过年的仪式

“二十三糖瓜粘,二十四扫房子,二十五磨豆腐,二十六割年肉,二十七宰公鸡,二十八把面发,二十九蒸馒头,三十儿晚上熬一宿,大年初一访亲友,大年初二祭先祖,初三初四逛庙会,十五晚上街上走。”这首民谣十分形象地道出了往昔的年俗和年味。如今好日子,天天像过年,但是没有“过了腊八就是年”的感觉,就是没有“年味”。为什么?窃以为,这是因为我们过年已经没有仪式感了,或者说我们已经忘却了过年的那些仪式。     

礼仪的情感性特征漫议

在礼仪教育中，我们常常会发现学生做出有违日常礼仪的行为来。但是，这种行为产生的原因并不是他们不知道相应的礼仪规范，而是知道应该怎么去做，但却不愿或不屑去做。这种认知与行为的断裂并不是偶然的现象，它是有着深层原因的。     

赣南客家人的婚俗礼仪

<正>一、良缘从"私下相看"开始与汉族主体相同,赣南客家人的婚姻讲究"门当户对",恪守"父母之命、婚妁之言"的传统婚姻原则,但青年男女在婚姻问题上仍有一定自主权。男女两家经媒人牵线搭桥之后,就通过亲戚、朋友、熟人等了解对方的家庭和个人情况,如双方家庭都认为大体满意,媒人就会巧妙安排,采用进城赶集或途中"巧遇"等方式,使男女当     

Ancestors and orphan ghosts: Henghua Salvation Rituals of the festival of universal deliverance of the seventh lunar month in Malaysia

Based on field observations and textual analysis of the Salvation Ritual of the Henghua community (those from Xinghua) in Seremban, Malaysia, this article studies mechanisms of cultural transfer and localization strategies in overseas Chinese communities. In Xinghua, ancestors and orphan ghosts are worshiped according to different ritual traditions. Worshiping ancestors is usually done during the Zhongyuan Festival (in the seventh lunar month), and worshiping orphan ghosts is usually reserved for the Xiayuan Festival (in the tenth lunar month). However, the Salvation Ritual of the Henghua community in Seremban is different: it worships not only ancestors, but also orphan ghosts. Worshiping ancestors is a continuation of the Zhongyuan ritual tradition in Xinghua, and worshiping orphan ghosts is influenced by the tradition of the Hokkien communities in Seremban. As a “mixed” religious ritual, the Salvation Ritual has been adapted to the special historical environment in overseas Chinese communities, and has strengthened the social-cultural networks among fellow members of the same village and lineage.     

Editors' Introduction: Mapping the Field of Popular Communication

Reality TV has become a key site for experiments in "advertainment," or the merging of advertising and entertainment programming, and hence provides insight into current developments in commercial culture. Focusing on the genre's exchange value, this article examines Reality TV's commodification of various aspects of experience from privacy to diversity and, even more pragmatically, its development as a rich advertising vehicle for the digital era. Product placement, sponsorship and co-production are among the techniques examined. A discussion of Reality TV's core brand identity-a special viewing access-underscores its relation to voyeurism, pornography and, to spot advertising, all traditional techniques for attracting an audience. In many instances, the genre's high degree of commercialization signals the triumph of the market in one conspicuous area of popular communication.     

Measuring Communication Styles in the Malaysian Workplace: Instrument Development and Validation

The aim of the present study is to access communication style in the Malaysian workplace through the development and validation of a communication scale appropriate to the Malaysian workplace. The analysis involved data from 200 state development employees, and construct and criterion-related validation using data from 510 employees, representing three organizations in Malaysia. The results provided support for the use of language (pekerti) and communication and interaction (bicara) as crucial communication dimensions for the Malaysian workplace, which are identified from the item-generation procedure.     

Negotiating Narratives of Human Trafficking: NGOs,Communication and the Power of Culture

This article draws on interviews with anti-trafficking NGO employees in Thailand to illustrate the use of narratives as a tool for communicating cultural values. Drawing on theories of modernization, culture, and liberation psychology, I assess the way anti-trafficking NGO employees construct narratives, or “stories,” about human trafficking. These narratives rely on Western values associated with modernization, the role of NGOs in development, gendered constructions of victimhood, “Othering,” and Orientalism. Analyzing these narratives, I build a theory of “culture as a space of safety:” a self-reinforcing mechanism whereby employees ritualistically retreat from the overwhelming circumstances they confront in their work.     

Teachers' Discoveries of Their Cultural Realms: Untangling the Web of Cultural Identity

Educators need to explore and understand their own cultural identities before they can comprehend and appreciate their students' cultural backgrounds. In this article, the author presents the findings from a qualitative study that investigated in-service teachers' awareness of and characterization of their culture. She also discusses the importance of affording educators opportunities to reflect on and make the connection between culture and their worldview. The author concludes by recommending useful and practical next steps once teachers have a better understanding of their cultural identities.     

Culture and Classroom Communication: A Pilot Study in the Post-Soviet Republic of Armenia

Using participant observations and informal interviews, the study examined whether and how classroom communication in Armenia reflects Armenian culture and history, including the Soviet influence for close to seven decades and Armenia’s transition from one socio-politico-economic system to another, followed by internationalization of education and globalization. Findings of the study revealed three major themes that have impacted the classroom communication style: courtesy, immediacy, solidarity. While consistent in some ways with Soviet communism, these themes may have also been influenced by Armenia’s traditional and family-centered culture and history which predate Soviet communism, as well as by internationalization of education and globalization.     

Intercultural Friendship: Linking Communication Variables and Friendship Success

International students often complain about the lack of friendships with host nationals. This study explores the relationship between communication variables, number of friendships, and friendship satisfaction. International students at a large urban university in the United States completed a survey on willingness to communicate, communicative adaptability, English language proficiency, loneliness, and friendship with the Americans. Results show that international students rated their American friendships lower than their home- or other-culture friendships. Friendship numbers and satisfaction were significantly related to communicative adaptability, language proficiency, and loneliness. There was no significant correlation between friendship success and willingness to communicate or length of stay.     

Aggressive and Affiliative Humor: Relationships to Aspects of Intercultural Communication

The security theory of humor was utilized to examine two types of humor (affiliative and aggressive) in relation to intercultural communication. Participants (N?=?241) completed a survey containing measures of humor (humor orientation, humor aggressiveness) and intercultural communication (intercultural communication apprehension, ethnocentrism, emulation, intercultural willingness to communicate). Humor orientation was negatively related to intercultural communication apprehension. Humor aggressiveness was positively related to ethnocentrism and negatively associated with emulation. Implications for the theory and intercultural communication are discussed.     

Circulation and Appreciation of Chinese Artworks in Modern Japan

“Circulation and Appreciation of Chinese Artworks in Modern Japan ”, part of “Art and Collection” series published by Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Press in 2014 and authored by Tomita Noburu, reviews the history of the export of Chinese antiques in modern times based on numerous original materials and detailed studies of provenance. With a unique perspective, in-depth analysis and concrete evidence, this book is considered a valuable reference for the research of the circulation and appreciation of Chinese artworks.     

Prurient Interests: Sexuality,Ideology, and Popular Communication

The popular communication media provide a site where the contradictions between conservative and progressive cultural ideologies about sexuality (and concomitantly about power, gender, and social control) are enacted within an endless series of narratives. These narratives fulfill the economic requirements of the culture industries by an increasing focus on the sexual, including sexualities outside the mainstream. This seemingly progressive move is undermined by a variety of strategies, either within narrative outcomes or at the level of production. Such strategies offer a conservative reading that highlights the negative consequences of sexual insubordination. In the meantime, the popular press provides a platform for conservative ideologues who write about sexuality in the media without the benefit of serious research or expertise. They influence public policy while we in the academy are reluctant to seek a popular venue to discuss our work.     

Communication Traits in First and Second Languages: Puerto Rico

Early research relating to communication apprehension (CA) indicated a strong association between CA in first and second language interactions in Puerto Rico and Micronesia. More recent research has indicated similar associations involving individuals from a variety of Asian cultures. The study discussed in this paper broadens the focus of attention to a variety of communication traits rather than a single trait. In addition to CA, the other traits studied include shyness, assertiveness, responsiveness, compulsive communication, self-perceived communication competence, and willingness to communicate. This report is directed toward communication traits in Puerto Rico in both Spanish and English. This report includes discussion of relationships among communication traits in each language and the differences and similarities in those traits between the languages.