Nationalism and internationalism: thoughts on Zhang Chengzhi’s work and Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference

Nationalism in the Third World is shaped through the processes of anti-imperial and anti-feudal modernization, and is closely connected with communist internationalism. It differentiates from the nationalism formed in the context of the European modernization. Nevertheless, with the establishment of the nation-state, in the context of international politics and geopolitics and during the construction of modernization in the realms of politics, economy and culture, progressive nationalism can be reactionary. Via analysing the emotions and thinkings of Zhang Chengzhi’s writing on Japan and reviewing the history of Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference in 1950s and 1960s, this essay argues that internationalism is the effective thinking resource to overcome reactionary nationalism.     

Differences in Cognitive Relativity Between Americans’ and Koreans’ Assessments of Self

This paper explores how cognitive beliefs, emotional feelings, and attitudinal evaluations toward racial/ethnic out-groups are inter-related. The first two studies examined the content and strength of contemporary cultural stereotypes associated by White-American participants with African-Americans and Asian-Indians. Path analyses using empirical data from the final survey (N?=?227) reveal a complex set of relationships among stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial feelings, and overall favorability toward African-Americans and Asian-Indians. Interestingly, even seemingly positive stereotypes can activate negative emotions toward out-groups. Additionally, hostile and benevolent prejudicial feelings lead to decreased favorability toward out-groups. Results find support for mixed emotion models such as the stereotype content model rather than the traditional tripartite model of attitudinal consistency.     

Young Adults’ Trait Affection Given and Received as Functions of Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultures and National Origin

Based on the work conducted by trait psychologists, this cross-cultural investigation sought to examine young adults’ trait affection given and trait affection received in the U.S., Russia, and Slovakia as functions of (a) Hofstede’s four primary dimensions of national cultures (i.e. masculinity–femininity, individualism–collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance), and (b) national origin. Undergraduate students (N = 558) from the U.S. (n = 214), Russia (n = 169), and Slovakia (n = 210) completed a questionnaire in their native languages. The results of regression analyses and analyses of variances supported the notion that the four dimensions of national cultures influence people’s trait-like attributes and therefore also result in significant differences among the three countries examined in this investigation.     

Cultural Dis/Continuity in African-American and Ghanaian Mothers’ Voices and Identities

With Cultural Continuity Theory as a framework, this study used quantitative (N?=?204) and qualitative (N?=?63) methods to explore how Ghanaian and African-American mothers communicate their motherhood perceptions and identities. Survey, interview, and focus group data obtained from this investigation suggest cultural discontinuity in the rhetoric the participants use to describe their motherhood experiences and identities. Though this multi-method study is meaningful in that it provides a space for the underrepresented voices of African-American and Ghanaian mothers to be heard, it challenges previously held notions of continuity within African-American and African societies. Based on the findings, this study also considers implications relative to the similarities and differences in African-American and Ghanaian motherhood philosophies, and it offers recommendations for future research.     

‘An attractive and improving place of resort’

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationship between zoological collections, urban improvement and civic identity in early nineteenth-century Britain. While national zoological collections like London Zoo have been studied by scholars as important sites for research and education, gardens in the provinces have received less attention. The article examines several of these institutions, outlining the circumstances surrounding their foundation and considering how they integrated themselves into their respective local communities through educational initiatives and carefully planned fund-raising strategies. It argues that zoological gardens served to situate cities within a wider imperial context, highlighting their regional importance and global connections.     

China’s Dragon and Lion Dance Tours Turkey

<正>The end of a nine-hour flight marked the beginning of China Dragon and Lion Dance Troupe’s tour in Turkey. This tour is an important component of the 2012 Ch...     

‘We want everybody’s salvage!’: Recycling,Voluntarism, and the People’s War

ABSTRACT

This article reveals the role of volunteers in the British government’s campaign to increase recycling during the Second World War. It uses their experience to deconstuct the idea of a 'people's war', showing how this concept was invoked in several different ways. The article demonstrates that voluntary recycling schemes were led from the bottom-up, shifted the balance of power between private citizens and local authorities, and highlighted difference based on age, socio-economic status, gender, and geographical location. It concludes that official appeals may have invoked the ‘people’s war’, but the way that these messages were received was of most importance.     

Associations between perceived positive and negative parental contact and adolescents’ intergroup contact experiences

This study investigated the association between perceived parental positive and negative contact and adolescents’ own positive and negative contact experiences and tested perspective-taking, intergroup anxiety, outgroup attitudes, and approach behavioral tendencies as potential mediators. A total of 325 7th and 8th Year Turkish students completed questionnaires in classrooms (M_age = 13.46, SD = 0.75). Structural equation models demonstrated that percieved negative parental contact was directly and strongly associated with negative, but not positive, adolescent contact, whereas parental positive contact had a direct positive association with adolescent positive contact. We further found that perceived parental positive contact was related to higher perspective-taking and lower intergroup anxiety which promoted approach behavioral tendencies which was, in turn, related to more positive and less negative contact among adolescents. The study highlights the critical function of parental positive and negative contact on the formation of adolescents’ contact behaviors.     

Seniors’ organizations in China’s new rural reconstruction: experiments in Hubei and Henan

This article tracks the shifting cultural meanings that the East/West distinction has produced in the history of nationalism in colonial and post-colonial India. It does so by focusing on the word “civilization” and the role it played in promoting a rich sense of inter-cultural dialogue in the writings of nationalist leaders such as Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, and Jawaharlal Nehru. The article documents how the word figures with much reduced significance in contemporary cultural debates about globalization in India and concludes by asking if the rise of China and India to global prominence holds the potential today to initiate a conversation across cultures similar to the one that accompanied the rise of the West in the age of modern imperial rule.     

Israeli Arabs’ acculturation patterns and attitudes toward honor killings

Many studies on honor killings have been conducted in Arab and Muslim countries, but few have addressed the issue in relation to Arab and Muslim populations living in Western countries, who are influenced by the values of two cultures: their traditional-patriarchal culture of origin and modern-liberal Western culture. The purpose of the present study was to examine the connection between acculturation patterns and attitudes of Israeli Arabs toward honor killings. A structured quantitative questionnaire was administered to a sample of 409 Arab Israeli, 179 men and 230 women, with a mean age of 34.1 (SD = 12.04). The findings show that 44% of study participants adopted a pattern of separation from Israeli society, 37.7% a pattern of integration, 9.5% a pattern of assimilation, and 8.8% a pattern of marginalization. A two-way ANOVA test found an interaction between acculturation patterns and gender in relation to attitudes toward honor killings. The attitudes of women who adopted the assimilation pattern toward honor killings were more negative, whereas men who adopted this pattern showed more positive attitudes toward honor killings. The importance of the study for research and its educational-preventive aspects are described.     

Mindsets about language learning and support for immigrants’ integration

People rely on their lay theories, or mindsets, to make meaning of their experience in intercultural contact. Given that proficiency in the local language is a crucial social marker of immigrants’ integration, we argue that language mindsets (i.e., beliefs about whether language learning ability is fixed or changeable) guide members of the receiving society to make inferences about immigrants’ language ability (e.g., “can immigrants improve their language ability?”). This social inference, in turn, predicts their willingness to interact with immigrants and support immigrants’ language education. In a correlational study (n = 231) and an experimental study (n = 106), we investigated whether and how language mindsets influence participants’ support for immigrants’ intercultural contact. We found that trait and experimentally-induced fixed (vs. growth) mindsets led to negative judgments of immigrants’ potential to develop their skills in the local language, which in turn predicted avoidance of contact with migrants and opposition to governmental funding of immigrants’ language education. The effects held even after controlling for participants’ political orientations, perceived difficulties of the English language, and judgments of target immigrants’ language fluency. These findings suggest that promoting growth mindsets about language ability can lead to more positive intercultural attitudes that impact the acceptance of migrants. We discussed the implications of language mindsets for understanding the processes of intercultural communication and forming positive intercultural relations.     

Let’s Go and See the Outside World!

Two decades ago, traveling abroadwas just a dream for most of Chinesepeople; only those with relatives livingabroad could go abroad in the name of“visiting relatives”. In 1988, Thailandbecame China’ first outbound traveldestination. Now, Chinese travelersappear at every corner of the world,wherever in Champs-Elysees in Paris,Colosseum in Rome, Pyramids in Egyptor the snow mountain in Swiss. I stillrecall that I was often asked if I wereJapanese when I traveled abroad a dozenof years a…     

“Honorable Piracy” and Chile’s Digital Transition

This article examines debates around Chile’s digital television transition in order to trace the socio-historical relation between piracy and social change. During the military dictatorship (1973–1990), media activists used what they called “honorable piracy” for counter-communication efforts aimed at restoring democracy. Following the return to democracy, community television participants have rationalized their unauthorized transmission of alternative programming to low-income sectors using a similar logic of honorable piracy. For these community television participants, the digital transition represented the possibility of redefining democratic access to the public sphere and attaining legal recognition. Through an analysis of citizen activism around the move from analog to digital television, this article argues that discussion of piracy emerges as an expression of conflicting notions of the definition, use, and distribution of public resources.     

Military base culture and Okinawan rock ‘n’ roll

The presence of US military bases has had a strong influence on US popular music in postwar Japan and Okinawa. In 1951, mainland Japan gained independence from the US occupation while Okinawa was occupied until the early 1970s and therefore was outside of the Constitution of Japan. Okinawa has been forced to coexist with many US bases, soldiers and civilian personnel. Postwar western popular music entered Japan via the bases and became a part of Okinawan culture. In this essay, tracing the history of Okinawan rock ‘n’ roll since the 1960s, I will discuss how to get into Okinawan society, the cultural function played by the US military bases in Okinawa, and the significance of the role played by the US bases for the globalization of ‘American Culture’. The golden age of the entertainment sector geared toward US soldiers was the 1960s and early 1970s, before the reversion of Okinawa to Japan. After this, a reduction in the number of troops and the increasing exchange rate of the yen dealt a serious blow to the economy of the entertainment sector. As a result, Okinawan rock ‘n’ roll increasingly entered another social cultural context; first commercialization by the record industry in Tokyo, and then as a tourist resource for local community development.     

Wartime Holidays and the ‘Myth of the Blitz’

Published histories of the British home front during the Second World War, both academic and popular, say little or nothing about civilian holidays; the implication is that for most people they did not exist. This article disputes that reading. Complementing earlier work on officially sponsored ‘Holidays at Home’, the article first looks briefly at 1930s holiday expectations, then summarizes government measures to restrain ‘unnecessary’ wartime travel. Using rail-travel statistics, memoirs and diaries, contemporary novels, local press reports, Mass-Observation and other surveys it shows that throughout the war large numbers of people took holidays much as they had in peacetime. This apparent contradiction is then discussed in relation to, for instance, ideas of ‘normality’ and ‘wartime’, the survival of class in Britain, the wartime economy and the debate on the ‘myth of the blitz’ view of civilian behaviour.     

The Left and Indonesia’s 1960s: the politics of remembering and forgetting

Abstract

This article examines a pivotal decade in the recent history of Indonesian society: the 1960s. It examines the context within which the Left came to be decisively, and violently, defeated as a social and political force. It then studies the consequences of this defeat for Indonesia’s subsequent historical trajectory. The article also suggests that history‐writing anywhere is nothing less than the politics of remembering (and forgetting). What is at stake in these exercises is ultimately tied up with the legitimacy of entire social orders and systems of power. Thus, in Indonesia, the trauma of 1965 and its aftermath banished, from the collective memory of Indonesians, the political role of the Left – except in the form that runs through New Order‐era discourse on Indonesian communism. For Indonesians born or raised after 1965, the ‘communist treason’ became, arguably, the most critical element of the grand narrative of post‐colonial Indonesian history, which was so important in legitimising New Order authoritarianism. The current inability of Indonesian society and its elites to acknowledge and confront the reality of the horrors of the 1960s might prove to be a major impediment to a more genuine and substantive democratisation process.     

‘Enculturation’, not ‘acculturation’: Conceptualising and assessing identity processes in migrant communities

Following a critique of Berry's model of ‘acculturation strategies’, the paper considers the relationship between heritage culture and ethnic identity. Analysis of processes of development, maintenance and redefinition of identity in contexts of alternative cultural norms contends with the assumption of conscious choice or strategy towards mainstream and heritage cultures. From the perspective of identity issues, enculturation of cultural elements rather than acculturation is often the more significant process. Going beyond critique to consider issues of the persistence of ethnic identity and processes of cultural reformulation, brings attention to the origins of primordialist sentiment within ethnic identity and the possibilities for generating situationalist perspectives. Reference to empirical investigations using Identity Structure Analysis (introduced as a conceptual framework for explicating complex identity processes) provides evidence for different identity processes and structures according to socio-historical context and the greater malleability of situationalists compared with primordialists in their empathetic identifications with alternative cultural groups.     

American and South Korean Engineering Students’ Communication Motives and Their Student–Instructor Communication Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to compare American and South Korean engineering students’ motives (i.e., relational, functional, excuse-making, participatory, and sycophantic) for communicating with their instructors and their student–instructor communication satisfaction. The second purpose was to examine the extent to which both American and South Korean engineering students’ motives for communicating with their instructors are related to their student–instructor communication satisfaction. Undergraduate students (N = 168) recruited from public universities in the United States and South Korea participated in this study. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), an independent sample t-tests, a series of zero-order Pearson correlational analyses, and Fisher z-tests revealed significant cultural differences and that the relationship between students’ communication motives and their student–instructor communication satisfaction largely are consistent between the two cultures.