Othering Europe: Ambivalence in Moroccan Discourse Towards Modernity under the Dogmatic Understanding of Islam and the Political Affiliation to the Monarchy

This paper is a study of the reaction of the Moroccan intellectual elite against/towards European modernity in the nineteenth century. The primary focus is on the Moroccan failure to formulate and develop a positive and reasonable response to European expansionism and menace. This threat may seem military in its core as it was related to colonialism, yet the encounter was essentially cultural and the reaction of the Moroccan elite took its grounds from religious and cultural stands. This is simply because Europe was not only a colonizing Other, but also a cultural opponent with which Morocco had armed conflicts, long-standing rivalries, and even cultural dialogues. This paper develops an argument that the Moroccan intellectual elite exemplified via ambassadorial travel writers, the Makhzen’s envoys to Europe, failed to see Europe as a possible model or at least to open some horizons of cultural dialogue and encounter. Due to cultural reasons and historical circumstances, this intellectual elite rejected Europe and modernity. The present paper limits itself to the question of ambivalence shown by Moroccan ambassadorial travel writers in their narratives. It argues that their travel accounts were torn between the writers’ religious thinking and political affiliations. It postulates that ambassadorial travel writers showed ambivalence in their connection to the idea of modernity. Their narratives were governed by the dichotomy of admiration of the material progress of Europe and rejection of Europe as a possible cultural model.

Biography in the aspect of cultural communication of an artist and audience

The purpose of the article is to reveal the communicative potential of the master's biography, to prove its influence on the cultural dialogue between humanity and the achievements of the artist. The research methodology is to apply a number of approaches: analytical – to comprehend the literature on the topic of the article; interdisciplinary - for a comprehensive study of factual material and in obtaining new knowledge; systemic using a whole range of methods (biographical, semiotic, culturological, hermeneutic, historical, theoretical generalization) – comprehending the stated quest, etc. Scientific novelty – for the first time in the national humanities, biography is explained as the way of civilizational contact between the creator and the public, the translator of the most important meanings of the era. Conclusions. The publication states that the artist's biography is an important component of the communicative space of nowadays. It embodies the anthropological dimensions of history, the worldview of the day through the coverage of the hero's life, his significant achievements. The author of the chronicles builds the life strategy of the master in such a way that he becomes clear to the recipients of any period. An analysis of the chronicle reveals the richness of symbolic forms of cultural contact associated with works of art, epoch-making features and social circumstances, and so on. In unity, they affect the perception of the artist's image. This process is carried out by the public as a result of decoding spiritual information in accordance with existing norms, traditions of a particular time, awareness of the existential and creative experience of the character. Biography as a means of communication demonstrates freedom from ideological, social limitations, as it allows communication of individuals of different eras, removes territorial, speech, social, and others barriers. Due to their ability to embody the universal concepts of civilization, the chronicles express not only the story of the artist, but also allow the modern recipient to express himself. Thus the listener (viewer) through the biography is in contact with the master, his time, humanity. Keywords: biography, cultural communication, artist, audience.

THE WORKS OF SPIRIDON MIKHAILOV (YANDUSH) IN THE ASPECT OF SOME HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY PROBLEMS

S.M. Mikhailov (Yandush) distinguished two ethnographic groups and two dialects of the Chuvash ethnos. The scientist attributed the population of Kozmodemyansky and the northern part of Yadrinsky uyezds to the upper (Virjal) Chuvash, and that of Tsivisky and Cheboksary uyezds of Kazan province – to the lower (Anatri) ones. Starting with the works of G.I. Komissarov, a third (middle-level) group began to be allocated from the lower group. According to the scientist, the Chuvash, being a separate community of Turkic-speaking peoples, used to live in Zakamye, where they had migrated from Siberia. He developed the Turkic-Bulgarian theory of the Chuvash language origin and the main ethnographic groups (middle lower and lower) of the Chuvash ethnos. He considered the upper dialect to be a mixed group, in whose culture, in addition to Turkic-Bulgar elements he found many elements of the Finno-Ugrians (the mountain Mari and the Mordvins-Erzya), and partly Kazan Tatars. Prior to annexation of the Chuvash Region to the Moscow state, two ethnographic groups of the mountain Chuvash functioned on the right bank of the Volga – the upper and the middle lower. After settling the southern steppe regions, in the process of cultural dialogue with the Mishar Tatars, a third ethnographic group was formed, known to the middle lower Chuvash as the khirti “steppe”. In Modern times, the geographical location of the ethnographic groups of the Chuvash ethnos contributed to penetration of the ideas of the European-Russian Enlightenment in the Chuvash Region (from the western territories to the eastern and southern ones). In the 1950s of the XX century the ideas of the Chuvash enlightenment were first formulated by S.M. Mikhailov, and later they began to spread in the academic circles of the entire Volga region. His works remain a valuable source for identifying the adaptive scheme of the ethnos, which the Chuvash built by localizing the “evil” principle outside of themselves, their society, ethnos.

Semantic space of “Well-Tempered Clavier” of J. S. Bach as a basis of the performing concept

The relevance of the article is due to the issue of formation in a modern multicultural space of the new image of the executor — the carrier of new senses and cultural memory, as well as need for creative comprehension of the world treasury of musical art in the artistic realities of modernity and research on the specifics of its modern performing versions. The purpose of the article is to outline the determinants and the specifics of the semantic space of “Well-Tempered Clavier” of J. S. Bach as conceptual basis of the performing concept. The methodology of the article is based on the principles of a comparative approach, which enables the use of research tools for cultural studies and musicology, in particular historical, historical-contextual, genre, hermeneutical and semiological methods and approaches. The results. The article outlines the following factors of conceptual polyphony of “Well-Tempered Clavier” as accumulation and artist experience of reflection and protecting the world in symbolic forms, the significance of the synthesis of arts and the unity of emotion, image and symbol on the parameters of baroque aesthetics, the connection of “Well-Tempered Clavier” with the creativity of the artist, resonance of symbolic forms with axiological structures of historical and cultural epochs. The article substantiates the significance in pluralistic symbolic field of the works: semantics of tonality and tempo, which acts as a construction of performing chronotope; sacred melos with perceptually fixed semantics, means of embodiment of which is citing, representation as complementary unity, allusion-variable reproduction; numeric symbolism; rhetorical figures, sound treatment — visualization of the musical process; fixed in the context of European art semantics — in particular “mirror in the mirror” (on micro — and macro levels of the of the music text organization); the genre “ambivalence”, which determines the superposition of different variants of “genre’s memory” and enables the creation of an artistic-reflective arch between the era of Baroque and postmodernism, designated be the leveling of the genre. The scientific topicality of the article is due to the clarification and systematization of representations regarding the specifics of the semantic field of “Well-Tempered Clavier” of J. S. Bach and the positioning of conceptual polyphony of the work as the basis of performing concepts and text. The practical significance of article is determined by a direct possibility of applying research results in the performing practice. Conclusion. Performance of “Well-Tempered Clavier” of J. S. Bach on the basis of the interiorization of symbolic forms is a guarantee of its performing “reading” as an embodiment of the process of being human in a cross-cultural dialogue, deploying self-reflection in the space of a representation of postmodernism paradigm as a multidimensional cultural message, in which the axiological experience of humanity is concentrated and the eternal problems of its spiritual being are actualized.

National Education as a Component of Multicultural Paradigm in the Context of Worldview Confrontations in Ukrainian Society

The article deals with the need to implement the elements of national-patriotic education into a general paradigm of the modern system of higher education in Ukraine. The role of cultural dialogue and mutual understanding as a universal function of education has been discussed. The relationship between culture and education has been outlined. Much attention has been paid to the place and role of culture in shaping a student's personality in the learning process. The issue of national values in a system of global priorities has been raised. The importance of multicultural education in a multi-ethnic Ukrainian society has been emphasized. The problems of defining national identity in a fragile world have been highlighted. The results of the experimental research among students of Mykolayiv V.O.Sukhomlynsky National University in terms of multicultural expertise have been analyzed. The crucial role of the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language has been emphasized.

APPLICATION AS A WAY OF FORMING A LINGUOCULTURAL DIALOGUE IN NANCY HUSTON'S BILINGUAL NOVEL "CANTIQUE DES PLAINES" / "PLAINSONG"

Постановка задачи. Исследование билингвальных художественных произведений, созданных писателями-транслингвами, использующими несколько языков в своей творческой деятельности, является одной из наиболее актуальных проблем теории языка, в частности таких ее областей, как социолингвистика, стилистика, язык и социум, язык и культура. Подобные произведения, переведённые автором с одного языка на другой и адресованные представителям разных этнических сообществ, носят лингвосоциокультурный характер, который достигается писателем посредством создания интертекста, содержащего внутритекстовые вкрапления, основанные на аллегориях, реминисценциях, аллюзиях, цитациях и аппликациях. При этом аппликации принадлежит весьма важная роль в решении задачи формирования лингвокультурного диалога в билингвальном романе. Результаты исследования. Во франкоязычной версии романа Нэнси Хьюстон «Cantique des plaines», созданной в результате осуществленного ею самоперевода англоязычного романа «Plainsong», выявлено много текстовых аппликаций в виде фрагментов песен, с помощью которых автор формирует лингвокультурный диалог, а также создает не только смысловой, но и музыкальный фон произведения. Установлено, что с целью формирования лингвокультурного диалога в билингвальном романе аппликации в виде отрывков песен могут не совпадать в англоязычной и франкоязычной версиях. Данный эффект достигается во франкоязычной версии благодаря использованию цитат с расширением их посредством сочетаний слов; использованию лексем с более конкретным, точным значением, чем у их английских аналогов; использованию паронимов их английских аналогов; использованию дословного перевода песен с английского языка на французский; использованию включения в перевод на французский язык строфы из англоязычной песни с сохранением при переводе рифмы без искажения исходного смысла самой песни. Выводы. Результаты исследования позволяют сделать вывод о том, что аппликация песенных фрагментов в романе Нэнси Хьюстон «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong» является довольно продуктивным стилистическим приемом и имеет несколько видов реализации в зависимости от потребности автора в создании определенного смыслового, эмоционального и музыкального фона произведения. Благодаря широкому использованию и адекватному выбору писателем-транслингвом того или иного вида аппликации она служит эффективным способом формирования лингвокультурного диалога в билингвальном романе Нэнси Хьюстон «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong. Problem statement. The study of bilingual novels created by translingual writers who use several languages in their creative activities is one of the most urgent problems of language theory, specifically in such areas as sociolinguistics, stylistics, language and society, language and culture. Such works, translated by the author from one language to another and addressed to representatives of different ethnic communities, are of a linguistic and socio-cultural nature, which is achieved by the writer through the creation of an intertext containing intra-textual inclusions based on allegories, reminiscences, allusions, citations and applications. At the same time, the application plays a very important role in problem solving of forming a linguistic and cultural dialogue in a bilingual novel. The results of the study. In the French-language version of Nancy Huston's novel «Cantique des plaines», created as a result of self-translation of the English-language version of her novel «Plainsong», many text applications in the form of fragments of songs are revealed, by means of which the author forms a linguistic and cultural dialogue, and creates not only a semantic, but also a musical background of the novel. It is established that in order to form a linguistic and cultural dialogue in a bilingual novel, applications in the form of song fragments may not coincide in the English and French versions. This effect is achieved in the French-language version through the use of citations with their extension by word combinations; the use of lexemes with a more specific, accurate meaning than their English counterparts; the use of paronyms of their English counterparts; the use of a literal translation of songs from English into French; the use of including a stanza from an English-language song in the translation into French, while preserving the rhyme without distorting the original meaning of the song itself. Conclusion. The results of the analysis lead to the conclusion that the application of song fragments in Nancy Huston's novel «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong» is a rather productive stylistic technique and has several types of implementation, depending on the author's need to create a certain semantic, emotional and musical background of the work. Due to the wide use and adequate choice of a particular type of application by a translingual writer, it serves as an effective way of forming a linguistic and cultural dialogue in Nancy Huston's bilingual novel «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong». The results of the study indicate that it is relevant not only for the theory of language, but also for Romance and Germanic linguistics.

European Сultural Policy of Organization of the 21st Century Socio-Cultural Sphere

Introduction. The last two decades are signed with culture meaning increase as one of the strategic priorities of the social and economic development of the EU related to the consolidation of common cultural space, management of socio-cultural activities, and development of “European citizens” identity under cross-cultural dialogue. Currently, the critical enabler of this cultural policy is special programmes. The application of the main principles of these programmes in real has been the key instrument of the European regional policy for last years. Purpose and methods. The purpose of the article is to cover the main tendencies and areas of concern of the European cultural policy based on comparative analysis of the cultural programme of the second generation. In the course of the research, the author has used the comparative, sociological, structural and functional, activity and situational-critical methods, with the help of which the features of the functioning of the above programmes were characterised. Results. Today the EU cultural policy implementation is via the prolonged “Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027” which, in comparison with other cultural programmes, is more structured and differs in an integrated approach to the organisation of the socio-cultural sphere, has incorporated all the implemented cultural and media programmes over the previous 20 years. Conclusions. In the article, there is the first analysis of the difference between the selected programmes in the context of verifying the thesis about the continuity of the programme's principles of the EU cultural policy at the present stage, as well as the objective trend of turning cultural policy into one of the main directions of European domestic policy for the development of the socio-cultural sphere.

Decolonizing Human Rights

In his extensive body of work, Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim challenges both historical interpretations of Islamic Sharia and neo-colonial understanding of human rights. To advance the rationale of scholarship for social change, An-Naim proposes advancing the universality of human rights through internal discourse within Islamic and African societies and cross-cultural dialogue among human cultures. This book proposes a transformation from human rights organized around a state determined practice to one that is focused on a people-centric approach that empowers individuals to decide how human rights will be understood and integrated into their communities. Decolonizing Human Rights aims to illustrate the decisive role of human agency on the subject of change, without implying that Islamic or any other society are exceptionally disposed to politically motivated violence and consequent profound political instability.

The Missionary as Cultural Mediator: Alexander Don and the Chinese and European Communities in New Zealand

<p>Missionaries to China, by virtue of their positions and knowledge, frequently became important channels of information between cultures. They transmitted Christianity and Western learning to Chinese people while simultaneously describing China to home audiences through their writings and public speaking. This thesis examines how Alexander Don, Presbyterian missionary to the New Zealand Chinese in Otago from 1879 to 1913, performed similar functions as a "cultural mediator". For most of his career, Don was one of the most significant links between Chinese and European people in New Zealand. He developed a relationship with the Chinese community while simultaneously describing Chinese culture to Europeans in his published reports. While Don's missionary career has been extensively documented, there have been no studies of his significance from the perspective of cross-cultural dialogue and exchange. In this thesis I will discuss the ways that Don acted as a cultural mediator, as well as the factors that impelled him to do so. I will make an in-depth investigation of Don's presentation of Chinese culture to European readers through his mission reports, and how this image changed over the course of his career. The picture Don painted was both motivated and influenced by his mission aims, his growing understanding of Chinese culture, and his developing rapport with Chinese people. In order to demonstrate that Don was unique as a cultural mediator in New Zealand, I will compare him to other sources of information on Chinese culture. It will be shown that he provided very different data and opinions from those conveyed by secular writers and authors, and that his descriptions were generally more detailed than those of other missionaries to the New Zealand Chinese and New Zealand missionaries in China. Don will also be compared to more well-known China missionaries, in order to show that he was similar to them in terms of educating Westerners about the East. Finally, I will weigh the impact of Don's cultural mediation activities. Although he gained few converts, he played a crucial role in improving Sino-European understanding and relations. In the final analysis, Don had a greater impact in these areas than he did in the field of evangelism.</p>

The Missionary as Cultural Mediator: Alexander Don and the Chinese and European Communities in New Zealand

<p>Missionaries to China, by virtue of their positions and knowledge, frequently became important channels of information between cultures. They transmitted Christianity and Western learning to Chinese people while simultaneously describing China to home audiences through their writings and public speaking. This thesis examines how Alexander Don, Presbyterian missionary to the New Zealand Chinese in Otago from 1879 to 1913, performed similar functions as a "cultural mediator". For most of his career, Don was one of the most significant links between Chinese and European people in New Zealand. He developed a relationship with the Chinese community while simultaneously describing Chinese culture to Europeans in his published reports. While Don's missionary career has been extensively documented, there have been no studies of his significance from the perspective of cross-cultural dialogue and exchange. In this thesis I will discuss the ways that Don acted as a cultural mediator, as well as the factors that impelled him to do so. I will make an in-depth investigation of Don's presentation of Chinese culture to European readers through his mission reports, and how this image changed over the course of his career. The picture Don painted was both motivated and influenced by his mission aims, his growing understanding of Chinese culture, and his developing rapport with Chinese people. In order to demonstrate that Don was unique as a cultural mediator in New Zealand, I will compare him to other sources of information on Chinese culture. It will be shown that he provided very different data and opinions from those conveyed by secular writers and authors, and that his descriptions were generally more detailed than those of other missionaries to the New Zealand Chinese and New Zealand missionaries in China. Don will also be compared to more well-known China missionaries, in order to show that he was similar to them in terms of educating Westerners about the East. Finally, I will weigh the impact of Don's cultural mediation activities. Although he gained few converts, he played a crucial role in improving Sino-European understanding and relations. In the final analysis, Don had a greater impact in these areas than he did in the field of evangelism.</p>