Gulliver's Travels: Michael Moore the Explorer in Who to Invade Next

America is identified as a nation of immigrants. These immigrants are thought to be the source of its subcultures. It is also a nation of individual explorers and inventors. Their activities are also a source of diverse subcultures. Many notable movies have made heroes of such innovators in different fields of endeavor. Michael Moore's movie Who to Invade Next is a documentary about his trips to other countries in search of more successful institutions of work, education, health services, and incarceration. The premise of the movie is Moore has come to invade the other countries and steal the secrets of their successes in order to reform similar American institutions. Moore finds only mild amusement rather than amazement from his “victims.” He discovers the advances he attributes to other countries were originally American innovations, adopted in other societies but abandoned in America, which has become strangely timid about progress and reform.     

Policy Impact on Cultural Industries in the Next Decade

Cultural industries in China are heavily influenced by policies. With the ever-deepening cultural restructuring, cultural industries in China are embracing fast growth and becoming the country＇s pillar industry with strategic importance.     

The People Next Door: Getting Along With the Neighbors in Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg and District 9

Two different perspectives on the immigrant struggles are found in a documentary about the radio and television program The Goldbergs and a science fiction thriller about the treatment of an immigrant alien community. Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg is optimistic and celebrates the achievements of an established ethnic community in America and the woman who conceived and implemented the idea for the show. District 9, excites and terrifies with an imaginary future ethnic catastrophe. A third movie, Amreeka, deals with an ethnic immigrant drama of the present, neither sentimental about past ethnic struggles nor frightening about future disasters. It is, therefore, the most unsettling and least amusing of the three, in spite of its conventional upbeat ending.     

Variables Impacting Intercultural Competence: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT

The importance of intercultural competence in today’s global economy is evident. Achieving intercultural competence, however, has no single formula. This study explored the variables impacting intercultural competence development. Through a systematic literature review, it identified 48 scholarly sources, 11 unique variables and two sub-variables impacting intercultural competence development. The impact of programme characteristics was found to be significant across the board, while the impact of demographic factors was harder to predict. The findings of this research inform scholars, educators and practitioners of the most effective ways to design intercultural experiences and help participants maximize their learning at home and abroad.     

Intercultural knowledge development: Evidence from student interviews during short-term study abroad

The goal of this investigation was to examine intercultural knowledge development during a short-term study abroad program focused on language and cultural learning. Interviews with students were conducted at the beginning and end of the program, allowing for a qualitative approach to analysis, supported by quantitative measures. While previous investigations have relied on qualitative data, this is the first analysis of intercultural knowledge development based on a qualitative, pre- and post-program design. Intercultural knowledge development was identified considering the change and growth in student knowledge. Results indicated that students experienced a change in the salience of intercultural knowledge themes over the period abroad, focusing on City life and Schedule differences more at the beginning of the program than at the end. Such shift may be indicative of cultural adaptation during the program. Results also demonstrated intercultural knowledge growth over the period abroad, with the greatest growth being related to knowledge themes of Big C (e.g., culture and history), daily life, food and drink, and values and politics. These results led to a distinction between types of knowledge that traditionally have been included in definitions of intercultural knowledge, an analysis of context as it intersects with knowledge development, and a theoretical consideration of the relationship between intercultural knowledge and intercultural communicative competence. Furthermore, practical considerations for cultivating intercultural knowledge during short-term study abroad programs were discussed.     

Magazine Review

Interpreting a Beautiful Dream with Camera Lens： Dialogue with Photographer Li Ying
Li Ying： ＂For me, photography is a hobby but very helpful to my work. Photography is a practical art bringing mental pleasure and peace to you and recording the life of your families and friends. Moreover, a photographer also takes important social responsibility, because photos record history, reflect truth and move forward the progress of human civilization. It is a heavenly-endowed honor to cast the image of the earth with camera lens and experience the sophisticated world with peaceful mind. Photography has become part of my life. Hardship and risk have become pleasure and joy for me.＂     

Magazine Review

Storytellers and their Stories Nobody＇s growing up is without stories, especially for the generations of Chinese who grew up with the company of radios. Classic Chinese storytelling pieces are the most popular radio programs, like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms performed by Yuan Kuocheng, Heroes Biography of Yue Fei by Liu Lanfang in Sui and Tang Dynasties by Shan Tianfang, and Outlaws of the Marsh by Tian Lianyuan. Their influence goes beyond that of ordinary novels. Their four storytelling artists are household names now, dubbed as the Top Four Storytellers in China. This issue of Biographical Literature focuses on the four artists, telling the stories of these storytellers.     

Review Essay

CHROME DREAMS . By Paul C. Wilson. THE AUTO AS AN ART FORM . By Strother MacMinn, ROLLING SCULPTURE . By Gordon M. Buehrig with William S. Jackson.     

Review article

Ducellier, A., Kaplan, M., Martin, Bernadette, avec la collaboration de Françoise Micheau. Le Moyen Âge en Orient. Byzance et l'Islam. Des Barbares aux Ottomans. Paris: Hachette Histoire Université, 1990.     

Review Essays

Folklore or Popular Culture Studies?Poplore: Folk and Pop in American Culture. Gene Bluestein History, Sociology and the American Romance. A.N. Kaul Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture. Douglas Rushkoff Folk Poetics: A Sociosemiotic Study of Yoruba Trickster Tales. Ropo Sekoni