Investigating Identity: Gender,Overseas Experience,and Japanese Youth

Identity is prominent in academia, despite it being difficult to define and measure due to its dynamic and multifaceted nature. In Japan, awareness of the make-up of Japanese youth is increasingly crucial as Japan becomes a more internationalized and ageing society. This paper examines, by identity mapping and discriminant analysis, the cultural identities of 94 Japanese youth. While strong Global identities separated the respondents with from without overseas experience, ties to National identities and Relationships were found respectively for males and females. This paper suggests that regarding the study of cultural identities, gender does matter – at least in Japan.     

Identity exploration,identity confusion,and openness as predictors of multicultural ideology

Research has indicated benefits to individuals and society of holding a multicultural versus colorblind ideology. This cross-sectional study tested the association of endorsement of multiculturalism with the individual difference constructs of identity exploration, identity confusion, and openness. Participants were 188 college students who completed a survey. Multiple regression analyses indicated that identity exploration, identity confusion, and openness independently predicted multicultural ideology. Additionally, identity exploration and identity confusion interacted such that identity exploration was associated with multiculturalism when identity confusion was low, but not when identity confusion was high. These findings indicate that general individual differences in personality and identity are predictive of cultural-related attitudes, and have implications for the design of interventions aimed at increasing multiculturalism.     

Demographic and Religious Differences in the Dimensions of Self-Disclosure Among Hindus and Muslims in India

This paper discusses a survey, carried out by the authors, of Hindu and Muslim men and women in six Indian states to determine if social/cultural identities influenced self-disclosure. Specifically, an individual's sex, religious, and state identity were investigated. Results indicated that across religions, women disclosed more than men. Comparisons based on religious identification and state of birth revealed significant differences between Hindus and Muslims and between states of birth on self-disclosure. Results also suggest the predictive power of religious identification and state of birth vary dependent upon the dimensions of self-disclosure. Implications for future research include further examination of aspects of identity related to self-disclosure.     

Peripheral Ritualized Practices—Threads Connecting Decorations to the Cloak of Identity

This is an ethnographic study which investigates the practices of language maintenance and ethnic identity affiliation for immigrant/migrant Nepalese families with primary to middle school children in the United Kingdom. The study presents a comparative case study analysis of three Nepalese immigrant/migrant families. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and historical narrative interview were used. The study investigated prior exposure to home country, ethnic, cultural, and social literacy practices that occurred in various contexts during a nine-month period. This analysis revealed a phenomenon I termed peripheral ritualized practices. Exposure to peripheral ritualized practices over time creates positive changes in attitudes toward multilingualism and diversity.     

Minority Cultures and Social Media: Magnifying Garifuna

This paper looks at social media use by the Garifuna people. It explores how they are using social media to create a supraterritorial cyberscape. Despite the claim that global media is marginalising minority cultures and causing global homogenisation, this research found that newer forms of social media are in fact creating virtual cultural cyberscapes that are extending minority cultures. The Garifuna cultural response to social media can be demonstrative of the positive impact of social media minority perspectives. The larger implication, though, is that traditional geographical models of cultural space are becoming obsolete. In this research, a total of 60 Garifuna in locations all across the United States and Honduras were selected for participation. Their access to and use of media were examined.     

Cultural Diplomacy,Branding and the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20

The Global Cultural Initiative (GCI) was a flagship cultural diplomacy effort introduced by the Bush Administration in the mid-2000s; one project of this initiative was the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20, a program of 19 films from five continents scheduled to tour the United States and abroad. This paper is a historical exploration into how the Bush Administration reconstructed American identity and culture through framing, and how that framing was embedded within cultural diplomacy initiatives like the GCI. This paper contributes to an understanding of how intercultural dialogue is often based on key messages and constructed ideas.     

基于特征数据的开放式同行评议关键因素的实证分析

【目的】对影响开放式同行评议实践的相关因素进行实证研究,发掘开放式同行评议的关键影响因素。【方法】以Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)中开放式同行评议期刊为研究对象,通过网络爬取相关数据。采用变量分类赋值的方式,对影响开放式同行评议的相关定性因素进行量化分析。采用多重对应分析图展示开放式同行评议相关影响因素及其不同类别的内在关联;采用最优尺度回归模型揭示相关影响因素对开放评议类型的影响程度。【结果】开放评议类型与评议专家身份的公开类别具有极密切的关联,评议专家身份对开放评议类型有显著正向影响,且重要性程度值非常高。【结论】评议专家身份是否公开成为开放式同行评议实践模式的关键影响因素,透明性同行评议是当前开放评议行之有效的实践模式。     

‘We can do it’: Community,resistance, social solidarity,and long-term volunteering at a sport event

Much research on volunteers has focused on who the volunteers are, and what motivates them on an individual level. This study, however, aims to contextualize the long-term commitment found in a whole community of volunteers and to explain this pattern of collective volunteering not in terms of individual motivations but in terms of broader social processes. Data gathered from interviews with volunteers in Vikersund, Norway, and the analysis of local and national press coverage in the years leading up to the 2013 World Cup in Ski flying in Vikersund suggest that long-term volunteering can be understood in terms of (i) a high level of social integration (socialization, institutionalization); (ii) the creation of a collective identity focused around the ski flying hill; and (iii) the maintenance and reinforcement of strong community identity and social solidarity by local resistance to the perceived hostility of outside organizations. This focus on the broader community/social processes has implications for researchers examining sport event volunteers as well as managers of recurring sport events wishing to retain volunteers.     

基于社会认同的旅游体验研究

随着中国经济的快速发展,旅游已经成为人们生活的一个重要组成部分,传统的单一观光型旅游已经不能适合人们日益增加的旅游需求。因此研究消费者进行旅游的深层次原因,特别是消费者在旅游时所体现出的社会层面的需求显得非常重要。对其进行研究可以在开发新的旅游产品和服务时更多的加入社会层面的体验,将使消费者在旅游中获得更大程度的满足。本研究通过将社会认同理论引入消费者的旅游活动中,探索消费者的认同感是否会影响其对旅游产品的选择与消费。本研究最后进行了社会认同理论在旅游体验中的发展趋势及策略研究。     

Are You My Grandmother?: Constructing and Maintaining Stepgrandparent Identity and Roles

The disruption of the biological family unit due to divorce or separation followed by remarriage or re-partnering has a profound impact on every family member, including extended family members. An individual becomes a stepgrandparent through later life re-partnering, when an adult child becomes a stepparent, or when a stepchild becomes a parent. In order to gain a greater understanding of the communication influencing the development and maintenance of stepgrandparent roles and identity, a qualitative interpretive analysis method was employed as a guide for interviews with 41 adult stepfamily members across two generations of stepfamily membership: stepparents and stepgrandparents.