Past and present clashes as a source of humor

Swimming in the Dark

Reviewed by: Lesser Dragons: Minority Peoples of China by Michael Dillon Kaitlin Banfill (bio) Michael Dillon. Lesser Dragons: Minority Peoples of China. London: Reaktion Books, 2019. 254 pp. Hardcover $40.00, ISBN 978-1-78023-911-8. The diversity of China's 55 "official" ethnic minority groups (shaoshu minzu) has been a topic of much fascination amongst western scholars since the beginning of the reform era in 1978, when social scientists and historians could resume in-depth academic studies in the PRC. However, the social histories of the peoples classified as China's 55 ethnic minorities are by no means monolithic, nor is their relationship to the Chinese state. In Lesser Dragons, Michael Dillon demonstrates how divergent historical contexts, as well as the politics of ethnic classification in the PRC, have come to bear on contemporary ethnic minority identities and relationships with the state. Much of this complexity is a result of the PRC's project of ethnic classification in the 1950s, during which the notion of ethnic minority groups in China was originally derived from Stalin's categories of nationalities defined in 1913 as "a historically constituted community of people, having a common territory, a common language, a common economic life and a common psychological makeup which expresses itself in a common culture" (Mullaney 2010). While some groups fit this definition, the situation is much more complicated than this, and as anthropologist Stevan Harrell (2001) explains, there are two major additional types of ethnic groups in China. The first type is "ethnic conglomerates" or combinations of a variety of ethnic groups with a large geographic and linguistic range in to one category such as Yi, Naxi, Zhuang, etc. Because of the vast diversity in Southwest China, the state was hesitant to classify each culturally distinct group as a separate ethnic group, thus leading to the practice of lumping various marginally related peoples together. The second type is, "subsumed nations" with histories of unified independent governance, such as Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians who often have had a troubled relationship with the Chinese state, which continues to treat them as "minorities" despite their histories of self-rule. As Dillon's [End Page 293] book shows, these various sociopolitical contexts have shaped the ways in which different groups interact with the state. This book is structured into an introduction, twelve chapters, and a conclusion. In the introduction, Dillon describes the Han, the majority ethnic group in the PRC, as "greater dragons," while minorities are "lesser dragons." He begins with debunking the myth that China is a homogenous nation with unchanging borders throughout history. Yet he is clear to point out the political and nationalist attachment towards an unbroken China is part of the motivation to subsume ethnic borderlands such as Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia. Chapter 1 provides further background on ethnic classification in the early years of the Chinese republic and the PRC. Dillon points out that ideas of ethnicity are directly linked to racial discourse in the early twentieth century, during which anti-Manchurian sentiment solidified the idea of the Han as a distinct group with common customs and hereditary, effectively otherizing ethnic difference. The PRC has largely continued to uphold this attitude towards ethnic difference, fluctuating between periods of moderate acceptance and harsh intolerance. While the early 1950s saw a flourishing of ethnic language standardization and cultural programs, including the founding of Nationalities Universities, the political turmoil of the 1960s–70s forced conformity to Han norms. The post-1978 reform era resumed emphasis of ethnic unity (minzu tuanjie) and multiculturalism as well as nationalities work (minzu gongzuo) programs designed to benefit minorities such as fiscal subsidies and educational policies. However, as Dillon explains, the goal of ethnic unity often becomes less important during incidents of unrest. Throughout the remainder of the book, Dillon demonstrates these complex state society interactions in the context of various ethnic groups. In Chapters 2 and 3, Dillon begins his series of case studies on ethnicity in China. Chapter 2 focuses on the case study of multicultural Beijing, showing that multiculturalism is in fact at the heart of the nation's capital. Lama temple, with multilayered Manchu, Mongolia, and Tibetan influences, highlights a tradition of pluralism...

Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Unmet Need for Mental Health Care: Results From the NSDUH

Motivation: There is growing awareness that a new model of capitalism is emerging. The 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis was a catalyst for redefining the role of the state in the economy, and as a result state involvement in the economy has been on the rise since then. We can also observe changes in political situation: democracy has been backsliding globally, authoritarian, and populist tendencies are growing. In some countries, those two tendencies are present, and as a result the illiberal model of state capitalism emerged. In recent years, in Poland, state involvement in the economy was growing and authoritarian tendencies were visible. In this context, it is worth asking if there is an illiberal model of state capitalism in Poland?Aim: The aim of the presented paper is to evaluate the political and economic situation in Poland and to check whether there are changes that could be interpreted as building illiberal state capitalism.Results: The results indicate that in Poland many illiberal statist tendencies could be identified.

Tekst omawia problem działalności szpiegowskiej wobec Polski w okresie 1944–1989. Analiza ta została wzbogacana danymi ilościowymi z okresu 1944–1984 w zakresie skazań za udział w obcym wywiadzie, działanie na jego rzecz oraz przekazywanie informacji. Problematykę szpiegostwa przedstawiono na przykładzie działalności USA, co zostało zobrazowane przykładami poszczególnych osób, które zostały skazane za działalność szpiegowską. W rozważeniu problemu badawczego posłużono się dokumentami i analizami opracowanymi przez Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych, głównie przeznaczonymi dla pracowników Służby Bezpieczeństwa i Milicji Obywatelskiej. W pracy podjęto się zweryfikowania następujących pytań badawczych: (1) W jakim stopniu charakter systemu społeczno-politycznego wpływał na liczbę skazań za szpiegostwo wobec Polski w analizowanym okresie 1944–1989?; (2) Jaki był poziom zainteresowania wywiadowczego obcych służb specjalnych Polską przed 1990 r.?; (3) Czy można wskazać na specyfikę działalności wywiadowczej USA przeciw Polsce?

Editor's Note: This paper has been edited for the Bulletin from Mr. Lu's much longer submission to the SIG/III 2002 International Paper Competition, in which it was awarded first place. The original article contains numerous references to support the statistics and data presented here, but space precludes including them in the Bulletin. Mr. Lu presented his paper at the 2002 ASIST Annual Meeting. The new technological revolution with digitization, networking and information as its major features is sweeping across the globe and exerting great influence upon social, political, economic and cultural activities as well as people's daily lives. Sharing global resources requires many diverse databases. Ever since the end of the 1980s, based on their faster economic development, Southern, Eastern, Northern and Central China have started digitization of traditional Chinese information resources and have achieved a certain level of progress. There were only 806 (mainly bibliographic) databases in 1991, but they had increased to over 8000 in 2000. However, Western China, which is rich in historical and cultural resources, has lagged behind in information digitization and has been unable to turn its resource advantage into a development advantage. Western China has started construction of digital libraries, but only some traditional catalogs (with various forms of entries) and a limited number of small graphical and textual databases for local tourism or about minority ethnic group traditions have been made available. These databases also suffer from problems of uneven quality, unnecessary duplication and low rates of access and utilization. There is no authorized agency for coordination of information resource acquisition or digital base construction in Western China. Western China This paper focuses on the special characteristics and position of Western China literature resources; their distribution in major libraries in Western China; existing problems in collecting, organizing and providing access to these special resources; governmental policies and investments for information resource development; and possible approaches for developing the special resource digital databases in Western China. Western China is composed of the following 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions: Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet, Guangxi and Inner Mongolia. This vast area includes 53.8 million square kilometers (56 percent of the country) and 358.46 million people (in 1999), or 23 percent of the total. Western China boasts very rich natural and cultural resources. Among China's 56 diverse nationalities, 44 of them are in Western China. Western China is also the location of such important and symbolic historical cultural remains as the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, the terra cotta figures of warriors in the First Emperor's Mausoleum, the ancient Loulan Kingdom, the Yuanmou Man site, the Potala Palace and the southern and northern Silk Routes. Western China Literatures as discussed in this paper refers to the following resources: Local literatures – the information of specific localities that assumes the role of carrier of their culture, comprehensively recording and maintaining the historical conditions and events related to the local politics, economy, culture, education and other important information The literature of local nationalities or ethnic groups collected and maintained in the public libraries. Other multimedia literatures to be developed in the Western China. The second category, the literature of nationalities (or ethnic groups), is the totality of the specially-featured literature resources about their history, geography, humanism, natural surroundings, economic conditions, culture and so forth formed and accumulated in specific historical periods and specific regions. Due to the special features of the social histories, economies and cultures of the minority nationalities, their historical literatures can be divided into some basic types: Orally Transmitted Literatures: A few ethnic groups did not develop writing scripts of their own in history, and their understanding of the natural world and their society was passed on generation by generation usually by means of the oral dictation. Even those ethnic groups who had their own scripts commonly resorted to oral transmission for passing on information, experience and knowledge. Simple Graphic Symbol Literatures: A few of the minority nationalities used simple graphic patterns to record and transfer cultural information. For instance, those on woodcuts, bamboo carvings, stone carvings, gravestone inscriptions, sculptures or bronze ware reflect the production, life, historical events and historical figures, religious legends and religious dances of the minority nationalities. This kind of literature can often be collected and maintained by means of replicating, rubbing or photographic copying. Textual Literatures of Minority Nationalities: Some ethnic groups used or are currently still using their own writing scripts for recording and transferring their cultural information. For example, among the 26 nationalities in Yunnan, there are 11 nationalities that formerly used 24 writing scripts. Through the reform of their writing system, currently there are 21 systems available for these 11 minority groups to use. Historical literatures written in such scripts are rather plentiful, forming, for instance, the Dongba literature in the Dongba pictographic characters of the Naxi people, the Yi literature, the Tibetan literature, the Mongolian literature, the Bai literature. Literatures Containing Cultural Information about Specific Ethnic Groups Written in Chinese or the Writing Systems of Other Nationalities: In China the writing system of the majority Han nationality is dominant, and it is directly and indirectly used for recording the cultural information of minority nationalities or ethnic groups. The huge volume of such writings is very valuable. And there are many other materials that are the object of study for scholars interested in the distinctive cultures, history and geography of Western China. These include archeological or other preserved sites and areas, as well as artistic and historical artifacts such as the oracle bone scripts, bamboo tablets, wooden tablets, silk books and their hand-sheets, block-printed copies, ancient calligraphy works and paintings, and inscription rubbings. According to incomplete statistics, various libraries in China hold more than 2.2 million volumes of "rare" books made before 1794; 26.45 million volumes of "ancient" books published before 1911; and 6300 periodicals, magazines and newspapers published before 1949. A part of these materials has been micro-processed in libraries for protection and utilization. The statistics by the end of 1999 show that 36.3 million camera shots had been done in the whole country, involving 2349 rare books, 2160 newspapers and 8325 periodicals. Another part of these materials will be processed for safekeeping by using the digital techniques. But, only the National Library and the local libraries of Shanghai City, Zhejiang Province, Guangdong Province and Shenzhen City currently do the above micro-processing. In Western China, only Guangxi Library has established a certain number of database entries, including 560,000 catalog records, and a small number of the small-scale, specialized full-text databases. However, the provinces and autonomous regions that are extremely rich in literature resources such as Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Guizhou, Yunnan and Inner Mongolia have not yet started to carry out literature information digitization. Take Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Library as an example. Its collections of Mongolian literature are extremely plentiful and are in an independent system. Among them are 7800 volumes of ancient Mongolian books and 71,200 volumes of Mongolian books published after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in addition to 6300 volumes of Slav-Mongolian books, 14,600 volumes of ancient Tibetan books and 3400 volumes of ancient Manchu books. In these collections, there are the full sets of the Tibetan version of "Ganjur" scripture and the Mongolian versions of both "Ganjur" and "Danjur" scriptures. Currently, there are 44,730 volumes of Tibetan and Chinese local literature books in Inner Mongolia that are carefully kept in the library. Through scores of years of collation and processing, the book collections in the major libraries in Western China have formed comparatively complete systems in their structures, having considerable scale and special features. They are among the most important collections of Western China literature held by libraries and our first choice for the digitization. At present, however, the level of construction and management for China's libraries is still low in comparison with that of the developed countries, and this gap is prominent in Western China. By the end of 2001 in China, there were altogether 2689 public libraries above the county level, of which 963 were in the 12 provinces and regions in Western China (2001 statistics). They held 136.8 million books of around 400 million books in the whole country. In these areas there were 13 provincial libraries keeping 24.78 million books of 132 million in all the provincial libraries in China. The problems of inadequate book collections, low book quality, poor library facilities and shortage of book purchase funds at various levels of libraries have not been solved yet. In the year 2000, 738 or 27.6 percent of the libraries in China did not purchase even one new book for a whole year; 70 percent of these libraries are located in Western China. As the pace of economic globalization increases, the Chinese government has been emphasizing the importance and urgency of speeding up information system construction to raise China's comprehensive competitiveness. The government has promulgated relevant rules and regulations and has instructed the ministries and commissions concerned to work out detailed implementation guidelines and applicable measures. The government of China has started to realize that digital libraries are key to construction of the digitalized China. Starting with the implementation of the Ninth Five-Year Plan in China, the Chinese central government has increased its investments in the construction of information resource databases, and the local governments allot large amounts of funds for basic research and development of information databases in concerted actions with the central government, which has made special-purpose financial appropriations available. By the end of 2001 the central government of China and the local governments involved had respectively made investments of 8.16 billion and 14.916 billion Yuan RMB (about 1 billion and 1.8 billion US dollars) to improve hardware in local libraries and support digitization. The National Library and the Shanghai Library consecutively launched digital library projects, and the provinces and regions in Western China also made positive responses. Nonetheless, almost all of the above support has been concentrated in the Eastern China areas. Only one project has been supported in Western China at Yunnan Provincial Library with funding in excess of 50 million Yuan (about 6.05 million USD). In May 2000 the Chinese Ministry for Cultures (Proposals Concerning Western China Development Strategies and Strengthening Western China's Cultural Construction) put forward 15 suggestions to promote the construction of a public library network system and digital libraries in the Western China areas. In August 2000 the Ministry of Science and Technology pointed out the importance of digitalization of Western China ( Proposals Concerning Scientific and Technological Work in Western China Development). The General Planning for the Western China Development in the Period of the Tenth Five-Year Plan clearly pointed out the importance of vigorously pushing forward information system construction in the large and medium-sized cities, perfecting the computer information networks and developing the public information service platforms (Leading Team for Western China Development, State Council. General Planning for Western China Development During the Tenth "Five-Year Plan," July 2002). "Proposals Concerning Several Policies and Measures for Western China Development" (Leading Team for Western China Development, State Council, August 2001) also emphasized the favorable policies adopted for the use of the state special-purpose subsidy funds both for cultural facility maintenance and for the cultural units at and above the county level in the border areas in Western China. Besides, the provinces and regions in Western China, when formulating the development guidelines adopted in the Tenth Five-Year Plan, all took information system construction as the priority for their near future work, in which resource digitization again stands at the fore. In May 2002 the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance issued the "Circular Regarding Application of the All-China Cultural Information Resource Sharing Projects." The circular also pointed out that the first batch of the 25-million-Yuan (3 million USD) special purpose funds for the "Sharing Projects" arranged by the central government as well as the relevant complementary funds to be allotted by the local governments for the year should mainly be used to support Western China and other underdeveloped areas for grassroots center construction. As of May 2002, 12 libraries in Western China had been enlisted among the member libraries covered by the digitization projects. In China the state information infrastructure construction has taken shape, and the main communication network has also been established, which includes the data network, the optical fiber trunk network, the ATM network, the SHD synchronous digital serial network and the optical fiber linkage network. The wide-band networks under construction in some large and medium-sized cities in Western China will provide the necessary communication platform to carry out Western China literature resource digitization. According to Xu Wenbo, the head of China Digital Library Development Strategy Group, the targets to be achieved for the construction of databases in the China Digital Library Project include that the system should be distributed with uniform standards, be able to work on unified network platform and be expandable (Xu, W. Thoughts on Creating Digital Libraries. May 2002. Available at www.ccnt.com.cn/library/luntan/show.htm?id=20010302002). The digitization of Western China information resources should stress selection and quality rather than scope or amount of development at the initial phase. It has a very clearly defined target to enrich the Chinese network resources to allow the country's characteristics to be more fully and perfectly exposed through the global Chinese resource networks. The establishment of a special resource database in Western China is an indispensable link in the formation of the all-China Chinese database groups and similar to the construction of special databases in other regions or localities. Such databases in Western China could not be implemented independent of the general framework of the state distributed asynchronous system of the Chinese resources. Since the Western China provinces and regions are vast in area with relatively poor communications and ill-balanced development in library facilities, each library involved in the special database development and construction should assign relevant personnel to investigate local resources as their conditions allows. They should study and collect relevant information material in such sources as the cultural organizations, art groups, museums, nationality communities, religious communities and geological departments, as well as the villages in all the districts, prefectures and cities. The construction of the resource databases should be phased and layered to establish the multiple hierarchies of the database protection systems step by step. Participating libraries and enterprises should start with small special projects that can eventually converge into the state-level special information resource database group services. Some steps necessary to ensure eventual merger include the following: Each library should finish their investigations within a specific period and work out "White Paper Books for the Construction of Special Local and Minority Nationalities Literature Database." They should develop plans for "Special Resource Catalogs" at that point and proceed to build up the catalog databases for special books for their own libraries. Finally, they should sum up the raw materials, do the online checks for duplicate records to avoid repeated construction and ensure the completeness of the materials collected. Based on the China Combined Catalogs of the Local Literatures, China Catalogs of Rare Books, and the Catalogs of Literatures for Minority Nationalities, as worked out by each library with support from the literature information organizations that have completed catalog database construction for standard books, the special book catalog databases of Western China should be organized and established as soon as possible. These catalogs can be the basis of the local combined catalogs, can perfect and standardize the construction of the catalog data, promote inter-library loan and resource sharing and greatly reduce duplication of effort in database construction. The projects should comprehensively utilize the database resources established and under current construction by various literature information organizations. Asynchronous database platforms for the special resources should be constructed and the unnecessary duplication of effort by libraries should be avoided so as to form a number of special literature resource database groups in a short period of time. If a project for a specialized database has been started, it is necessary to pay special attention and ensure that the general design method and general framework planning for this digital system is in appropriate coherence with the state construction plan for digital libraries. Each library should investigate and analyze the original data available from the special full-text databases in existence or under the current construction as well as from electronic publications. There should be an appropriate way to use and catalog those non-digital media resources from radio broadcasting stations and television stations as well as from research units of various kinds, artistic groups and personages. The relevant software such as text-retrieval systems or optical character recognition could be used to do the necessary transformation and processing. The first step would be to make a great effort to produce multimedia databases with high quality content that relate to ecological tourism, ethnic culture, rare species, special minerals, flowers, butterflies, and ethnic dances, plays, operas and costume as the trial project to introduce the resources of a certain area. The resources on the Internet should be effectively organized and utilized in support of the key projects and the key disciplinary development direction to build up all the specialized databases. Scientific, standardized and normalized digital database construction is the fundamental element of network information dissemination. Standardization in libraries in Western China has lagged behind that in other parts of the country, especially with respect to seeking, collecting, cataloging, indexing and managing local literatures. The literatures of nationalities and their ancient books, in most cases, were handled by different libraries in different ways. Up to now, nearly all the classification systems seen or heard of in other parts of China such as "Four-Division Classification," "Liu Guojun Classification," "Pi Gaopin Classification" and the "Dewey Decimal Classification" have been adopted to classify the collections of special literatures in the libraries of Western China, including those at the provincial level. To implement the digitization of the ancient book resources as national legacies, the first problem that must, therefore, be solved is the normalization and standardization of cataloging methods. In China, the State Standard Commission should provide the solutions ahead of the schedule for the digitization. For instance, it should work out the ancient book and literature classifications, ethno-nationality literature cataloging and indexing methods for unified use across China. In addition to meeting the literature processing standards, database construction must also be in compliance with the relevant network transfer protocols such as X.25, TCP/IP, ATM and DTM, as well as utilizing standard digital literature formats such as MARC, JPEG, GIF, PNC, PDF, MPEG-X, TXT, REALMAIDIL and MOV. It also needs to employ such mature network information processing tools as XML and the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol, which are in global use. Special database construction involves a great amount of ancient literatures and various kinds of unique and rare copies of books, and the information carrier forms include and bamboo and wooden tablets, silk books, books and books. in the of digitization, the problems that the libraries in Western China with literature – standard and protection – they also special These include data standard and for the relevant ancient books, the databases for literature written in the traditional Chinese characters and those in the and choice and classification for the ancient Chinese in the digitization of the local ethno-nationality the normalized and standardized software for processing nationality or ethnic writing scripts is also The and implementation of and have a and fundamental role in database construction in Western China and for its quality and level. can avoid the of repeated construction by and can reduce and the for data and libraries and in the with the technological and new and will also be and all of literature digitization, network system software and hardware should be done in and standard and and space should be for and in the Special literature databases are the important parts the general databases. have a with database and their data and data should have very In the database should be taken for database space planning and database management of the data data and data will be very important to future database the digitization of the literatures and their cultural resources, the will be put out in the form of databases. There is no these databases and other information systems in respect to the for system resource the to on various system and in The databases are for after so they must also very and each digital has for its The first is management as in the of the All-China Literature Resource The second is the distributed management Each member library is the and it the networks to complete and data The of this is to the local software and hardware some choice of the raw material for their databases and their implementation of and processing not be of The management is the of the distributed management in of the and The distributed management should be adopted it is much more for the current and future distributed database development for digital library resource databases in China is both of technological and the conditions in China, There is no for that can central databases. There are no special at the A distributed the to make use of the and space available on and of within the networks to complete library processing work that requires great amounts of database on the by through services. The and used by distributed are and the location of distributed on the networks and the systems in use are all to distributed have on the networks. Resource is the most part of digital library and it is also the of the digital information platforms The development of digital libraries can the of each resource and the construction of databases that their special features. protection for literature resources and them from large of resources on the of and various kinds of media resources around different areas and the of resource the standardization and normalization of the literature the of network and computer in library construction and Based on these the of this through his and of the existing conditions in Western China, including problems in library construction here, has formed the following should be construction planning should be worked should be made to converge and the raw material of the resources. methods should be Construction should be and through an effort be able to the and the in the construction of the digital libraries in Western China. should be that in Western China there are very rich and ecological resources as well as their literature, especially the resources. with the development and transformation of economy, society and cultures, especially with the and in the scope and of the of people, the resources in Western China are the of and that in other developing should utilize all means to develop and promote the Western China resources, to turn its resource into the development and to to the great of Chinese information resources.

The official Afrikaans Bible translations, published in 1933/1953, 1983 and 2020, influenced Reformed theology, sociopolitical perceptions and the role of the church in society. These issues bled through in the translations via the hermeneutical scope of the different eras. This study focuses on the influence of the hermeneutic foundations of the translators on the content, style and linguistic choices in these translations. The differences between the translations are quite obvious to the reader and a reflection of the fact that different translation strategies were followed. There were vastly different sociopolitical and religious contexts prevailing during the different translation projects. Not only did the sociohistorical setting in South Africa undergo dramatic changes, but internationally there were historic events, such as the two World Wars, the rise and fall of communism, globalisation and the rapid development of technology and the Internet. No official hermeneutic strategies were documented or self-reflectively employed by the translators of the Afrikaans Bibles and therefore this study will approach the hermeneutics of the translations from a descriptive point of view. Sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts together with developments in theological reflection will provide the background for understanding the prevailing hermeneutics of the translations.Contribution: A new Afrikaans Bible was released in 2020, and a need arose to put the Afrikaans translations in applicable hermeneutical contexts. This discussion provides insights into the hermeneutical backgrounds of the three official Afrikaans translations. This contributes to the knowledge base of Afrikaans Bible translations and provides new insights into the hermeneutics of these translations.

This article investigates the impact of several sources of method bias on the cross-cultural comparison of attitudes towards gender roles and family ties among non-Western minority ethnic groups. In particular, it investigates how interviewer effects, the use of an interviewer with a shared ethnic background, interview language, interviewer gender, gender matching, the presence of others during the interview and differences in socio-demographic sample composition of non-Western minority ethnic groups affect the cross-cultural comparison of attitudes towards gender roles and family ties between these groups. The data used in this study come from a large scale face-to face survey conducted among the four largest non-Western minority ethnic groups in The Netherlands for which Statistics Netherlands drew a random sample of named individuals from each of the four largest non-Western minority populations living in The Netherlands. Furthermore, methods are introduced to estimate the potential impact of method bias on cross cultural comparisons. The results show that measurement of both gender roles and family ties constructs are full scalar invariant across the different ethnic groups, but that observed differences in attitudes between ethnic groups especially towards gender roles are influenced by method bias. This in turn leads to biased comparisons between ethnic groups because of differences in the size of the various sources of method bias, the differential impact of the same method bias between ethnic groups and the combination thereof.

Protestant Akha highlanders of Northern Thailand held a Silver Jubilee in 1987 celebrating the initial conversions to Christianity twenty-five years earlier. The Akha-language translation of the passage from the Gospel of Matthew selected as the Jubilee's theme evokes the image of a laden basket from a pre-Christian folktale accounting for the differentiation of Akha from other ethnic groups, and the Protestant Akha used this traditional image to separate themselves from non-Christian Akha. This paper explores the transformation of a symbolic vehicle for interethnic differentiation into a vehicle for intraethnic differentiation. Use of this laden basket image is viewed as part of intraethnic dialogues of identity, which are themselves embedded in dialogues of identity between Christian as well as traditionalist members of the Akha tribal minority and Buddhist Thai, who are Thailand's dominant majority both politically and culturally.

Even a brief review of the history of Iran clearly indicates that the country has always been the host of diverse ethnic groups during the past four millennia.' Hence, any generalisation concerning the Iranian society and culture is unsatisfactory unless the ethnicity is taken into consideration. Yet, surprisingly, the knowledge about the ethnicity and ethnic groups in Iran remains incomplete and demands clarification. There were no national censuses indicating the population types, geographical distribution, political, socio-economic, and linguistic situations in various ethnic environments in Iran. The lack of relevant information on the ethnic groups has led to incorrect assumptions about the nature of ethnicity and ethnic composition in Iran. For instance, while the total number of the Turkic-speaking groups in Iran, according to our estimations, does not exceed 9 millions,2 almost half of the population of the country (30 millions) are usually considered to be Turks. Furthermore, some scholars, mechanically identifying the speakers of Persian as a distinct ethnic unit (the 'Persians'), exclude those Iranians who speak dialects of Persian, or other Iranian dialects closely related to Persian.3 On the other hand, the Persian-speaking non-Iranian ethnic groups (such as, for instance, Arabs) are numbered as Persians. However, it is obvious that this approach to ethnicity in Iran is misleading, as historically all ethnic groups in Iran, including the 'Persians', irrespective of their origin, language, or religion were always referred to, collectively, as Iranians (Irani). Anyway, with the lack of precise demographical data, the groups of Iranian origin can be estimated around 85 percent of the population of Iran.

Two decades after independence recovering Polish intellectuals and writers were looking for new Poland ideal form. Close to the end of the thirties in twentieth century, in view of unstable situation in Poland and into the world, book and press became important tool for promotion of political and cultural ideas coming from different political groups. Taking into account this perspective special attention should pay on the editorial and literary organisation, developed fast in last years before the World War II. The aim of this presentation is to show the role of local social and literary journals from Lodz area (“Odnowa”, “Osnowy Literackie”, “Wymiary”), issued just before WWII, in creating of cultural and social attitude. It will be analyse 20 numbers of selected periodicals, covered years 1938-1939. The collected material will be used to find answers for below listed questions: how literal taste of readers was formed; how the selected journals met needs of society in the area of culture and ideology; in this very important moment for Poland.

The territorial government election held in 2018 had significant influence not only on the current situation in Poland but also on the functioning of the country on the international scene.This event was very important for building the future political situation in Poland and it was a kind of prediction before the European Parliament election, the Polish Parliament election and before the Presidential election which are coming in the following years.The results of this election showed not only what can happen but also how Poland may function in the international environment -the Polish cooperation with other countries in the region and Poland's functioning in the European Union.The subject of this research is to analyse the territorial government election in Poland in 2018 and to show what kind of changes were done in the Polish electoral law.Also, there are some indications presented how the role of local government should be shaped in the near future.The paper is also discussing some issues related with the way how Poland will function in the future with the focus on international cooperation, especially the cooperation with neighbouring countries and the European Union.The method which was used in this study is the observation method and the analysis of the situation in Poland as well as the analysis of changes in the electoral law in Poland.The aim of this paper is to show what changes should take place in the near future in the role and shape of territorial governments in Poland on different levels seeking to improve the functioning of these very important bodies of the political system in Poland.

BackgroundRural caregivers experience significant financial stressors while caring for their older family members with chronic illnesses. Limited access to care, support, and resources in rural areas poses significant financial threats and insecurity for some caregivers. As the majority of rural family caregivers are women, these challenges also represent gender disparities, role imbalances, and division of labor in the society that has rarely been explored in the literature from a rural context. To address these gaps, our study aims to explore the lived experiences of financial burdens and struggles of rural female family caregivers of older adults with chronic illness.MethodUsing a purposive sampling approach, qualitative interviews among N = 20 rural woman caregivers of older adults with any serious chronic illness was carried out. Interviews were done in-person, telephone or online as preferred by the participants. Each interview was about 45–60 min. All the data were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the thematic content analysis approach.ResultsOur findings showed significant gender role imbalances and financial disparities among the rural women caregivers. Major themes identified were indirect caregiving costs, direct caregiving costs, and barriers in navigating financial support systems. Participants reported losing jobs, experiencing caregiving stress and poor wellbeing, time constraints, financial losses, using pension plan and health coverage benefits to support themselves and their family. Barriers reported include financial decision making and documentation struggles, and difficulties in accessing savings and health coverage benefits and other legal complications.ConclusionRural female caregivers face significant financial threats and insecurities exacerbated by the interplay of gender roles and rural inequities. These inequities need to be addressed to support better caregiving policies and interventions. Provision of financial services and guidance to support rural and disadvantaged women family caregivers in navigating financial resources, financial health planning and decision-making processes is needed. Future comparative and longitudinal studies are recommended to see the long-term effects of financial burdens and inequities on the wellbeing of female caregivers of older adults in the rural communities.

THE HISTORY OF POLISH HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINEERING. THE ICE WARRIORS AND THEIR IMPACT ON WORLD HIMALAYAN MOUTANEINEERINGThe history of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, i.e. all ascended summits, new routes and records, is extremely rich and fascinating. It is impossible to describe all of this on just a few pages, which is why the aim of my paper is to describe the most outstanding expeditions, those that completely changed our thinking about Himalayan mountaineering and showed that we can deceive not only our bodies but also our subconscious.The first attempts to ascend an eight-thousander were made as early as in the 1920s; unfortunately, they all failed. Owing to the harsh conditions in the mountains, the first successful ascent of an eight-thousander did not take place until 1950, when Annapurna was ascended. The first Polish expedition was organised in 1939. Unfortunately, the Second World War and the political situation in Poland prevented Polish climbers from making further attempts for many years. The political situation in the country made it impossible for Poles to travel abroad. But Himalayan mountaineering at the time was developing very rapidly. The Poles, hungry for success, wanted to go down in history. Given the fact that all eight-thousanders had already been ascended, the Poles began a new chapter — winter Himalayan mountaineering, challenging Edmund Hillary’s assertion that in winter no form of life had a chance to survive over 7000 metres above sea level. In my paper I focus on presenting the most remarkable achievements. I describe the Golden Age of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, like the first winter ascent of Everest or Krzysztof Wielicki’s extraordinary one-day ascent of Broad Peak. There is also room for expeditions featuring Jerzy Kukuczka, an icon of Himalayan mountaineering. Climbing two eight-thousanders in one winter season and establishing a new route on K2 are still unbeaten feats. A part of my paper is devoted to women. The first all-female expeditions headed by Wanda Rutkiewicz were also a Polish domain. The number of great achievements in the mountains are truly numerous. Each of them in described in the paper, as is the death of the greatest Himalayan climbers, which led to a crisis and revisions. The paper ends with a fragment concerning an attempt to revive Polish Himalayan mountaineering.

The article – divided into four sections – is centered around the implementation of the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 17 March 1921 in the area of the administration of justice. The first section discusses the work on a draft constitution carried out between 1917 and 1921, with particular focus on the judiciary. The second analyses the content of the provisions of the Constitution referring to the administration of justice. The third deals with the judicature. In this section, the author discusses the organisation and work of, among others: the State Tribunal, the Supreme Administrative Tribunal, the Competence Tribunal, and courts of common pleas, paying particular attention to the unimplemented norms of the Constitution – mainly the failure to establish administrative courts of different instances with the participation of citizens, and the absence of citizens serving as justices of the peace or jurors. Two issues played important roles in the implementation of constitutional norms regarding the administration of justice. The first was the political situation in Poland after the 1926 May Coup. The second was the amendments to the Constitution introduced in connection with the entry into force of the 1926 “August Amendment”, that gave the President of the Republic of Poland the power to promulgate ordinances having the legal effect of legislative acts. This allowed the Polish government of that time to carry out, to a great extent, a standardisation of the courts of common pleas, which was accomplished by promulgation of the Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Poland of 6 February 1928 – the Act on the Organisation of Courts of Common Pleas. Additionally, between 1929 and 1932 the government embarked on an extensive program of dismissing existing judges and appointing new ones. Importantly, this was accompanied by a change in the line of jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Tribunal, according to which courts lost their authority to examine the constitutionality of ordinances promulgated by the President of the Republic of Poland. In the final section of the article – the summary – the author notes that the implementation of the norms of the Constitution concerning the administration of justice was, to a great extent, non-existent, given the political situation after the May Coup. It further points out that the same was also true in the period between 1944 and 1952, during which the basic principles of the Constitution of 17 March 1921 applied.