The Resonance of Music Across Cultures

What predestines music to be able to transgress geo-cultural boundaries? I argue that music’s sensuous, bodily-affective immediacy requires a mode of cross-cultural translation via what I call auditory resonance—the spontaneous attunement of listeners with the sonic presence of music through media-technological transmission despite vestiges of cultural colonialism and other sociopolitical barriers. I trace such resonance effects from German Romanticism through our global present, focusing especially on the conversations between two Japanese cultural figures, the conductor Seiji Ozawa and the novelist Haruki Murakami. These texts show that the category of auditory resonance is more suitable for addressing European music’s global significance than its traditional claims to transcultural universality. Keywords: Music, resonance, immediacy, presence, media technologies, cultural translation, Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, Walter Benjamin, Seiji Ozawa, Haruki Murakami

Can Sport Build Peace After Conflict? Public Attitudes in Transitional Northern Ireland

The growth of the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement has provoked considerable scholarly interrogation of the claimed social benefits of sport. However, little is known of public attitudes to the topic. This article reports research carried out in Northern Ireland regarding sport as a means of bringing divided communities together. Respondents viewed sport as effective in breaking down barriers, yet the demographic reach in terms of the participants in sports-based projects was shown to be limited. Qualitative research revealed diverse experiences of the impact of sport. The conclusion highlights the significance of a public attitudes perspective on SDP—it can reveal (a) the degree of public receptivity to SDP, (b) the participating constituencies, and (c) sociopolitical barriers to SDP and wider sporting inclusivity.

Barriers to Receiving Support among Young Arab Women in Israel Who Have Been Abused in Childhood

Young Arab women (YAW) in Israel who have been abused in childhood may experience barriers to both formal and informal support as an ethnic minority and a gender exposed to exclusion, discrimination and oppression. However, only scant reference has been made to this problem in the literature. Here, in a qualitative study of twenty YAW in Israel who had experienced abuse in childhood, we explored their perception of barriers to support following the abuse. Theoretical understandings were developed using a grounded theory approach. The ecological theory and the intersection of the marginal positions theory further developed emergent theoretical understandings during analysis. The main findings of the study are based on three major meta-categories: sociopolitical barriers, sociocultural barriers and intra-interpersonal barriers. These meta-categories, which create a mechanism of silencing the abuse, reflect a cumulative effect of the barriers ranging from macro-levels to micro-levels. The article discusses the implications of the findings on social policy and social work training in order to enhance culturally- and gender-adapted treatment programmes.

Pathways to Occupational Attainment Among Poor Youth of Color

The formation of future occupational expectations is a critical career-development task for adolescents that has a significant impact on adult occupational attainment. However, sociopolitical barriers constrain the occupational expectations and attainment of poor youth of color. Extant research has suggested that sociopolitical development, the consciousness of and motivation to transform sociopolitical inequity, facilitates the negotiation of sociopolitical barriers that constrain career development. However, the longitudinal effect of sociopolitical development on occupational attainment is unclear. This study examines the longitudinal impact of sociopolitical development on adult occupational attainment while controlling for academic performance. The obtained structural model suggests that sociopolitical development influenced occupational expectations in 12th grade and had a longitudinal impact on adult occupational attainment among a nationally representative sample of poor youth of color. This model also fits subsamples of female and male participants, although sociopolitical development had stronger effects for young women. Sociopolitical development may inform and augment career interventions for poor youth of color.