Somewhere in the Middle: The Measurement of Third Culture

This study explores the concept of “third culture,” which has not been tested by quantified measures since it was introduced. This study develops the 10-item measurement of third culture based on three dimensions—equality, commonality, and transcendence. Two hundred and fifteen international married individuals from 42 countries participated in a self-administered email survey. The findings indicated that the new scale is reliable and functions as a single dimension instead of as three subdimensions. Suggestions for future study as well as several implications on theory and methodology are discussed, drawing on the experience of this study.     

Passing on Political Information between Major Powers: The Key Role of Ambassadors between Byzantium and some of its Neighbours

Ambassadors and embassies were numerous between Byzantium and its Muslim and Western Christian neighbours during the Middle Byzantine Period. This article seeks to demonstrate that these official envoys constituted major players involved in the transfer of political information between the courts considered. Ambassadors were those who travelled the most in the Mediterranean area during our period – at least between 700 and 900. Furthermore, as official envoys acting for sovereigns, they were carefully listened to by those sovereigns when they returned. Information coming from ambassadors is found in various sources and concerned military matters and foreign policy. But we also find precise data on domestic affairs and internal political information. Furthermore, news of usurpations and troubles in Byzantium may have constituted an important part of the information transferred beyond the Empire. Foreign ambassadors witnessed usurpations and palace revolutions. Their testimonies could have nourished the idea of a Byzantine government weakened by political instability and this theme became prominent during the twelfth century in some Western Christian courts.     

Color characterization of roofing slates from the Iberian Peninsula for restoration purposes

Substitution of slate roofing tiles is a conventional operation during building restoration, since tiles are very difficult to restore or clean because of the high degree of alteration they suffer. Criteria for replacement of historical building stones must be based on geological, geotechnical and esthetic parameters, among which color is of great importance. In this sense, this paper constitutes a comprehensive and useful colorimetric study of roofing slates from the Iberian Peninsula, for the purposes of restoration. The color of 50 commercial varieties of roofing slate mined in quarries from the 12 mining districts in the Iberian Peninsula was analyzed with a spectrophotometer device, by considering the CIELAB color space. The results of the study were used to develop a protocol for characterizing the color of roofing slate and to define the color range of roofing slate from the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the similarities and differences in the color and microstructure of the different commercial varieties of Iberian roofing slate were established and the limit of acceptability of replacement of one type of slate by another was determined. Parameter h_ab was found to be the most important CIELAB color coordinate as regards the formation of homogeneous color groups, and the specular component excluded (SCE) mode was most sensitive as regards detecting color differences between two samples.     

Measuring Communication Styles in the Malaysian Workplace: Instrument Development and Validation

The aim of the present study is to access communication style in the Malaysian workplace through the development and validation of a communication scale appropriate to the Malaysian workplace. The analysis involved data from 200 state development employees, and construct and criterion-related validation using data from 510 employees, representing three organizations in Malaysia. The results provided support for the use of language (pekerti) and communication and interaction (bicara) as crucial communication dimensions for the Malaysian workplace, which are identified from the item-generation procedure.     

论文化互动教育研究的价值取向、对象与方法

在联合国教科文组织大力推进文化互动教育走向国际化的进程中,愈来愈多的国家开始关注并积极助推文化互动教育的现代发展。纵观当前我国学界关于文化互动教育的研究成果,价值取向上,理论价值与实践价值并举;研究对象上,宏观、中观与微观相联结;研究方法上,时间—历史研究与空间—比较研究相互演进。然而,文化互动教育研究依然存在着理论研究的“薄弱化”、实践研究的“片段化”、综合研究的“浅表化”等问题。为此,今后的相关研究需要注重丰富更多视域的理论研究、畅显文化互动教育的具体实践研究、开展三观互联的综合性研究。     

We make the road by walking together: New teachers and the collaborative and context-specific appropriation of shared social justice-oriented practices and concepts

This study examined the work of a collaborative group of six new United States-based social studies teachers from the same social justice-oriented teacher education program (SJOTEP). Shared practices and concepts introduced previously in the SJOTEP were developed and appropriated to their classrooms and schools in consideration of the local context, through the collaborative problem-solving process of the group. It is argued that SJOTEPs and TEPs committed to issues of diversity, democracy, inclusion, and/or equity should be collaboration-based, teach a coherent and consistent social justice-focused curriculum, and provide post-graduation collaborative support and research it.     

Policy rhetoric and the renovation of English schooling: the case of Creative Partnerships

My critical evaluation of the government's White Paper, Learning to Succeed: a new framework for post-16 learning, which was published in the Journal of Educational Policy (2000, 15(2), 237-246) has provoked a critique by Pat Ainley, which is the main purpose of this section of the journal on Documents and Debates. He claims that my article suffers from two sins of omission: first, I am apparently unaware that the new legislation excludes higher education; and second, I have apparently failed to see that the Learning and Skills Council may become a new Leviathan rather than a new enlightenment. Both criticisms are, in my opinion, wide of the mark for the reasons given below, and this response ends with some comments on Pat Ainley's contribution.     

施奈德翻译的寒山诗对寒山文化身份的限制与重构

中国唐代诗人寒山在美国文化中被接受的原因在于,译者施奈德为了迎合垮掉派亚文化运动的意识形态建构,对寒山的文化身份进行了限定和重塑,使寒山具有了杂合的文化身份,从而使其成为美国垮掉派的精神领袖,在改变美国道德和文化方面发挥了意想不到的作用。     

Redefining Hijab: American Muslim Women's Standpoints on Veiling

Feminist standpoint theory suggests that, although powerful discourses attempt to define women on the “margins” of society, women's cultural positions provide them with heightened understandings of the contradictions between their experiences and the ways the dominant group defines them. Thus, while many Americans believe hijab—also called a “veil” or “headscarf”—functions to oppress women, veiled women probably possess alternative understandings. In this study, 13 veiled American Muslim women share their experiences, and under the lens of standpoint theory, the participants' definition of hijab emerges. Specifically, the women inscribe hijab with meanings shaped by their unique cultural standpoints. Hijab functions to define Muslim identity, perform a behavior check, resist sexual objectification, afford more respect, preserve intimate relationships, and provide freedom.