R. Bukharaev’s poem “Prayer for the Cup” as a transcultural text

The characteristics of a new type of literary discourse having a feature of transculturality is given on the material of a poem “Prayer for the Cup” (1989–1991) a significant work by R. Bukharaev. A global, multicultural and international world is reconstructed in the poem, the existence of which is determined by the idea of transitivity — simultaneity and continuous flow, transitions from one into another: epochs, events, topos, languages. The hero of this world — is a lonely stranger, walking along the road of life, linearly opening the autonomous world of his “I”. the history of his spiritual travel correlates with the way of Christ full of suffering. The poem is full of historical and literary allusions and reminiscences from the world literary works, performing an identifying function. It is stated that identification performed by different elements of a literary text is carried out both “on the borders”, “in the interval” between different traditions, as well as “within the limits”, “inside” a homogeneous culture. Therefore, it is multiple, and meanwhile fundamentally incomplete, “split”, “fluid”, “intermediate”, “flickering”, probabilistically multiple, constantly questioning its status and revealing the growing plasticity of the subject, who is in the process of constantly recreating its own “I”. A new form of worldview, the product of which is a phenomenon of transcultural literature, is formed by synthesizing tendency. It functions within the artistic world of the poem and overcomes the boundaries between different types of culture and traditions, demonstrating the way new meanings overcome it, tolerant in their content and functions, can be appear from confrontation. An ability of an artistic image to endless mutual overflowing and transformations of meaning is a new quality of poetic language corresponding to the peculiarities of the transcultural type of artistic consciousness.

Etnická identita Uruguayců

This paper examines Uruguayan society, which, despite its multiethnic origins, has developed a homogeneous culture. The main objective is to define the main cultural elements and describe the attributes of the Uruguayan ethnicity. Based on the analysis of socio-cultural specificities, the thesis provides practical recommendations to facilitate good relations with the Uruguayan nation. These may be particularly useful for business people, potential international students, travelers or other visitors to Uruguay, and others interested in learning about the local people and their culture. The theoretical section explains basic concepts related to identity, ethnicity and nation, and also introduces theoretical concepts and approaches to these ambiguous phenomena. The practical part contains interpreted data from field research conducted by the author in Uruguay in 2018. The research is based on qualitative research methods and consists of two focus group interviews with Uruguayans, four semi-structured interviews with recent immigrants, and long-term observation. The significance of the research is all the more valuable because the findings presented are unique in the field of this previously uncovered topic.

Culture Shapes the Distinctiveness of Posed and Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Anger and Disgust

There is a growing consensus that culture influences the perception of facial expressions of emotion. However, little is known about whether and how culture shapes the production of emotional facial expressions, and even less so about whether culture differentially shapes the production of posed versus spontaneous expressions. Drawing on prior work on cultural differences in emotional communication, we tested the prediction that people from the Netherlands (a historically heterogeneous culture where people are prone to low-context communication) produce facial expressions that are more distinct across emotions compared to people from China (a historically homogeneous culture where people are prone to high-context communication). Furthermore, we examined whether the degree of distinctiveness varies across posed and spontaneous expressions. Dutch and Chinese participants were instructed to either pose facial expressions of anger and disgust, or to share autobiographical events that elicited spontaneous expressions of anger or disgust. Using the complementary approaches of supervised machine learning and information-theoretic analysis of facial muscle movements, we show that posed and spontaneous facial expressions of anger and disgust were more distinct when produced by Dutch compared to Chinese participants. These findings shed new light on the role of culture in emotional communication by demonstrating, for the first time, effects on the distinctiveness of production of facial expressions.

An Analysis of American Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism has received fierce controversy and discussion upon its proposal for its complexity in definition and in practice. This research discusses the definition of multiculturalism focusing on the comparison between the term “cultural pluralism” and “multiculturalism”, its influence on American society and its distinct characteristics, which is the claims of equality and identification between different cultures. It is argued that multiculturalism is not only a cultural ideology and a cultural war between the WASP-based mainstream culture and the cultures of the disadvantaged groups, but also a political and economic movement. The research also analyzes the practice of multiculturalism in the fields of political participation, education, race, media and the practice of multiculturalism that targets the disabled people and women. Moreover, the problems arise during the proposal and practice of multiculturalism are presented in the research. It is argued that the relationship between multiculturalism and homogeneous culture is not contradictory but united. A mature, sustainable and energetic national culture needs to seek common ground while recognizing and reserving the differences.

Primary Students’ Perception towards Cultural Differences in The School Environment

This article aims at uncovering how the elementary students’ responses to cultural differences. The students as the object of the present research is from four different Islamic schools. In this sense, the students are getting used socialize with homogeneous culture. This research was conducted through participatory action research where the member of the research she is a foreigner – Japanese and student of BIPA (Indonesian Language for foreign speaker) program – introduces her culture to six grade students (eleven to twelve years old children). The research data was collected through questionnaires. The result of the study indicated by the collected questionnaire shows that most of the students: fifty-eight form seventy-seven students like to the introduction of foreign culture, particularly conducted by foreign people. They are happy with the foreign people in their school introducing in Japanese culture, such as short lyrics Japanese song. Students’ active participation in class activity perceived as their acceptation or positive manner to foreign culture in their school environment.

Does diversity management matter in a traditionally homogeneous culture?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate diversity management in an under-researched country by merging theoretical insights developed in the Western literature with cultural aspects of a traditionally homogeneous country, South Korea. Design/methodology/approach This study integrates theory and research on why diversity can have either a positive (i.e. the information/decision-making paradigm) or a negative (i.e. the social categorization paradigm) effect on performance with different diversity perspectives (i.e. integration-and-learning, access-and-legitimacy, and discrimination-and-fairness). This study develops a model of when and how gender diversity affects organization performance and test the model with a sample of 177 South Korean organizations. Findings This study finds that gender diversity is negatively related to organization performance in South Korea. This study also finds that the effect of gender diversity is contingent on organizational diversity perspectives. Organizations with high gender diversity perform better to the extent that they have a discrimination-fairness perspective, but not a business-oriented perspective. On the other hand, a discrimination-fairness perspective is unrelated to performance for organizations that are low in gender diversity. Originality/value Although gender diversity in the South Korean workplace continues to increase, the relationship between gender diversity and organization performance has rarely been studied in the aspect of Korea’s traditionally homogeneous culture. This study highlights the importance of cultural-contingencies in understanding the consequences of diversity.

The Concept of European Values

This inquiry investigates the concept of European values and cultural, philosophical, legal and political presuppositions on which the idea of European values is based. There are two approaches to the idea of European values. The first one is substantive approach (and includes philosophical, ethical, religious and ideological understanding of values). The substantive approach defines European values as based on the European heritage (ancient Greece and Rome, Christianity, Renaissance and humanism, Enlightenment and liberal traditions). This conception of European values is fixed. Another understanding of European values is represented by legal/political approach (that includes the definition of European values within European treatises, declarations, charters and other documents). Legal and political definition of European values includes: human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Most authors consider that only from this second level, from legal and political definition, general features of European values can be achieved, that is, universal rules of the game. This paper shows how these two different approaches can be integrated, relying on John Rawls’s idea of overlapping consensus. It should be emphasized that the question of European values and European identity is still a topic of debate. There are different definitions and interpretations of these concepts, regardless of the legal definitions within the framework of European declarations and treaties. European identity (based on European values) is a polyphonic category, which cannot be founded on monolithic definitions. Otherwise, the entire continent would fall under the rule of one homogeneous culture.

Constructing “The Third Space” On Eat a Bowl of Tea

Identity construction is always the motif of Chinese American literature. Many critical theories are adopted to analyze this issue. Homi K. Bhabha’s “the third space” is one of them. It refers to a place where it is not a combination of different positions, rather, it is “neither the One nor the Other but something else besides”. Eat a Bowl of Tea by Chinese American writer Louis Chu presents such Third Space. This paper first discusses the homogeneous old Chinatown culture which is patriarchal and impotent in Eat a Bowl of Tea and explains how Mei Oi causes the cultural split from this homogeneous culture by her independence and adultery. And then this paper discusses how the old Chinatown undergoes the cultural negotiation and finally realize its transformation. This paper points out that in this process of transformation, the characters construct their Third Space, which offers them hybrid identity and the sense of belonging.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter argues that creolization is not a linear process that leads to a more homogeneous society but rather a dialectical process that is negotiated along lines of race, class, and gender. The fact that Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trinidadians are expressing their differences does not negate the creolization process. Many see creolization as a movement toward one homogeneous culture that has elements of all previous cultural influences. However, creolization is a dialectical process whereby multiple changing cultures exist side by side, each reformulating elements within their respective contexts. This ultimately highlights the much broader question of not just how the Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trinidadian communities define themselves within their respective societies, but how they define themselves vis-à-vis the broader Caribbean region and how one goes about analyzing Indo-Caribbean identity within the broader context of a “Caribbean identity.”