Cultural Fusion in Physician–Patient Communication and Decision Making in Japan

The term “cinemeducation” was coined by Matthew Alexander in 2002, and according to P. Ravi Shankar, it refers to the use of clips from movies and videos to educate medical students and residents on the psychosocial aspects of medicine. As a counterbalance to the biomedicine-centric medical curricula, cinemeducation deals with the psychosocial aspects of medicine and sensitive topics in healthcare, including but not limited to depression, family and marital counseling, doctor–patient relationships, family systems, addiction, mental illness, cultural competency, and foreign patients and their healthcare beliefs. Cinemeducation is particularly useful when the viewing is followed by a discussion, which engages students in active learning of clinically relevant concepts such as informed consent (IC), palliative care, and patient-centeredness. In other words, cinemeducation provides students in the healthcare fields with opportunities to learn about the humanistic aspects of medicine by watching movies or clips that provide insight into human experiences and challenges in medicine. A famous Japanese medical TV series, Shiroi Kyoto (The Great White Tower) will be examined to discuss the cultural fusion that has occurred in Japan, specifically with regard to clinical communication. Based on a novel authored by Toyoko Yamazaki in the 1960s, this series is of interest because the novel was made into a drama twice, first in the 1970s and again in 2003. Accordingly, several significant changes in health communication are noticeable between the first and second versions. Social changes in paternalism in medicine, palliative care, and IC that were adapted from the West and localized in Japan, as cultural fusion are evident in several noteworthy scenes.

State-Sponsored Folklorization of Music-Dance Traditions in the MNR Era

Bolivia’s “revolutionary nationalism” epoch (1952–1964) saw a remarkable upsurge in the number, scope, and variety of state-sponsored folkloric music-dance events involving criollo-mestizo, cholo-mestizo, and indigenous performers. It was also in the years of MNR rule that Bolivia obtained a state-funded folkloric ballet company and fully operational Department of Folklore. The 1952–1964 MNR era thus represents not only a time of momentous political, social, and economic change for Bolivia, but also a critical juncture for the national folklore movement. This chapter analyzes the major musical folklorization initiatives that state-affiliated entities launched in La Paz city from 1952 to 1964, with special attention given to their connections with MNR projects and agendas, in particular the party’s panacea of cultural mestizaje (ethnic-cultural fusion). As this chapter shows, MNR-sponsored musical folklorization initiatives at times contradicted official party ideology, and in some instances articulated to a greater extent with indigenismo than with mestizaje.

Allow Peace to Reign: Musical Genres of Fújì and Islamic Allegorise Nigerian Unity in the Era of Boko Haram

A proliferation of popular music genres flourished in post-independence Nigeria: highlife, jùjú, Afrobeat, and fújì. Originating within Yorùbá Muslim communities, the genres of fújì and Islamic are Islamised dance music genres characterised by their Arabic-influenced vocal style, Yorùbá praise poetry, driving percussion, and aesthetics of incorporation, flexibility, and cultural fusion. Based on analysis of interviews and performances in Ìlọrin in the 2010s, this article argues that the genres of fújì and Islamic allegorise Nigerian unity—an ideology of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and equity—while exposing the gap between the aspiration for unity and everyday inequities shaped by gender and morality.

Visualization of the Character of “Doctor Strange” in the Creation of the Wayang Avenger

Wayang Avenger is a bridge that connects traditional culture and contemporary culture. Harmonization of cultural fusion and open adaptation appears in the concept elements in the story and the puppet characters. The transformation of traditional wayang towards contemporary wayang implies a tendency towards cultural concept choices. Initially, traditional puppets were a medium for religious ceremonies and a medium for spreading religion. Traditional wayang provides both an overview and a guide to behaviour in life. Changes to contemporary wayang show the existence of changes in wayang tendencies which only describe contemporary phenomena of human life. This research seeks to see and explain the visualization of characters in the creation of the Wayang Avenger, especially the characters in the Doctor Strange character. The explanation leads to the visual elements of the character, with the support of the theory of transformation. The visual elements of Doctor Strange show that their creation takes into account the functions of elements that exist in traditional puppet performances. Character design in the Wayang Avenger which is a combination of two elements, namely elements of tradition and contemporary elements. The combination of the two elements shows that there is an aesthetic principle that contemporary aesthetic does not have to deny the values ​​in a traditional aesthetic.

Language Sociality and Its Enlightenment on Foreign Language Teaching

Language is a unique tool used to express meaning and exchange ideas while sociality is a basic attribute to it. The language sociality lies in that languages exist in social activities and evolve simultaneously. Cognition of language sociality, to some extent, has an implicit or explicit influence on foreign language teaching (FLT). As one social behavior affected by the environment around, language is interfered with social, cognitional and cultural factors, which is evidently reflected in difficulties in FLT. To apply language sociality into FLT and improve the validity and reliability in the process, the following aspects need to be considered and innovated: the curriculum, process of teaching, quality of teachers, involvement of students as well as research on cultural fusion.

Cultural Fusion Theory

Cultural fusion is the process of integrating new information and generating new cultural forms. Cultural fusion theory recognizes the world as a churning information environment of cultural legacies, competing and complementing one another, forming novel cultural expressions in all aspects of life, including music, cuisine, pedagogy, legal systems, governance, economic behavior, spirituality, healthcare, norms of personal and interpersonal style, family structures, and so forth. This is a process of pan-evolution, involving countless channels, not merely two cultures coming together to form a third, hybrid culture. During this process the traditional pace and form of change is itself changing. Cultures are also transformed as a result of the churning process of an emergent global semantic field generated by countless networked exchanges.