Transcultural capital and emergent identities among migrant youth

The everyday practices and socio-cultural identities of migrant youth have become a focal point of contemporary sociological research in Western countries of immigration. This article engages with the concept of transcultural capital to frame the possibilities and opportunities embodied in young migrants’ multi-layered identities and cross-cultural competencies in the context of an increasingly interconnected and diverse world. By re-conceptualising diversity and difference as agentic, transformational capitals to be valued, fostered and mobilised, this transcultural approach brings to the fore the multitude of skills, networks and knowledge that migrant youth access and develop through multiple cultural repertoires. Drawing on the narratives of migrant youth in Melbourne (Australia), this article argues that access to different – and not necessarily oppositional – cultural systems opens up a space for understanding the ability of migrant youth to instigate, negotiate and maintain valuable socio-cultural connections in ways that recognise, disrupt and transform social hierarchies.

Learning Chinese in Vietnam: The Role of the Confucius Institute

Southeast Asian countries have always been one of the priority regions of the Chinese foreign policy due both to the geographic proximity and to the long historical and cultural connections and new forms of economic and trade cooperation which have been formed on that basis. Vietnam supports close interaction with its northern neighbour not only in the Party matters, but also in the trade and economic, agricultural, tourism, educational, medical, and other spheres. Naturally, this suggests intense learning of the Chinese language on a large scale. China, in its turn, is interested in maintenance and increase of its positive image among the countries of Southeast Asia. That is why China applies various methods and tools of nonforce pressure, which are known as cultural soft power. One of these tools is the Confucius Institute (Classes). China considered it the site of promotion of the Chinese language and Chinese culture abroad. From the outside, Vietnam and China appear to move toward each other in the matter of teaching and learning Chinese, but the reality shows that the Vietnamese side is not hastening to join the Chinese initiative, striving to control the situation, and does not let the Chinese side expand the Confucius Institutes network in Vietnam. Also, the analysis of the situation has shown the insignificant role of the Confucius Institutes in teaching the Chinese language.

Aegean diffusions - Diffusions of power: Cultural connections between Minoan Crete and Pharaonic Egypt

<p>The development of Minoan society has traditionally been considered by scholars to have been an insular phenomenon unique to the southern Aegean. Such assumptions, however, fail to acknowledge the wider context of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean. Contact between the people of Crete and their contemporaries in Egypt and the Levant is well attested in the archaeological record, with a plethora of artefacts – imported and imitation – appearing on both sides of the Libyan Sea. Whilst investigations into the economic nature of these exchanges have been undertaken, little thought has been given to the cultural consequences of inter-regional contacts. This thesis examines the evolution of palatial society upon Crete and considers the extent to which interactions with comparatively more mature civilisations may have influenced the increasingly hierarchal trajectory of Minoan society, by re-evaluating the corpus of material culture and interconnectivity.</p>

Aegean diffusions - Diffusions of power: Cultural connections between Minoan Crete and Pharaonic Egypt

<p>The development of Minoan society has traditionally been considered by scholars to have been an insular phenomenon unique to the southern Aegean. Such assumptions, however, fail to acknowledge the wider context of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean. Contact between the people of Crete and their contemporaries in Egypt and the Levant is well attested in the archaeological record, with a plethora of artefacts – imported and imitation – appearing on both sides of the Libyan Sea. Whilst investigations into the economic nature of these exchanges have been undertaken, little thought has been given to the cultural consequences of inter-regional contacts. This thesis examines the evolution of palatial society upon Crete and considers the extent to which interactions with comparatively more mature civilisations may have influenced the increasingly hierarchal trajectory of Minoan society, by re-evaluating the corpus of material culture and interconnectivity.</p>

Arno Nadel (1878–1943): A Contributor to Modern German-Jewish Identity from Vilnius

The phenomenon of Arno Nadel (1878–1943) is presupposed by his extremely diverse activities in art, scholarship, and musical journalism. A music arranger, musicologist, music journalist and collector, composer, choirmaster, pianist and organist, as well as a poet, playwright, painter and translator, Arno Nadel was born in a religious Jewish family in Vilnius and spent his first twelve years there. Having lived and studied in Königsberg for five years, in 1895 Nadel settled in Berlin, one of the largest centres of German Jewish cultural life before the National Socialists came to power in 1933. Nadel was murdered in Auschwitz in 1943. So far, his creative legacy has not been studied in Lithuania. The aim of this article is to bring Nadel back on the horizon of multinational Lithuanian cultural history and to review his contribution to the formation of modern German-Jewish identity in the context of Nadel’s Vilnius origins and his diverse musical activities. Nadel’s original compositions, arrangements of traditional Jewish liturgical music and folk songs, research in and texts about Jewish music contributed to a new approach towards cultural connections between the Jews of Eastern Europe and Germany, and were important for the development of German Jewish music in the first half of the twentieth century, as well as for the documentation and renewal of Jewish liturgical music. Although Arno Nadel composed music in a variety of genres himself, it was his work as a scholar and arranger of Jewish music and as a musicologist that received the most attention among his contemporaries and in the articles written after the Second World War.

2. The ancient in the modern

‘The ancient in the modern’ cites R. E. M. Wheeler’s Five Thousand Years of Pakistan: An Archaeological Outline, which presents the imposing material heritage of Pakistan to the outside world. Wheeler’s attempt of a long history of Pakistan was also intended to preserve this inheritance for future generations of the new-born nation. Wheeler’s outline of the regions make up modern Pakistan, from the Indus to the arrival of the first Arabs. This outline gives us a glimpse of Pakistan’s diverse historical continuum that increasingly goes under-remarked and unremembered. The material and cultural connections and confluences of Pakistan belie the image of a modern monolith.

Bridging Barriers: Study of Refugee Integration in New Zealand Communities

<p>New Zealand is one of the 26 nations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who participate in a regular refugee resettlement program (“New Zealand Refugee Quota Programme”). It is also one of the few countries to have a refugee orientation program upon arrival and dedicates a centre especially to host the incoming refugees. The current refugee quota system in New Zealand provides a 6 week orientation and assessment period followed by dispersal into 6 different cities across New Zealand for permanent resettlement. Refugees develop friendships and a sense of comfort over the 6 weeks program with all the facilities available at the Resettlement centre. The transition from the centre into the independent housing in suburban locations therefore becomes more challenging due to the lack of induction of refugees into their host communities. Refugees are alienated in their new communities with the locals equally as oblivious to the new settlers. As a result, post settlement engagement with the host society becomes difficult for refugees. The community relations between the refugees and host society is neglected with refugees generally connecting with the same ethnic group (ii, Gray); limiting cross-cultural connections. This research investigates the role of architecture as a facilitator of social interaction between the refugees and local community to create a strong sense of belonging in the host society. The aim is to explore architectural solutions which can ease the process of resettlement for refugees into the different regions around New Zealand. It seeks to develop a design which offers social engagement that can extend into the society and cross-cultural interaction can be encouraged.</p>

Bridging Barriers: Study of Refugee Integration in New Zealand Communities

<p>New Zealand is one of the 26 nations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who participate in a regular refugee resettlement program (“New Zealand Refugee Quota Programme”). It is also one of the few countries to have a refugee orientation program upon arrival and dedicates a centre especially to host the incoming refugees. The current refugee quota system in New Zealand provides a 6 week orientation and assessment period followed by dispersal into 6 different cities across New Zealand for permanent resettlement. Refugees develop friendships and a sense of comfort over the 6 weeks program with all the facilities available at the Resettlement centre. The transition from the centre into the independent housing in suburban locations therefore becomes more challenging due to the lack of induction of refugees into their host communities. Refugees are alienated in their new communities with the locals equally as oblivious to the new settlers. As a result, post settlement engagement with the host society becomes difficult for refugees. The community relations between the refugees and host society is neglected with refugees generally connecting with the same ethnic group (ii, Gray); limiting cross-cultural connections. This research investigates the role of architecture as a facilitator of social interaction between the refugees and local community to create a strong sense of belonging in the host society. The aim is to explore architectural solutions which can ease the process of resettlement for refugees into the different regions around New Zealand. It seeks to develop a design which offers social engagement that can extend into the society and cross-cultural interaction can be encouraged.</p>