Place Names in Colophons and Notes of Yemeni Manuscripts

This article points to some geographical and historical conditions of scholarship and manuscript culture in Zaydi Yemen. The place of copying is only sporadically given in the colophons of Arabic manuscripts. This is confirmed by a systematic investigation into the catalogues of the Berlin collection presented here. In particular, this article discusses the presence of place names in the colophons and notes of Yemeni manuscripts, based on an examination of 750 volumes held in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, and the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. It reveals that manuscripts from the Zaydi tradition were copied in numerous locations, but also shows the relevance of other places with respect to the transmission of knowledge. The wide range of fifty villages and smaller towns that appear in the colophons is significant for Yemen and can be explained by the long tradition of Zaydi scholars settling in the tribal territory in villages (qarya) or settlements called hijra (pl. hijar). The result remains surprising in so far as older catalogues of Yemeni manuscripts seem to be erratic and inconsistent in providing information on places of copying.

КОМУНИКАЦИОНЕН ОКТАГОН: АСПЕКТИ НА ИНТЕЛИГЕНТНОСТТА ПРЕЗ ПРИЗМАТА НА КОМУНИКАЦИОННАТА СРЕДА

The aim of the paper is to highlight certain aspects of the semantic profile of the concept of "intelligence" through a model called "communication octagon", focusing on the theory of dynamics of communication links, and to analyze the interaction between the intelligent system and the social environment. The focus of interest in the study is human intelligence, based on individual biological differences, which can be modified as a result of construction and transmission of knowledge, mutual emotional transfer, making cognitive requirements (directed inwards and outwards, towards the environment), and as a result of dynamic social interactions.

Colonial Modernity and Diffusion of Power: Identity and Community Formation among Mappilas of Malabar

This paper explores colonial modernity and the knowledge system’s role in constituting community formation among the Mappilas of Malabar. Colonial modernity, such as the introduction of printing, made this transformation more advanced and communitarian in structure. It also discusses colonialism as a force to reshape and bring socio-cultural changes in Malabar during the time. It argues that the existence of a clearly defined community is not a predetermined social fact; it looks at how the Mappilas were represented in an analytical category. In Malabar, the press and literature have played an essential role in framing community consciousness among Mappila society. Print media has brought a revolution in the transmission of knowledge. This paper will encompass the coming of the printing press and the moulding of community consciousness among the Mappilas of Malabar. It discusses the discursive and non-discursive practices of the colonial state for constructing various identities in Malabar.

Perspective changes through transcultural mediation training: A qualitative study of trainees, instructors, and experts

To deal with cultural misunderstandings in health care due to increased migration, the Babel Centre—a training and mediation center—developed “transcultural mediation”: a service meant to help health-care professionals encountering difficulties with migrant patients and their families. One of the center's health-care professionals, trained as a mediator, and a cultural broker jointly conduct the mediation session. In 2017, the center initiated a specialized training program to teach health-care professionals the skills needed to serve as transcultural mediators. We conducted a study to evaluate, through the trainees’ and instructors’ subjective experiences, the quality of this innovative training. We used semi-structured interviews and focus groups to question seven trainees, three instructors, and three experts in transcultural psychology at different stages of the 10-month program (before, at midpoint, and afterwards). We used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore the data. The themes are organized around the central concept of the transmission of knowledge from instructors to trainees and vice versa. Trainees were globally satisfied with this program by its end but did not feel able to lead a mediation by then, due to insufficient anthropology knowledge and practical training. Training in transcultural mediation resembles that for resolving situational problems. It cannot be taught by an approach based on reasoning by the inverse problem method, used for teaching medical sciences. Pedagogical tools more suited to problem solving, such as role-playing or use of senior-assisted mediations, should be used to improve the quality of this training.

Iron Age craftworks in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. An approach based in Cultural Inheritance Theory

The aim of this paper is to examine the craftwork on hard materials of animal origin from the Iron Age of the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. We deal with the processes of craftsmanship, transmission of knowledge and the circulation of ivory combs and perforated bone plates. The Cultural Inheritance Theory offers a framework to help identify social dynamics in the craft productions and the transmission of the cultural knowledge between and among individuals (vertical, horizontal or oblique). Therefore, the consequences of these cultural transmission processes will be different for each artefact. This could be used to investigate relative levels of standardization within and between groups. For this we use various morphometric measurements related to the technological process of making combs and perforated plates. The results point to an oblique transmission with particularities linked to each object related to their formal and decorative characteristics and owing to their raw materials.

“That is Why I am Telling this Story”: Musical Analysis as Insight into the Transmission of Knowledge and Performance Practice of a Wapurtarli Song by Warlpiri Women from Yuendumu, Central Australia

Insights into the knowledge, performance, and transmission of songs are pivotal in ensuring the survival of traditional Aboriginal songs. We present the first in-depth musical analysis of a Wapurtarli yawulyu song set sung by Warlpiri women from Yuendumu, Central Australia, recorded in December 2006 with a solo lead singer accompanied by a small group. Our musical analysis reveals that there are various interlocking parts of a song, and this can make it difficult for current generations to learn songs. The context of musical endangerment and the musical analyses presented in our study show that contemporary spaces for learning yawulyu must consider the complex components that come together for a song set to be properly performed.

What is a traditional food? Conceptual evolution from four dimensions

The purpose was to specify the concept of traditional food and the dimensions that make it up, identifying: definitions, authors and research projects; as well as to determine what is known and possible topics for future research. A literature review of traditional foods was conducted that examined the conceptual development of the term. Social network analysis (SNA) was also used to identify the most relevant definitions and working groups on the topic. Twenty-three definitions were identified in the period 1995–2019. It reveals the difficulty of establishing one that encompasses such a dynamic concept. Although there is variability in the specific characteristics of these foods, four dimensions have been established: time, place, know-how, and cultural meaning. It was found that their main characteristic is the transmission of knowledge and raw materials between generations. The conceptualization of the term has been developed mainly in Europe, based on the perspective of consumers. New trends in research include the contrast and complementarity of innovation in traditional foods and the difference between these products and those named with similar attributes such as typical, regional, ethnic, local, among others. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to study the definitions of a concept, something that had not been done with this approach. Suggestions are made for possible research on the subject, such as the conceptual delimitation of related terms and the compatibility between innovation and tradition.

Big Steps, Little Change: A Case Study in French University Teachers’ Cognitions in the Context of Pedagogical Innovation

The rate of failure of French students during their first years at university is substantial, with only 42% graduating in the expected three or 4 years. As a result, French universities have called for a “pedagogical transformation” encouraging innovative teaching practices to improve undergraduate students’ academic success, notably the introduction of blended learning methods. In 2015, teachers from the three marine stations of Sorbonne Université created the online blended learning platform e-marin’lab for their marine science programs. In this paper, we investigated the participating teachers’ cognitions with regard to teaching and learning. Despite the success of the project that relied on their substantial voluntary commitment, the teachers demonstrated an adhesion to more traditional views (i.e., directive teacher-student transmission of knowledge is more efficient for students’ learning). Perhaps more paradoxically, our data reveal that the same teachers saw themselves as teaching in a student-oriented way, and that their students’ lack of engagement in class was due to their poor study skills and intrinsic motivation. Among other factors that will be discussed, we believe that these results are influenced by a context that does not provide many teacher training opportunities and that places little importance on teaching in university professors’ career recognition. Finally, the importance of the e-marin’lab platform in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic situation from 2020 and the massive use of distance teaching in marine sciences during national lockdown periods is discussed.

Prints as Agents of Global Exchange

The significance of the media and communications revolution occasioned by printmaking was profound. Less a part of the standard narrative of printmaking’s significance is recognition of the frequency with which the widespread dissemination of printed works also occurred beyond the borders of Europe and consideration of the impact of this broader movement of printed objects. Within a decade of the invention of the printing press, European prints began to move globally. Over the course of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, numerous prints produced in Europe traveled to areas as varied as Turkey, India, Persia, Ethiopia, China, Japan and the Americas, where they were taken by missionaries, artists, travelers, merchants and diplomats. This collection of essays explores the transmission of knowledge, both written and visual, between Europe and the rest of the world by means of prints in the early modern period.

“Network Design” a Multidisciplinary Project to Raise Awareness of the Indiscriminate Use of Plastics

The University is a meeting place for the transmission of knowledge, but the fact of being able to transmit values that complement student’s training is beyond the exchange of information. Through the call for educational innovation projects, we have the possibility of carrying out actions aimed at solving specific problems by applying innovative methodologies. In 2019, at the High Technical School of Engineering and Industrial Design (ETSIDI) from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), a project was awarded in collaboration with the High Technical School of Architecture (ETSAM-UPM), the IADE School of Design, the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (UNIR), as well as the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). The project, called Network Design, is framed in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) environment, applying active approach methods to the problem of the indiscriminate use of plastics. We must promote in the students’ skills they will need later in their professional life. Considering that students of different degrees are used to working with problem learning methodology, we think that an approach should be given that goes beyond obtaining a tangible product. The proposal presented is based on the reuse of food container nets as an essential material to create an object, being a design product, a drawing, or a painting. The “Network” union with other universities encourages the work to be truly multidisciplinary and interuniversity, and that each participant collaborates to spread the project more widely by combining the different ways of tackling the same problem. It will seek to create harmony between the point of view of the materials’ specialist, the landscape painter, the set designer, the fashion designer, the industrial and product designer, and the interior designer. We look for different creation approaches with a common purpose that revalues each plastic. The motto is making beauty from the uselessness and one of the most important objective is encouraging awareness about the indiscriminate use of plastics through a design or an artistic approach.