Shared Cultural Characteristics Similarities in Malaysia’s Multi-ethnic Society*

The dimension of cultural characteristics is essentially ignored by the growing literature on organizational diversity, focusing on demographic diversity and general perceived similarity instead. This study aims to identify the similarities in cultural characteristics among ethnic groups in Malaysia. Ergo, conducted within the context of interethnic relations in Malaysia based on a phenomenographic approach; thence, found four categories namely the community embeddedness, the survival culture, the conformity culture and the respect culture. These exemplify the interethnic relations based on cultural characteristics and norms similarities. The cultural characteristics similarities between major ethnics in Malaysia in this study are indications of dynamic and interactive exchange occurring between ethnics. The consequences of these findings are discussed and elaborated in this article.     

The Impact of Receivers’ Nationality and Cultural Orientation on the Effects of Fear Appeals in Health Communication

Participants from the Netherlands (n = 52), China (n = 50), and South Africa (n = 166) either read a self-targeted or a family-targeted fear appeal message about chlamydia. Seven aspects of individual cultural orientation were measured, and six effects of the different messages. Interactions between nationality and target of threat were found on perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, and danger control. Only for perceived susceptibility, a difference in cultural orientation partly explained this interaction. The outcomes add to the doubts about claims in earlier literature about the relevance of receivers’ nationality and cultural orientation for developing a fear appeal message.     

Do EFL Teachers ‘Critically’ Engage in Cultural Awareness? A Mixed-Method Investigation

ABSTRACT

This study explored 150 EFL teachers’ perceptions of critical cultural awareness (CCA) considering their teaching context, academic degree, and professional development programs. The participants all completed the CCA questionnaire, fifteen of whom also sat a semi-structured qualitative interview. Our findings showed, a) EFL teachers’ perceptions of CCA located at a medium level, b) the PhD participants showed significantly higher engagement in CCA than their BA and MA counterparts, c) private language institute teachers reported higher levels of CCA than their state-run school counterparts and d) local professional development programs did not emphasize culture teaching in general and CCA in particular.     

Cultural Exchanges in Full Bloom Achievements of cultural exchanges since the 17th National People’s Congress

China-EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue: On February 1st, 2012, Rosas Danst Rosas presented by ROSAS and the Chinese dance Linchi offered by Guangdong Modern Dance Company in BOZAR were set as the prelude of China-EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue. The two dances focus on     

‘Mothers Have Become Monsters’: Danger,Distress and Deviance in British Evangelical Depictions of Indian Motherhood, 1757–1857

ABSTRACT

Images of maternal distress and maternal deviance were frequently invoked in order to mobilise British women in support of her ‘heathen’ sisters overseas. Yet these accounts were not uniform in their interpretation of Indian maternity, or its relationship to emerging Victorian ideals of motherhood. This paper explores ideas of maternal danger, distress and deviance as they appeared in evangelical and colonial discourses of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, revealing complex and ambivalent responses and challenging the idea that Indian woman were simply one-dimensional signifiers of victimhood within gendered constructions of the ‘civilising mission’.     

Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Continuity and Change of the Lex Rhodia's Jettison Principles in Roman and Medieval Mediterranean Rulings

Jettison is the practice of throwing goods overboard in order to lighten and consequently save a vessel, as well as the lives of those on board. This phenomenon has long been part of seafaring, with the dangers of navigation not having changed since ancient times. Accordingly, various bodies of maritime law emerged in the medieval era to handle the consequences of such events. This article will discuss how the principles of jettison and general average introduced by the Lex Rhodia and maintained in Roman law were understood in some medieval regulations. Although most legal texts indicate a common understanding of the principles of general average, opinions vary widely on details of procedure and events covered by the rulings. This analysis will show how the rules of jettison and general average are treated in different contexts and by the diverse societies administering them.     

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.     

Challenging Colorblindness in Arizona: Latina/o Students’ Counter-Narratives of Race and Racism

This essay reviews Latina/o students' counter-narratives challenging colorblindness. The author highlights the experiences of students from Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program. By examining student counter-narratives, the author also identifies race-related terms that are more suitable for dialogue among and with young Latinas/os of the post-civil rights generation.     

Sinologists Gathered in BeijingSymposium Held to Develop Chinese Studies and International Cultural Dial-e简

<正>Hosted by the Ministry of Culture and co-organized by Chinese National Academy of Arts and Centre of International Cultural Exchange,the Symposium on Sinolog...     

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.     

China Cultural Center in Seoul:Photo Exhibition on the 70 Anniversary of China’s Foreign Assistance

In January 2021,China Cultural Center in Seoul launched an Online Photo Exhibition on the 70^(th)Anniversary of China's Foreign Assistance on its new media plat...     

Fear Appeals in Health Communication: Should the Receivers’ Nationality or Cultural Orientation be Taken into Account?

This study investigated the influence of both nationality and cultural orientation on reactions to fear appeal messages including a self-targeted or a family-targeted threat. Participants from Spain (n = 138) and from the Netherlands (n = 127) either read a version of a story that accentuated the misery of a girl suffering from chlamydia, or a version that focused on her parents’ sorrow. Cultural orientation was assessed using a scale for measuring individualism and collectivism, and a scale for measuring familism. Contrary to claims from the earlier studies, neither nationality nor cultural orientation proved to interact with message version on any of the outcome variables.     

2013 China - ASEAN Cultural Forum in GuangxiText by Zi Yue＇er and photo by Dong Lianshui

2013 China-ASEAN Cultural Forum was held from September 10 to 11 in Nanning,capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China.Vice Minister of Culture Dong Wei attended the forum and gave a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.Mr.Li Kang,Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,UNESCO official Timothy Curtis,cultural officials and professionals from China and ASEAN countries attended the meeting.