolve – for what purpose a writer creates virtual worlds – can be successfully looked for in Witold Gombrowicz’s works. Universalism and ubiquity of self-im- age in all literary works is one of the unique features which makes Gombrowicz a perfect object for anthropology of literature. As several scientists have noted, the whole heritage of Gombrowicz is a one large novel with the same character who faces various circumstances and tries to manage them. Reactions, motivations, positions of this character are usually equal to author’s – Gombrowicz always considered himself as the most important and main character. So Gombrowicz’s works become an extremely fruitful field for literary-anthropological research – the writer writes only about himself, he analyses deeply his psychological features and external influences which motivated his actions and formed his opinions. This research is the beginning of a prospective road – the main questions are claimed, the main vectors are defined and the general overview of problematics is made; the deeper analysis of Gombrowicz’s prose and memoirs with usage of literary-anthropolog- ical instruments and considering of it’s issues demand more expanded study which will shortly appear in Ukrainian Polish studies.

Culture, Ethnicity, and Inculturation

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan H. Pranger
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Cultural Process ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Local Construction ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis article discusses the concept "inculturation" from both a critical and constructive perspective. It is concerned with the ideas about "culture" and cultural or ethnic identity that underlie the discourse and practice of inculturation. While inculturation is an important hermeneutical and theological principle it is necessary to be critical of the way in which theologians sometimes employ these notions, in particular in situations of ethnic conflict. The article juxtaposes essentialist and static assumptions about ethnic identity and culture underlying projects of inculturation in Sri Lanka with theoretical, postcolonial perspectives on such identities as "negotiated" or "constructed" in an ongoing cultural process. It considers the possible implications of such a perspective for the practices of inculturation in Sri Lanka, as well as the consequences for the theoretical understanding of the concept inculturation itself. The article criticizes the understanding of cultural or ethnic identity as the foundation of theological inculturation, and raises the question what does constitute such a basis. It argues, first, for an emphasis on the theological basis of inculturation in God's incarnation and saving presence in human cultures. Second, difference of culture rather than cultural identity should constitute the basis for the local construction of theology. Third, it argues that claims for theological difference are always voiced within, and therefore already presuppose, ecumenical or catholic relationships and structures of communication. The article concludes by arguing, on the basis of a "globalized" and postcolonial concept of culture, for an understanding of inculturation that includes other than cultural or ethnic identities as part of its concern with culture, as well as socioeconomic and political processes. It is hoped that a revision of the concept of inculturation along these lines may be more helpful in situations of ethnic conflict, and may also help to bring a convergence between the understanding of inculturation and contextualization.

scholarly journals ART AS A CULTURAL INSTRUMENT: THE ROLE OF ACEHNESE ART IN RESOLVING HORIZONTAL CONFLICT

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Saifuddin Dhuhri
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Collective Consciousness ◽  
Great Role ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The Way

This article begins with explaining the present problems of Acehnese cultural identity, then articulating how the art is usefully employed to solve those difficulties. Relying on post-colonial theories, I formulate the framework that Acehnese art has significant position to handling current cultural problem of Acehnese society. This work offers a cultural resolution of Acehnese present conflict between traditionalist and modernist Muslims, which are represented by Dayah and Muhammadiyah community in Aceh. It is commonly known that Islam is the pride of the Acehnese. To date, there is, however, no certainty about the nature of Islam in Aceh, as heated debate still exists between traditionalist and modernist Muslims upon the nature of Sharia application in the place. This dispute has generated different extreme perspectives upon seeing themselves in the way to treat their cultural identity. Here we establishes that Acehnese art plays great role in bringing togetherness to different groups of Acehnese society, which results in resolving horizontal conflict of Acehnese society. It shows that Acehnese art accommodates to all of different ness of Acehnese communities and, therefore, raises Acehnese collective consciousness.

scholarly journals Cultural Identity in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane: A Bhabhian Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-86
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Third Space ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Stuart Hall ◽  
The Way

This paper explores the question of cultural identity in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003) through making specific reference to Homi Bhabha’s views of hybridity, third space, mimicry and ambivalence. Though Ali’s novel has been discussed in light of traditional postcolonialism, it has not been duly scrutinized through a dominantly Bhabhian perspective. Besides making use of Bhabha’s theories, this article draws upon the works of some other theorists of cultural identity such as Stuart Hall and Edward Said to highlight its emphasis on a Bhabhian approach. Grounding its discussion in Bhabha’s theory of cultural identity, it explores the way/s the major characters in Ali’s novel struggle to realize their sense of cultural identity in their own different ways. Specific emphasis is laid on the novel’s protagonist Nazneen and the development of her cultural identity.

scholarly journals IDEOLOGICAL GROUNDS OF CULTURAL IDENTIFICATION OF THE CRIMEAN TATARS: FORMATION CONTEXTS

2017 ◽  
pp. 65-69
Author(s):  
V. G. Napadysta
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Cultural Identification ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Cultural Revival ◽  
Occupied Territory ◽  
National Movement ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
Crimean Tatar

The article describes the current ideological grounds of the cultural identity of the Crimean Tatars; the historical and political contexts of their formation is studied, comparative analysis of the activity of the first institutional bodies of the Crimean Tatar national movement – National movement of the Crimean Tatars and Organization of the Crimean Tatar national movement – representations of the ideological longings of the nation, is performed; their role in the creation, expansion, extension of the meaning and practical implementation of the ideological grounds stated in program documents of the named organizations, are determined; it analyzes their differences inthe strategic value landmarks and tactical steps, stipulated by them, which have become the reason of different vectors of the mentioned institutional representatives of the Crimean Tatar people in the process of cultural identification, based on unified ideological grounds – national identity, repatriation and national-cultural revival. This study articulates the value of the ideological grounds of the cultural identification of the Crimean Tatars in solving a whole range of problems, caused by the return of the Crimean Tatars to their historical motherland. The traditional orientation of the power establishments of the independent Ukraine on the economic, inter-ethnic,religious segments of the integration process of the Crimean Tatars into the Ukrainian community, neutral lized the role of their value orientations and ideological longings, which in its turn did not allow to see the CrimeanTatars as the most proUkrainian power in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The importance of the analysis of the ideological grounds of the cultural identity of the Crimean Tatars, differences in strategic values and tactical steps of the various establishments of the Crimean Tatar national movement, isstipulated by the search of models of efficient projects to return and re-integrate the occupied territory of Ukraine, which would include the humanitarian components, based on specific ideological and valuable grounds, but not limited to the economical and political measures.

scholarly journals ФОРМИ И МЕТОДИ НА ГЛОБАЛНО СЪПЕРНИЧЕСТВО В СЪВРЕМЕННИЯ СВЕТОВЕН РЕД

2021 ◽  
Vol XXХII A (1) ◽  
pp. 245-255
Author(s):  
Владислав Лазаров ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
National Security ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Strategic Analysis ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Global Age ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Way

Modern dynamics in society necessitates a new understanding of the concept of security, achieved as a result of a comprehensive strategic analysis. Creating an adequate vision of national security in the global age requires a paradigm shift in the way people think. Contemporary society and realities demand the formation of a new type of personality – a citizen of the 21st century who is informed, competent, educated, a democrat, a patriot, accountable to the country and to himself, while being a cosmopolitan at the same time. The article addresses issues of national security as part of cultural identity

scholarly journals VITALITY OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN MALAYSIAN WEDDING CARDS: A MULTIETHNIC PERSPECTIVE

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-66
Author(s):  
Siti Rohana Mohd Thani ◽  
Kuang Ching Hei
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Symbolic Language ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Year 2000 ◽  
Cultural Features ◽  
The Way

The way language is used within a certain community reflects the culture of its users but is it possible to accommodate the culture of others when different communities live within one country as citizens? This paper examined thirty Malaysian wedding cards gathered from the three dominant ethnic groups of Malay, Chinese and Indian. It focussed on the vitality of language and culture presented in current day wedding cards issued by modern day couples, that is, from the year 2000 onwards. Data extracted for analysis comprised the language printed on the cards followed by the symbolic and cultural features noted on and within the cards. Leech’s (1981) framework of making meanings from printed language was applied. Findings suggest that current day wedding cards of the three ethnic communities have adapted to modernisation in terms of design, colour and information. However, symbolic language and traditional and cultural features reflecting each of the respective community were still prevalent. The findings imply that despite the advancement of technology and globalisation, Malaysia’s diverse ethnic groups remained faithful to their cultures with each group retaining and promoting its respective symbolic features and cultural identity. This indicates that one’s ethnic identity and culture are important particularly when expressed through wedding cards. Our claim is confined to the analysis of a small portion of wedding cards, hence, a more extensive study may be necessary to verify this claim. 

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