The lyrics of laborious life: popular music and the reassertion of migrant manhood in Northeastern Thailand

Abstract

The focal subject under investigation in this paper is the gendered identities of overseas male migrant workers as presented in the contemporary popular song lyrics from Northeastern Thailand. My reading of such lyrics is informed by my ethnographic fieldwork of Thai migrant workers in Singapore. I intend to uncover some complex, cultural junctures of transnational labor migration, in which men, mobility, and music have come across and formed a social force to reshape cultural imagination of migrant manhood. I argue that popular music celebrates male heroism of overseas migrant workers. Instead of challenging existing structures of hegemonic masculinity in the region, popular song texts poetically reaffirm and reassert the traditional dominant gender ideology and cultural practice. Overseas workmen are usually depicted as hard‐working, self‐sacrificial heroes in their attempts to rescue their families as well as romantic, caring lovers and morally responsible fathers.     

Revel,Riot and Rebellion and The Social History of Politics

ABSTRACT

This article considers the ties between soldiers and civilian life in First World War Britain. Previous assumptions about soldierly alienation and disillusionment from civilian society have been questioned in recent years. This article adds to this discussion by examining the part played by National War Aims Committee propaganda in fostering links between soldiers and the home front. Representation of civilian activities, community, rurality and domesticity offered reassurance that Britain remained largely the same as soldiers remembered. The involvement of soldiers as propagandists also shows that attitudes cannot be deduced solely from the perspective of literary depictions of alienation.     

Transnational imagination in action cinema: Hong Kong and the making of a global popular culture

Taking action cinema as an example, this paper outlines a historical approach to the transnational study of globally popular cultural forms. Action cinema has long had a complex economy in which Hollywood not only trades stars, styles and narratives with the hybrid culture of Hong Kong cinema itself, but draws on a vast ‘direct to tape’ industry significantly based in East Asia. The paper outlines a Hong Kong‐based approach to two earlier phases in the history of action: the ‘international co‐production’ as an industrially innovative form (1973–85), and the golden age of the ‘direct to tape’ industry enabled by the rapid spread of video technology (1985–93). Focusing on the latter, it suggests that the global uptake by filmmakers of a ‘contact’ narrative and an ethic of emulation taken from Hong Kong cinema allowed direct‐to‐video action to address issues of social class in emotionally complex ways.     

The Malayan vision of Lim Chin Siong: unity,non-violence,and popular sovereignty

Lim Chin Siong was the undisputed political leader of the anticolonial and Malayan left-wing in Singapore until his detention without trial in 1963 ended his political career. That he had a major impact on Singapore’s decolonisation is beyond dispute – indeed, both Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yew formulated their merger policy specifically in response to Lim’s politics and his values. Yet Lim remains a poorly understood figure because of a lack of sources and a historiography written almost entirely from his opponents’ perspectives. Reassessing existing literature in view of recently declassified British archives, this essay pieces together Lim’s articulation of three tenets in the political thinking that guided his tactics for social mobilisation: anticolonial unity, non-violence, and popular sovereignty. Lim put these principles into practice with great success, becoming the leader of the largest and most formative nationalist movement Singapore has ever known. Understanding Malayan nationalism in Singapore – and its successor, Singaporean nationalism – is thus impossible without understanding Lim Chin Siong.     

A national culture for Pakistan: the political economy of a debate

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between (national) culture and state formation, arguing that the former is effectively a field of contestation where struggles over hegemony between various classes and social blocs are played out. Cultural nationalism has been the pre‐eminent form of nationalism in the twentieth century, particularly within the anti‐colonial and postcolonial contexts. Since this form of nationalism lends itself to moral regulation by ruling classes in a way that civic or political nationalisms do not (given its ability to produce and manipulate emotional affect) it becomes imperative to understand its relationship to power and to the project/process of state formation. This paper uses the case of postcolonial Pakistan as a lens through which to explore and analyse the complexities of this relationship during the early years of the Pakistani nation‐state. Using primary material – Constituent Assembly Debates and the texts of important intellectual debates on culture during this period – I show the different ways in which Pakistani culture was defined at this time, the politics and interests behind these various articulations, and their ultimate impact on state formation.     

Cocco's musical intervention in the US base problems: traversing a realm of everyday cultural sensibilities in Okinawa

This essay intervenes in the political contradiction between the pro-base and anti-base positions in Okinawa while at the same time seeking to provide an alternative to the binary at the level of everyday cultural sensibilities. I will accomplish this task by exploring the activities of charismatic Okinawan musician-artist-activist Cocco. More specifically, locating Cocco's music within – and also outside – a long, complicated genealogy of Okinawan popular music, I will trace how she has grounded the formal political problems of the US military in Okinawa's everyday dilemmas concerning money, memory, and globalization. In my view, Cocco has done so in a way that prods us to move beyond the pro-base/anti-base binary and to navigate an uncharted realm of culture, power, and history. I will also pay attention to how the audience in Okinawa and beyond, as a co-producer of Cocco's music community, has participated in this process. In so doing, I will show how Cocco's music has brought to light possibilities of transforming the existing political inequalities from below, possibilities that may be destined to disappear as soon as they are materialized as an explicit political program. I will articulate these possibilities with reference to what French writer-critic-philosopher Maurice Blanchot (1908–2003) once called the ‘unavowable community’.     

Making music in transitional societies: a case study of Poland

Although many commentators emphasize the fact that when the arguments about quality of life in a particular place are brought about, “the value of music is found … in making the city a place in which people wish to live” (Blake & Jeffery, 2000 Blake, A. and Jeffery, G. 2000. Commentary: The implications of “The value of music in London” for local and regional music policy. Cultural Trends, 38: 35–40. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]). However, there are still only a handful of studies investigating different aspects of the cultural industries in Poland. The research reported in this article aims to investigate Polish musicians' perceptions of their current situation in the music industry, and their opinions on the changing nature of the production and consumption of music in Poland. A series of interviews were done with a cross-section of different generations of musicians. Their analysis shows a number of key themes emerging, which are discussed in the article. They broadly cover four major issues: the current situation of musicians, the music business, education and society. Recommendations for policy makers are indicated.     

Free Trade and Print Culture: Political Communication in Early Nineteenth-Century England

This article highlights the potency of traditional popular print culture as a form of political communication for one of the pioneering campaigns of the nineteenth century: the free trade agitation of the 1840s. Contributing to recent debates about Victorian political communication, it challenges the view that the spread of literacy and print replaced a more traditional, inclusive, hybrid style of communication. The use and adaptation of broadside culture that blurred literacy, orality and visuality proved to be a more effective means of communicating free trade to popular audiences than ‘modern’ methods of political communication such as official newspapers or mass propaganda. Joseph Livesey, the most successful free trade populariser, was able to bridge the gap between free trade and Chartism, by drawing on elements of radical print culture, while seeking to shift them onto a more respectable trajectory. Livesey and cheap free trade print culture anticipated the shift from popular radicalism to popular liberalism in political culture and popular politics that occurred after 1850.     

The Singing Postman: The Mobility of Traditional Culture in Nineteenth-Century France

Nineteenth-century French traditional culture was not immobile. Nor was it a conservative impediment to ‘modernization’. Focusing on the ethnographic work of two folklorists – Félix Arnaudin (1844-1921) in the Landes, and Victor Smith (1826-1882) – this article explores the ways that traditional culture circulated, and the people that carried it. Far from sedentary ‘peasants’, many of the singers and storytellers the folklorists collected from were actively involved in modern transport networks and worked in new occupations. These hybrid networks suggest a picture of nineteenth-century culture ‘from below’ that flows along informal, regional conduits, both within and beyond the borders of France.     

From Silent Screen to Multi-screen: A History of Cinema Exhibition in Britain since 1896. By Stuart Hanson/The British Musical Film. By John Mundy.

ABSTRACT

This article explores the political, economic, media and social reactions to the Sex Pistols' Anarchy Tour of December 1976. A critical reading of the sociological concept of ‘moral panic’ is used to examine the ways in which responses to the Sex Pistols were related to the notion of post-war decline, immorality, delinquent youth and the changing nature of the British working class. The responses to the Anarchy Tour constitute a further episode in the cycle of ‘moral panics' that emerged in British society in connection with the development of youth culture, juvenile delinquency and popular music. The exploration that follows posits the view that although ‘moral panic’ is useful for understanding particular aspects of popular music, it also conceals the complexity of the differing responses of political/social groups to the appearance of such phenomena. The article also forms a critique of recent revisionist characterizations of Britain in the 1970s. The ‘moral panic’ surrounding the Sex Pistols was in part ‘socially constructed’ by the media, yet reactions by trade unionists, students, feminists and socialists show that concerns about British society in 1976 were not confined to religious pressure groups, conservative media commentators and political elites.     

Communication Experiences and Adaptation of Mainland Chinese in Hong Kong and Hong Kong Chinese in Mainland China

In-depth interviews were conducted for 203 Hong Kong Chinese in Mainland China (HIM) and 198 Mainland Chinese in Hong Kong (MIH), followed by two-level theme analyses, to examine their communication experiences and adaptation. The two groups were found to be dissimilar in terms of socioeconomic status, purpose of migration, and process of adaptation. Many HIM tended to evaluate the new environment from a “new workplace” view, mentioning adjustment and communication at workplace. Most MIH, on the other hand, used a “new home” approach, expecting a happy life with good income. The major challenge for most HIM was getting used to a less developed physical environment and an organizational culture with lower efficiency and work ethics. For most MIH, the main source of hardship came from insufficient protection for workers’ rights and interests. Hong Kong is more urbanized with superficial relationships while the Mainland society is more communal, nurturing long-term relationships.     

The Issues of Culture and Politics in Redubbing Anglophone Films in Iran

ABSTRACT

Audiovisual translation is an extremely influential means of intercultural communication among close or distant cultures. Dubbing is historically the main mode of film translation in Iran and has been increasingly investigated. Redubbing, however, as a form of retranslation, is barely researched in Persian. The main focus of this study is to investigate how the cultural and political issues of the time may influence media retranslation. The findings revealed that the dubbed versions before and after the revolution have been influenced by the dominant culture and politics of the time, but the extent and the subjects of interventions differed.     

Foreign-born Chinese students learning in China: (Re)shaping intercultural identity in higher education institution

With the trend of globalization, promising development in China has attracted a growing number of descendants of Chinese immigrants who choose to return to China to pursue higher education. Furthermore, the cultural pluralism that accompanies economic globalization is increasingly changing the pattern of world civilization. However, this leads to new issues of conflict, integration, and symbiosis between different cultures among international students. To address a gap in the literature, this study explored the trajectory of how international students of Chinese origin transcend their identities and build intercultural identities during their higher education study in China. The study investigates 13 participants from different countries, focusing on the process of (re)shaping identity under multiple cultural backgrounds and how they understand this process. These findings show that for students to adapt to Chinese culture it is crucial to encourage them to mitigate language barriers, awake cultural memories, consolidate values, expand educational exchanges, and continue to improve international understanding and broad recognition from an intercultural perspective.     

The construction of national identity in South Korea and the tradition of masculinity in Korean Abstract Painting

ABSTRACT

Korean Modern Art History began to be produced in the 1970s, when Western Modernist Art History, based on Formalism, was introduced as a matrix to map the ‘evolution’ of 20th century Korean Art. Korean modern art history is based in the same paradigm as the West, beginning with Impressionism and ‘ending’ with Abstract Expressionism. First introduced to the country from the West immediately after the Korean War, Korean Abstract Expressionism is now deemed as South Korea’s ultimate ‘progressive’ and ‘modern’ art form, a ‘Korean’ painting style combining the Western art form with traditional artistic concepts of ‘Scholarly Painting’ (muninhwa). Japanese‐influenced painting styles originating in the colonial period (1910–45) are rejected as ‘non‐authentic.’ The problem is that Scholarly Painting was a gender and class specific art born from the rigid Confucian culture of pre‐modern Korea, and thus its revival as an ‘ultimate modern’ and ‘Korean’ form has the consequence of locating traditionally‐gendered notions of art and artist at the core of the South’s modern art. This essay uses a Semiotic approach to deconstruct this gendered modernist rhetoric by tracing the emergence of the sign ‘Koreaness’ in South Korean modern art, showing how it is defined within Korean Abstract Painting as an ‘ultimate Korean sign’ and how its use of anti‐Japanese rhetoric covers up the traumatic history of the Korean War.     

The political skill and will of expatriates in acculturating to the politics of an organization in a new culture

This paper explores and conceptualizes the process through which expatriates acculturate to the politics of an organization in a new and dominant culture that differs from their origin culture. In addition to an overview of acculturation, we review research on the emergence and perception of political context in organizations, and on political skill and political will. We posit that politically-relevant situational characteristics in organizations and work interact with national culture to affect the intensity with which expatriates perceive politics in their organization. Based on their political skill (operationalized as high versus low) and their political will (operationalized in terms of concern for self versus concern for others), we describe the different political behavior expatriates will use as a means of acculturating to their political context and the effects those strategies have on their acculturative stress and individual effectiveness in the organization.     

Rethinking the new beginning of the democratic union movement in Korea: from the 1987 Great Workers' Struggle to the construction of the Korean Trade Union Council ( Chunnohyup ) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU)

Abstract

It is sometimes taken for granted too readily that the concept of ‘diaspora’ is deconstructive of nations and nation-states. This essay makes a case for a more complicated understanding of the concept. Diaporic consciousness provides fertile grounds for nurturing cultural nationalism. Its relationship to the nation-state is also highly problematic.Where the nation of departure is privileged over the nation of arrival, such a consciousness may serve to extend the power of the nation-state of origin globally, beyond national boundaries. The opposite may also be the case, as when diasporic populations are manipulated by the nation-state at the point of arrival to influence relations between the two states that such populations bridge. The concept needs to be approached more critically, not only for political reasons but also for more precise understanding of the politics as well as of the social and cultural dynamics of human motions.     

Positive and negative intergroup contact and willingness to engage in intergroup interactions among majority (Han) and minority (Uyghur) group members in China: The moderating role of social dominance orientation

The present study investigated whether the associations of positive and negative intergroup contact with behavioral intentions (intentions to have contact with the outgroup in the future) are moderated by social dominance orientation (SDO), by considering the perspective of both majority and minority group members in China. Participants were 325 Han (majority) and 373 Uyghur (minority) members, who completed a self-report questionnaire. Results indicated that positive contact was associated with more positive behavioral intentions among high-SDO majority group members, whereas SDO did not moderate the association between positive contact and behavioral intentions among minority group members. In addition, negative contact was associated with lower behavioral intentions among high-SDO majority group members, and among low-SDO minority group members. This study suggests that attention should be placed simultaneously on positive and negative contact and on individual difference variables relevant to social ideologies, such as SDO.     

The effects of academic adaptation on depression of international students in China: A case study on South Asian students of TCSOL teacher program

The empirical research has not provided definitive answers to questions about how to assess and report academic adjustment and whether or not it influences psychological and sociocultural adjustments. This study is a longitudinal investigation into the relationship between academic and psychological adjustment of international students from South Asian countries in a cross-cultural learning context who partied in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) teacher education programs in Chinese universities. Using Zun's Self-Rating Depression Scale and the self-developed Scale of Academic Adaptation, the first test in December 2017 (T1) and the second in December 2019 (T2) were conducted to measure depression, learning motivation, learning behavior, learning efficacy, academic achievement, and satisfaction of South Asian students. The paper discovered significant positive correlations between five variables, indicating an interaction between the five aspects showing how involved and effective overseas students were in learning in China and a cross-lagged relationship between depression and academic adjustment. This longitudinal empirical study of international students in China aimed to help expand the application of cross-cultural adjustment theory in different educational backgrounds, and provide diverse samples and methods different from the traditional western perspective.     

Toward Developing a Cross-Cultural Metacognition Instrument for Listening in First Language (L1) Contexts: The (Janusik-Keaton) Metacognitive Listening Instrument

This study has three main goals: (1) to test an instrument designed to measure first language metacognitive listening strategies in other cultural contexts, (2) to refine and revise the scale if necessary, and (3) to discern whether the notion that first language listeners use intuitive strategies to make meaning regardless of language is supported. Toward these goals, authors developed the Intercultural Metacognitive Listening Strategies Instrument, which displays evidence of validity in four populations and three distinct cultures: the United States, Germany, and Japan. Ultimately, this study supports the notion that there are intuitive strategies that listeners use to make meaning regardless of language.