The Effects of National Culture and Face Concerns on Intention to Apologize: A Comparison of the USA and China

The current study examined national culture differences between US American and Chinese participants (N?=?317) regarding face need concerns and apology intention, based on positive and negative face needs (Brown & Levinson, 1987 Brown, P and Levinson, SC. 1987. Politeness: Some universals in language usages, Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and concerns for self-face and other-face (Ting-Toomey, 2005 Ting-Toomey, S. 2005. “The matrix of face: An updated face-negotiation theory”. In Theorizing about intercultural communication, Edited by: Gudykunst, WB. 71–92. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  [Google Scholar]). Participants read vignettes that varied in relationship types (in-group vs. out-group members) and situation types (negative face vs. positive face threatening) and responded to scales measuring realism of the vignettes, intention to apologize, and five types of face need concerns. The findings showed that Chinese participants, compared to US Americans, had stronger intentions to apologize when their acts threatened the other person's positive face, while US American participants, compared to Chinese, had stronger intentions to apologize when their acts threatened the other's negative face. Other findings and implications thereof are discussed.     

Learning Culturally Relevant Practices: Facing Developmental Roadblocks

In the Filipino language, kuwento means “story,” but the concept itself encapsulates more than its literal meaning. Similar to talk story events in Hawaiian communities (Au &; Jordan, 1981 Au, K. and Jordan, C. 1981. “Teaching reading to Hawaiian children: Finding a culturally appropriate solution”. In Culture and bilingual classroom: Studies in classroom ethnography, Edited by: Trueba, H., Guthrie, B. P. and Au, K. H. 139–152. Rowley, MA: Newbury.  [Google Scholar]), kuwento serves as a tool to communicate everyday experiences within groups, especially among family and community members (Eugenio, 1981 Eugenio, D. L. 1981. Philippine folk literature: An anthology., Diliman, Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Folklorists.  [Google Scholar]). It is an abstraction of history, congealing experience into a chain of events. It is what Bakhtin (1981) Bakhtin, M. M. 1981. The dialogic imagination: Four essays by M. M. Bakhtin., Austin: University of Texas Press.  [Google Scholar] would call a unique speech experience—one that is shaped and developed in continuous and constant interaction with others. Kuwento is largely influenced by other people's words and ideas that eventually become incorporated into one's own. Like story and storytelling, kuwento takes many forms and can be used in the classroom during sharing time to construct and activate newer understandings (Cazden, 1994 Cazden, C. B. 1994. “What is sharing time for?”. In The need for story: Cultural diversity in classroom and community, Edited by: Dyson, A. H. and Genishi, C. 72–79. Urbana, IL: NCTE.  [Google Scholar]; Michaels, 1981 Michaels, S. 1981. “Sharing time”: Children's narrative styles and differential access to literacy. Language in Society., 10: 423–442. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). In the case of paucity in classroom material, the teacher can engage students to learn through her/his own writing (Vascellaro &; Genishi, 1994 Vascellaro, S. and Genishi, C. 1994. “All things that mattered”: Stories written by teachers for children”. In The need for story: Cultural diversity in classroom and community, Edited by: Dyson, A. H. and Genishi, C. 172–198. Urbana, IL: NCTE.  [Google Scholar]) and her/his own construction of oral stories in different participant structures (Phillips, 1972 Phillips, S. 1972. “Participant structures and communicative competence: Warm Springs children in community and classroom”. In Functions of language in the classroom, Edited by: Cazden, C., John, V. and Hymes, D. 370–394. New York: Teachers College Press.  [Google Scholar]). As we shall see in the case of Filipino Heritage Studies, the teacher's use of reflective- and real-time stories conveys the importance of history and present-day realities both in his and his students' lives. Although kuwento is also present in other participant structures, this article focuses on the teacher's whole-class lecture during a unit on the Philippine American War.     

Translanguaging in a Swedish Multilingual Classroom

The overarching aim of this article is to investigate perceptions regarding linguistic potential and language competence in relation to translanguaging strategies. The data presented consists of classroom activities, texts, and pictures produced by eleven-year-old pupils and their teacher in a multilingual classroom context. The pupils have varying lengths of in-country residence, from being born in Sweden to being newly arrived. At many schools only the target language is supposed to be used in teaching (Cummins, 2007 Cummins, J. (2007). Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 221–240. [Google Scholar]). But the simultaneous use of multiple languages, also called translanguaging, in the classroom leads to broader and deeper knowledge of language and subjects (Williams, 1996 Williams, C. (1996). Secondary education: Teaching in the bilingual situation. In C. Williams, G. Lewis, &; C. Baker (Eds.), The language policy: Taking stock (pp. 39–78). Langefni, UK: CAI. [Google Scholar]). Teaching based on pupils' resources is crucial for multilingual pupils' thinking and learning (Meier &; Conteh, 2014 Meier, G., &; Conteh, J. (2014). Conclusion. In G. Meier &; J. Conteh (Eds.), The multilingual turn in language education: Opportunities and challenges (pp. 292–299). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). The results show that the pupils have large linguistic potential, but there are great differences in estimating and perceiving their languages. A pattern stands out: Those pupils who have given their languages high ratings are considerably more positive to the teachers' initiative by shaping new relationships and contributing to the mutual development of knowledge than those with discrepancies in their ratings.     

The camera in pain: memories of the Cold War in East Asian independent documentaries

Abstract

This article begins with a discussion of the changing topography of cultural production in East Asia over the last 25?years, especially as it concerns the genre of independent documentary film, and then it turns to three independent documentaries filmed in Japan and North Korea, South Korea and Japan, and China, respectively: Yang Yong-hi's Dear Pyongyang (2005 Dear Pyongyang. 2005. Directed by Yang Yong-hi. Busan International Film Festival. [Google Scholar]), Mun Jeong-hyun's Grandmother's Flower (2007 Grandmother's Flower. 2007. Directed by Mun Jeong-hyun. Busan International Film Festival: [Google Scholar]), and Wang Bing's He Fengming: A Chinese Memoir (2006). Erased from the official historical record and excluded from public commemoration, the alternate history of pain traced by these documentaries resubmits the Cold War to examination from deep inside its most private wounds. In the process, the filmmakers encounter not only the memories of the earlier generation that lived through the most violent episodes of the Cold War, but also come to question their own history and identities within the process of the Cold War's decomposition.     

Thai democracy and the October (1973–1976) events

Abstract

Thai Democracy: Three Decades After October 14 (in Thai) edited by historian Charnvit Kasetsiri (2003 Charnvit, Kasetsiri, ed. 2003. Thai Democracy: Three Decades After October 14 (Sam Thotsawat 14 Tula kab Prachatipatai), Bangkok: Foundation for the Promotion of Social Science and Humanities Textbooks Project. (In Thai.). Public Lectures Open University Series, [Google Scholar]) offers an entrée into understanding how Thailand’s 1970s social movements and state violence register in current politics and Thai historiography. The anthology was put together to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the October 14, 1973 uprising, which led to the temporary exile of the past military regime. The contributors are varied across the academic disciplines, with speeches and newspaper articles by public intellectuals, politicians, and poet/writers. Those in Thai and Southeast Asian Studies will find this an invaluable resource. For those who do not read Thai, the VCD provides two English subtitled documentaries produced by Charnvit Kasetsiri. One features the historical events and the other is a walking tour of the numerous landmarks of the October 14, 1973 uprising.     

Associations among Attachment Style,Maintenance Strategies,and Relational Quality across Cultures

Previous research has suggested that attachment style is an indicator of relationship behavior and perception universally across cultures; however, research comparing the effect of attachment style on relational maintenance in culturally distinct societies is still non-existent. The present study investigated the effect of the secure or insecure attachment style on commonly used relational maintenance strategies and desired relational features in three geographically distant cultures: the US mainland, Hawaii, and South Korea. Results indicated that as predicted, regardless of culture, secure attachment style was associated with higher ratings of relationship quality (trust, commitment, liking, control mutuality, and satisfaction) and the self- and partner-perceived uses of Stafford and Canary's (1991 Stafford, L and Canary, DJ. 1991. Maintenance strategies and romantic relationship type, gender and relational characteristics. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 8: 217–242. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) relationship maintenance strategies. Culture did not change the effect of attachment style on the dependent factors; however, culture, as an independent factor, contributed to the variance in the self-/partner-perceived maintenance strategies and relationship quality.     

Carrying out research across the arts and humanities and social sciences: developing the methodology for Dementia and Imagination

This paper analyses how the methodological approach for a major Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council-funded project entitled Dementia and Imagination ¹1. http://dementiaandimagination.org.uk/View all notes was formulated. This multidisciplinary project brings together the arts and humanities with the social sciences with their different epistemological philosophies and subsequent understandings of research methods. The main objective was to determine how visual arts activities may change, sustain and catalyse community cultures, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to create dementia-friendly communities. This project involves 6 different UK universities, 14 researchers, 10 formal partners, 7 project artists, 3 research artists and a large number of civil society organisations. The analysis presents a series of themes that have been identified as influencing the approach taken to develop methods which aimed to speak to different audiences in the social sciences, arts and humanities, policy/practice and public domains. It is concluded that a research project of this type needs to embrace a wide variety of epistemological positions if it is to successfully achieve its objectives. This paper contributes to knowledge about how the methodology of large-scale multidisciplinary projects may be constructed which will be of value to those building research consortia across different universities and between universities and community partners.     

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.     

The cultural value of heritage: evidence from the Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund has, over the past 13 years, given £4billion to heritage projects of all kinds. As the Fund has matured a greater emphasis has been placed on the evaluation of the social and economic outcomes of this funding. In 2004 we reported on progress with evaluation of the programmes targeted at particular types of heritage (Clark, 2004 Clark, K. 2004. Why fund heritage? The role of research in the Heritage Lottery Fund. Cultural Trends, 52: 65–85.  [Google Scholar]). The greater challenge has been to evaluate the outcomes from the Fund's generic programmes, which can fund any type of heritage and which between them account for over two-thirds of total funding. This article reviews the Fund's experience over the last 3 years in developing and implementing an evaluation system using the Public (or Cultural) Value framework. It presents some initial results from the research so far completed and reviews how far the framework has been useful in suggesting research priorities and organizing findings.     

Fostering College-Going Expectations of Immigrant Students Through the Sympathetic Touch of School Leadership

This article intends to support the efforts of administrators, teachers, and community activists to center race, equity, and anti-deficit perspectives within the practice of school leadership. By drawing upon methods of critical race studies, and Du Bois's 1935 Du Bois, W. E. B. (1935). Does the Negro need separate schools? Journal of Negro Education, 4(3), 328–335.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar] concept of the sympathetic touch, the author provides examples of anti-deficit approaches to sympathetic leadership in a large, diverse high school in California. Through reflections and recollections upon this case study, the author underscores ways for school leaders to formulate the conditions for college-going expectations for low-income immigrant students. This retrospective account includes concrete leadership examples, political strategies, and scenarios to illuminate the relevance and utilities of the sympathetic touch in educational leadership. In effect, the article calls for school leaders to harness anti-deficit and anti-oppressive mindsets in the work of inclusion, equity, and social justice.     

Labour relations in Korea between crisis management and living solidarity

Abstract

This paper examines the ambiguous nature of Murakami's criticism toward the postwar Japanese condition – as the artist most effectively captured in his phrase ‘A Little Boy,’ which was also the title of his curated exhibition at the Japan Society of New York in 2005 Murakami, Takashi. 2005. “‘Earth in my window’”. In Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, Edited by: Murakami, Takashi. 98–149. New York and New Haven: The Japan Society and Yale University Press. Linda Hoaglund (trans.) [Google Scholar]. As Murakami wrote in his introduction to the catalogue, demilitarized Japan after the Second World War underwent a collective sense of helplessness, and the metaphor of a little boy is intended to describe Japan's supposedly unavoidable reliance on its big brother, America. The name ‘Little Boy,’ in fact, originates from the code name used by the American military for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The proliferation of ‘cuteness’ in Japanese contemporary art, which draws upon youth culture, especially otaku culture, evinces a common urge among the postwar generation in Japan to escape from their horrible memories and sense of powerlessness. Murakami's rhetorical analysis of Japan's self‐image seems, however, contradictory, given his extremely aggressive business tactics, which can find no counterpart in the Western art world – not even in the efforts of Murakami's predecessor, Andy Warhol. Like My Lonesome Cowboy (1998), whose hyper sexuality defies its pubescent and immature appearance, his art, theory, and art marketing indicate the paradoxical nature of his theory of impotence. By focusing on his manifesto and writings published on the occasion of his 2005 Murakami, Takashi. 2005. “‘Earth in my window’”. In Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, Edited by: Murakami, Takashi. 98–149. New York and New Haven: The Japan Society and Yale University Press. Linda Hoaglund (trans.) [Google Scholar] exhibition and his style of managing Kaikai Kiki Ltd., this paper delves into the dual nature of Murakami's interpretation of postwar Japanese art and culture, particularly in relation to those of America.     

“Happy Seoul for foreigners”: scenes from multicultural life in South Korea

Abstract

Since the mid-2000s, multiculturalism has become a prominent buzzword in South Korea as the nation, which was founded on the myth of a single bloodline, tries to come to terms with its growing foreign population. This article looks at the figure of the industrial migrant worker who, despite being ignored by the mainstream media, has appeared in a handful of independently produced Korean films, including three—Bandhobi (2009 Bandhobi [???]. 2009. Directed by Shin Dong-il. Seoul: IndieStory Inc. [Google Scholar]), Hello, Stranger (2007 Hello Stranger [?? ?? ???]. 2007. Directed by Kim Dong-hyun. Seoul: IndieStory Inc. Host and Guest [???]. 2005. Directed by Shin Dong-il. Seoul: LJ Film. [Google Scholar]), Where Is Ronny? (2008 Where Is Ronny? [??? ???]. 2008. Directed by Sim Sang-kook. Seoul: JinJin Pictures. [Google Scholar])—that will be discussed here in detail. These films, as I will show, not only provide an alternative perspective on immigrant life in Seoul and other parts of the country, which is more often than not represented through the privileged world of the Western “expat,” but also reveal the underlying tensions and contradictions in Korea's approach to multiculturalism as it tries to regulate diversity through the fiat of legislative policy while ignoring the moral and political choices confronting its citizens as they decide whether or not to befriend the other.     

Is Transracial the Same as Transgender? The Utility and Limitations of Identity Analogies in Multicultural Education

In June 2015, Melissa Harris-Perry infamously analogized the possibility of trans-Black identity to the reality of transgender identity. Such analogies happen often and are used mostly for the benefit of learning about a less familiar form of identity. Building from a recent article by Suthakaranm, Filsinger, and White (2013 Suthakaran, V., Filsinger, K., &; White, B. (2013). Using analogies as an experiential learning technique in multicultural education. Multicultural Perspectives, 15(2), 92–97.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) that presented a compelling argument for the use of analogies as an experiential learning tool in multicultural education, we advance the conversation by distinguishing a particular form of analogies: identity analogies. We explore the benefits and challenges of utilizing identity analogies as a tool for multicultural educators within U.S. higher education.     

Facing history,resolving disputes,working towards peace in East Asia: a statement by the Minjian East Asia Forum

Preface ?Concerned with the escalation of territorial disputes in East Asia since July, we proposed setting up the Minjian East Asia Forum (the Forum hereafter) on October 6, 2012, serving as a platform for East Asian people to face regional disputes and exchange opinions together. Minjian is a Chinese term that has counterparts in Japanese, as minkan, and in Korean as mingan, based on the same Chinese characters. Although used differently with different meanings in each context, minjian, as used here, refers to the non-governmental, popular voices and organizations, initiated by the people. Although the Forum was started to respond to and engage in the recent territorial disputes, it was not created out of thin air, but on the foundation of East Asian solidarities built by many predecessors over the last 30 years.1 “In the last two decades, we have participated in the minjian, read here as people-based and hence non-governmental, solidarity movement of various kinds—including Asia Regional Network for Alternatives (ARENA, 1980s), the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies: Movements (2000–), the East Asia Critical Journals Conference (2006–), and West Heavens: India China Summit on Social Thought (2010–). We also established the Inter-Asia School (2011–) and organized the first Asian Circle of Thought in Shanghai (2012) as well as the Modern Asian Thought project (2012–). In doing this work, we follow the footsteps of Ashis Nandy, Muto Ichiyo, Chen Yingzhen, Paik Nak-Chung, and the late Mizoguchi Yuzo. In moving around Asia, we created a linkage between circles of critical intellectuals and movement, and by talking to friends in the circle of thought, we came to realize that within the entire expanse of Asia, East Asia is the region that experiences the greatest difficulty in stepping outside of the Cold War division and in reimagining the region as a collectivity. Especially when China and India are fast developing their economies, we must be more aware of the social contradictions and inequalities that are deepening in the region, as well as the role each state plays in the global inter-state system. In this complex and volatile context, we must try to find a better road to development—for public good, justice, equality, and world peace. Unfortunately, the party politics in each state has blocked the proactive interaction within the region for its own interest. Even when East Asian states are imagining an East Asian community, a common platform for civil societies to communicate and address issues that are of regional significance is achingly absent. In this sense, our imagination of ‘minjian East Asia’ is a people-based, non-governmental platform for regional dialogue that attempts to check and balance the exchange of interest based on party politics, and monitor the governments, preventing them from making arbitrary decisions that will escalate tension and threaten peace in the region” (Chen et al. 2013 Chen, Kuan-Hsing, Chih-Ming Wang and Qingya Hu. 2013. Minjian East Asia Forum: feelings and imaginations. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 14(2) ,, this issue[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). We expect the Forum (with the secretariat to be based in Seoul) to become a people-to-people network that will continue to extend beyond borders and express people's voices, fostering the steady development of peace in Asia and the world through communication, conversation, and collaboration.     

Ganga Bahadur’s books: landmark proletarian novels and the Nepali communist movement

Based on literary research and interviews conducted in Kathmandu, this article takes as its starting point the contents of a bookcase belonging to an ex-Maoist combatant now living in retirement in Kathmandu and the “syllabus” promulgated by the then Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) for the ideological training of its cadres. It goes on to chronicle the process by which a number of “landmark ‘proletarian novels’” (Denning 2007 Denning, Michael. 2007. “The Novelists’ International.” In The Novel, edited by Franco Moretti. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [Google Scholar], 706) came to be translated into Nepali from Russian and Chinese, and the ways in which Maoist cadres were inspired and influenced by these works during the course of the “People’s War” in Nepal between 1996 and 2006. Finally, the discussion moves to a consideration of the relationship between the impact of these translated texts in the Nepali context and broader conceptualizations of “world literature.”     

A Regional Analysis of Assertiveness

Co-cultural differences in assertiveness within the United States have not been explored, despite noted regional differences in communication patterns (Andersen, Lustig, & Andersen, 1987). This study examines assertiveness behaviors, focusing on university students from the Upper Midwest (n = 148) and the New York Metropolitan region (n = 159) who completed the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (Rathus, 1973 Rathus, SA. 1973. A 30-item schedule for assessing assertive behavior. Behavior Therapy, 4: 398–406. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). New York Metropolitan respondents reported significantly higher levels of assertive communication than did respondents from the Upper Midwest. Males in the Upper Midwest region reported significantly higher levels of assertive communication than did females in the same region. Implications for regional differences in assertiveness are discussed.     

Constructing a Visual Rhetoric: Images of Craftsmen and Builders in the Umayyad Palace at Qusayr ‘Amra

This article treats a group of wall paintings depicting craftsmen and builders on the east vault of the large basilical hall in the Umayyad palace at Qusayr ‘Amra near Amman, Jordan.* *A series of craftsmen holding various tools of their trade – one with a frame saw, another with a chisel, a third with masonry hammer etc. – are depicted on a mosaic floor recently uncovered by Dr Uzi Leibner from the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in a Roman-era synagogue at Khirbet Wadi Hamam, in the Lower Galilee. The workers appear next to a very large building, which they seem to be constructing. More details are found on the Institute website: http://archaeology.huji.ac.il/depart/classical/uzil/Kh_Hamam.pdf View all notes The figures appear within 32 linked framed squares covering the whole ceiling. The significance of the paintings, their iconographical sources, style and the question of patronage are examined. Depictions of workers are a unique phenomenon in early Islamic art. However, they form part of the complex of themes present in Qusayr ‘Amra (as well as in other Umayyad palaces) under the heading of the “princely cycle”. I argue that the images of the builders, the act of building and the location of the paintings on the ceiling are all expressions of royal visual rhetoric which presents the Caliph as a great and glorious builder thus forging a self-glorifying image of the Umayyad dynasty in the eyes of their Muslim and Christian subjects alike. This visual rhetoric was adopted by the Umayyad patrons from the art traditions of Late Antiquity which offer both models for presenting rulers as builders as well as images of buildings and the act of building.     

The De Kretser case: a note on Sri Lankan writing in English

Abstract

How is the content of a literary canon, or tradition to be configured? What counts as a literary archive? More than 25 years after Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978 Said, W. Edward. 1978. Orientalism, New York: Vintage.  [Google Scholar]), it seems reasonable to assume, that central to such traditions, would be the work of those who live and work in the society that gives rise to it. In this review, such a location of Michele de Kretser’s new novel, The Hamilton Case, is offered, as a caution to metropolitan literary critics who continue to approach Sri Lankan writing in English, as Christopher Columbus approached ‘America’. It is argued that the novel owes much to, and can be read as echoing and elaborating the detective fiction of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who was, also, the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), 1956–59.     

Working practices in Thai independent film production and distribution 1

Abstract

In the late 1990s, independent Thai films became a new burgeoning industry, with the beginnings of international recognition. Taking three case studies, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Mysterious Object at Noon (), Thunska Pansittivorakul’s Voodoo Girls (2003 Thunska, Pansittivorakul. 2004. Personal interview, 19 February [Google Scholar]) and Aditya Assarat and Mingmongkol Sonakul’s Ma‐mee/ Three Friends (), I argue that the digital format for DVD/VCDs is paving the way for independent filmmakers/producers to participate in the art film market abroad and to cut production costs. Following the economics of money flows makes it clear that ‘independent film’ in Thailand is less about economic independence than a type of branding and packaging of aesthetics and content. While film, economically, is never outside the workings of capital, the content and style of the three film projects considered here seek to break out of the conventions set by the commercial Thai film narrative style.