THE CO-CREATION OF THE SONGKRAN FESTIVAL IN THAILAND AND THE CO-DESTRUCTION OF ITS CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

This paper investigated the co-destruction of cultural significance through the co-creation and evolution of a hallmark cultural event, using the Songkran Festival, Thailand, as a case study. The Songkran Festival began within an agricultural society rooted in Buddhist cultural inheritance. Traditionally, Thai people co-created the celebration by offering food to monks(Puñña), and releasing fish or birds on Maha Songkran (i.e., the last day of the previous year)in April. They built sand pagodas or Chedi Sai at Buddhist temples to compensate for sand that was removed under their feet over the previous year. They also reunited with family by travelling back to their hometowns to pay respects to family elders and ancestors. After that, they would pour water from a silver bowl onto each other’s shoulders as a sign of blessing, and the water represented wishes for good rainfall for the New Year’s harvest. The co-creation between tourism sectors, local businesses, and the festival stakeholders transformed festivities into foam parties, special events, and leisure activities to stimulate tourism dem and and to generate economic benefit. Consequently, these new celebrating practices co-destructed the cultural significance and core values of the Songkran Festival. Therefore, this study sought to understand the evolution and co-creation phenomena in the festival that leads to co-destruction of its cultural significance and core values through document analysis and semi-structured interviews. The findings were thematically reported into four crucial themes that present key characteristics of co-destructed cultural significance in the Songkran Festival: social change, public participation, the proliferation of leisure activities for economic gain, and commercialisation of the Songkran Festival. The implications of this study contribute to expanding the understanding of the co-existence between co-creation and co-destruction phenomena in cultural events.

Knowledge and perception of postmenopausal women towards menopause

Background: Aim of the research was to study the knowledge and perception of postmenopausal women towards menopause.Methods: It was a cross sectional study which was carried at outpatient department of psychiatry, Government medical college, Srinagar over a period of 3 months. Participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study were evaluated on a semi-structured proforma for demographic variables, knowledge and attitude towards menopause.Results: A total of 120 postmenopausal women were included in our study. Mean age of study population was s 54.5±8.6 years. Majority of women belonged to rural background (80.0%) in the age group of 51-60 years (58.3%), married (78.3%), having 1-3 issues (53.3%) and had received no formal education (67.5%). Menopause was natural in (80.8%) of women and (19.2%) had surgical menopause. 85% of study population had heard about menopause at the time their periods stopped mostly from family elders and friends. 45% had knowledge about the age of the menopause, while as only (20.8%) were aware about the symptoms of menopause. 56.6% of study population were having positive perception about the menopause.Conclusions: Majority of our women were unaware of menopausal symptoms. Most of them considered it as a natural process of aging and thus were having a positive perception about the menopause.

Wongee Mia: An Innovative Family-Centred Approach to Addressing Aboriginal Housing Needs and Preventing Eviction in Australia

Background: Aboriginal Australians are disproportionately affected by homelessness, with traditional housing models failing to recognise the importance of kinship obligations and ongoing systemic racism. The Wongee Mia project is a pilot initiative emerging out of a Housing First project tackling homelessness among Perth’s most vulnerable rough sleepers. The project takes a different approach to working with and providing long-term housing to Aboriginal families in Perth, Western Australia. Methods: The Wongee Mia project is centred around one person “Robby” and his family to prevent eviction. Data are collected from monthly action research meetings, yarning sessions with family Elders, and case notes. Results: The project identified 32 family members who had potential to place “Robby’s” tenancy at risk. As at December 2019, 29 members of Robby’s family have been supported by the Wongee Mia case workers, and five have been housed. Key elements of Wongee Mia are the broader links to end homelessness initiatives (the Housing First program), the cultural backgrounds of the case workers and their ability to connect in a meaningful way with the family, Elder involvement (including the co-production of this paper), and an underlying action research model enabling program delivery improvements. Conclusion: The Wongee Mia project offers an innovative way of working with families to prevent unnecessary eviction by working through the whole family’s needs rather than those of an individual in relation to housing.

From silence to positive self-presentation: gradual emergence of negative face wants in Kǒngguīzú’s (恐归族) intergenerational conflicts with their family elders

Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1978, 1987) is often challenged on its claim of the universality of face, in particular, the applicability of negative face to communicators from the sinosphere. This study argues that the notion of negative face is applicable to account for young Chinese people’s communication strategies and behaviors during their intergenerational conflicts. Drawing on discursive psychology and conversation analysis approaches to the dialogic lyrics of Shénqǔ about Kǒngguīzú, this paper explores the dynamic construction process of young Chinese people’s negative face. It reveals that this dynamic construction has been shaped by the cultural values of mixing traditional Confucian values with a new materialistic and individualistic orientation, and that adhering to the traditional cultural norm of harmony is crucial to satisfying negative face wants. This finding suggests that the mixed cultural values should be incorporated into the parametric system of Chinese negative face analysis.

Misconceptions about Fruits Consumption among Nursing Mothers

Poor nutritional practices especially in pregnancy and early childhood can result in dire consequences in the growth and development of a child. The nutritional status of nursing children can be determined by maternal knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions towards certain foods.Objective:This study was conducted to find out the existing beliefs and practices about food misconceptions among nursing mothers at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore. Methods:Data size was 100 nursing mothers and they were selected through non probability convenient sampling technique. SPSS version 21.0 was used to analyze data. Results:Findings showed that majority of mothers were practiced false dietary habits for the sake of good health of their children. Total 83 nursing mothers were practiced these misconceptions because their family elders told them. It was considered that banana increase mucus production(89), oranges increase soreness of throat(76), mango increase the chance of allergy in children, dates are hot(70) and papaya can cause miscarriage(58). Conclusions:Current Study concluded that existence of food myths and taboos was very common among nursing mothers and they also practiced it. Fruits such as papaya, mango and saffron were practiced as hot and also considered as anti-pregnancy fruits.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to rabies control in Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines

The study assessed knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) pertinent to rabies among 1187 households from 68 barangays in Baybay City to provide baseline information on the levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices on rabies control, to determine the magnitude of effects of factors that are associated with increased KAP levels, and to determine the magnitude of effects these factors have on the community KAP scores. Demographic information was produced and KAP scores were evaluated by linear regression. Almost all (97.81%) of the respondents have heard about rabies but more than half (63.91%) still think that all dogs intrinsically have rabies. Only 47.63% of dog owners have dogs immunized against rabies within the past year. Livestock technicians, local government IEC campaigns, and family elders as information sources had the greatest influence on knowledge scores. Having knowledge on rabies, receiving rabies information from family elders, and having non-agricultural employment greatly influenced attitude scores. Obtaining rabies information from family elders, and residing in urban areas and along the major highway of the city have the greatest effect on practice scores. These results emphasized the importance of effective rabies-related information dissemination for a successful rabies control program implementation.

FOOD FADDISM

Background: Food faddism may be labeled as an ice-berg phenomenonoccurring in our population; still there is dearth of research work on this issue; therefore weconducted a baseline study on this problem of public health importance in order to explorehidden facts about this practice. Objectives: (1) To assess the food faddism practices amongresidents of Taluka Latifabad, Hyderabad. (2). To determine the risk factors associated with foodfaddism. (3). To determine the association of food faddism to health status of the participants.Study design: Cross sectional study. Place of study & duration: A community based study oftwo months’ duration (from 1st May-30thJune 2013) conducted in Taluka Latifabad units 4, 7 &12, district Hyderabad. Methodology: 450 subjects were selected by convenience type ofsampling & were registered for the study. The sample comprised of 200 women of child bearingage and 250 children of age ≤ 5 years. Results: The frequency of food faddism was found to be58% i.e. 71.5% among women of child bearing age and 47.2% among children at age ≤ 5years.Living in joint families & being illiterate were associated factors for practice of food faddism(p=0.01) & (p=0.04) respectively. Majority (79.31%) of respondents got advice for this practicefrom family elders; while 36.78% got such advice from family physicians. Being malnourished &borne as low birth weight were its major health outcomes among children. Conclusions: Foodfaddism intangibly affects women & children’s health; therefore elders of the families as well asfamily physicians should be taken on-board to control this dietary malpractice in thecommunities.

An Exploration of Breastfeeding Practices by Bhutanese Women

Background: Researchers have shown beneficial influences of exclusive breastfeeding for women and infants. Therefore, the World Health Organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding infants for the first 6 months following birth. In Bhutan, researchers have found, through survey research, variable exclusive breastfeeding rates at 6 months. They have not, however, explored the experiences and views of participants in relation to breastfeeding. Research aim: The aim was to explore first-time mothers’ views, intentions, and experiences related to exclusive breastfeeding. Methods: A qualitative, prospective, longitudinal, descriptive study was undertaken using semistructured, audio-recorded interviews at two points of time with first-time mothers prenatally during late third trimester ( n = 24) and at 6 weeks after birth ( n = 22). The framework approach to analysis was used to identify themes. Results: Two themes (breastfeeding, but uncertainty about achieving exclusive breastfeeding and acceptance that breastfeeding is painful) were identified from interviews at term. Five themes were identified from interviews at 6 weeks after birth (lack of timely breastfeeding information and support from health professionals, misconceptions about exclusive breastfeeding, being unprepared for the reality of breastfeeding, limited control or choice over feeding, and adoption of cultural and traditional practices). Conclusion: The participants breastfed but did not practice exclusive breastfeeding due to a lack of timely breastfeeding information and inadequate breastfeeding support. While family elders supported breastfeeding, they also promoted the adoption of certain traditional and cultural practices, which affected exclusive breastfeeding.

A Migration Project in Retrospect: The Case of the Ageing Zero Generation in Emirdağ

In the twentieth century, Emirdağ (Turkey) witnessed extensive emigration and is now home to the ‘zero generation’: a group of elderly people who stayed behind when their children moved abroad. We investigate how these elderly people, with at least one child who left the country, evaluate their situation as they have grown older. Using fieldwork observations and in-depth interviews, we found that this group mainly associated the migration of their offspring with loneliness and exclusion from society, due to separation from their children and changes in the traditional family culture. The respondents clearly note a shift in the social position of family elders in Turkish culture, from highly respected to being ignored and looked down upon. While this change in status might be experienced by all elderly inhabitants of the region, feelings of distress were reinforced by an emerging discourse which suggests the migration project is a failed enterprise. The constraints their children experience in the immigrant country have led the zero generation to rely less on them and become more dependent on their own resources. Future research on ageing, migration and transnational care should focus on the different ways in which migration systems evolve, and the long-term effects on social inclusion of all generations.

Instructing the People and Disseminating the Laws

Chapter 3 discusses the Qing state’s attempts to prevent crime and maintain social order through the dissemination of law and moral suasion. For the state this meant that educating the people about the law was a vital preliminary step in crime prevention. Officials distributed throughout the empire copies of the law code and imperial injunctions and required that each community establish semi-monthly community lectures to explain them. Important laws and local regulations were routinely posted in markets and at city gates, often engraved on stone steles. Officials also encouraged lineage and family elders to teach their members about what conduct was appropriate and legal. Nonetheless, despite all the efforts of the state to disseminate the law among the lower orders, in and of themselves, these measures had little impact on actual law enforcement and deterrence of crime.