European Culture Research Articles

Циклічність геоекономічних процесів

The economy is the basis for political processes, while the contradictions arising in the system of socio-economic relations determine the cyclical nature of social development, in particular, cyclical economic and political processes that have become global under the conditions of the capitalist world-system. The cyclic nature of geo-economic and geo-political processes is manifested primarily in the cyclical nature of the change of the world hegemon, whose presence indicates the existence of a global political and economic system. The prerequisites for the formation of the world political and economic system, which develops cyclically, arose already in the most ancient times. The historical prototypes of world hegemony were the Roman and Chinese empires, as well as the Mongolian empire, after whose fall the Western European civilization from the beginning of the "long" XVI century became a source of contradictions, giving rise to a cyclical process of struggle for world leadership, which is reflected in the main provisions of the theory of long cycles of world politics by J. Modelski and U. Thompson, theories of cycles of hegemony by I. Wallerstein, etc. The unfolding of long cycles of world politics and cycles of hegemony is coordinated with the unfolding of Kondratiev cycles, whose beginning and end are marked by wars, generated by political and economic contradictions and serving as a way of their partial resolution. The competition of the leading actors of geopolitics gives rise to global military-economic cycles, whose rhythm is set by world wars, and global geo-economic and geopolitical cycles create the basis for the deployment of cycles derived from them on a regional scale. The rhythm of cyclical geo-economic and geopolitical processes on a regional scale is determined by the dynamics of global cycles. Today, the increasing instability in the capitalist world-system indicates the beginning of crisis-militaristic phases of global cycles, whose unfolding leads to a cyclical change of the leader in the capitalist world-system, and the reformatting of the world geopolitical system, and creates the basis for the development of deep geo-economic and geopolitical contradictions, which are the internal driving force of the cyclicality of global political and economic processes.

Chinese Families’ Pursuit of Confucian Learning Beliefs through Overseas Education: Rethinking Learning Cultures in Cross-Cultural Research

Aim. The aim of the article is to understand how Chinese parents draw on their learning beliefs and experiences within the Chinese educational context to make decisions about their children’s overseas education, as well as analysing how their learning beliefs are similar or different from East Asian or Western learning beliefs. Methods. The study is based on more than 100 in-depth separate interviews with 22 Chinese families conducted over serval years between 2016 and 2019. Based on interpretative phenomenological analysis and discourse analysis, the results are coded according to the theory of values proposed by Clyde Kluckhohn (1951). These learning values are further coded according to whether they are reflective of the American learning model (EALM), Confucian learning model (CLM), and Confucian learning philosophies. Results. The analysis shows that Chinese parents have displayed similar learning beliefs in socialising their children in the family domain, in their disapproval of the Chinese education system, and in their pursuit of a Western overseas education. The Chinese families’ pursuit of a Western education for their children are driven by their cultural leaning beliefs, which are rooted in Confucian heritage culture, and which also echo European American heritage cultures. Conclusion. Many researchers tend to emphasise cultural differences in learning, particularly between Confucian heritage and European American heritage cultures. This paper shows the possibilities of cultural learning values shaping educational choices, expands upon the understanding of Confucian heritage culture, and suggests the similarities between the learning cultures of East Asia and the West.

Pedagogical Legacy of K. D. Ushynskyi as a Factor of State and Nation Building

In the article, on the basis of a critical systematic analysis of historical and pedagogical sources, retrospective and modern socio-humanitarian studies, an attempt is made to highlight the important components of the scientific and pedagogical legacy of K. D. Ushynskyi in the context of Ukrainian and European identity and the deepening of European integration processes. The ideas and principles of dialectics, systematic, interdisciplinary approaches to pedagogical and sociocultural phenomena, and processes of retrospective and modern Ukrainian reality were used as methodological tools in the study.An important component of the cultural and historical legacy of Ukraine is the creative legacy of an outstanding educator of the second half of the 19th century. Konstantin Ushynskyi. It was the Ukrainian K. Ushynskyi who became the founder of scientific pedagogy and folk schools in the imperial era (19th – early 20th centuries). The theoretical basis of his own innovative pedagogical concept became the properly substantiated and practically implemented idea of nationhood, which involved the education of a politically conscious individual, a patriot, and a citizen in a state that is national in form and content. The educational and scientific legacy of the coruphaeus of Ukrainian pedagogy covers all the most important issues of pedagogical knowledge, in particular the forms and methods of teaching and upbringing, the theory and practice of developmental education, the problems of national-patriotic, moral, labour, and family education, and the education of women.The fruitful ideas of Konstantin Dmytrovych had a significant impact on the formation and development of Ukrainian pedagogy and socio-humanitarian studies. Relying on his considerable scientific authority, the domestic professional public, in the conditions of the ban and persecution of Ukrainian education and culture, chose the right of their own people to a national school and to the formation of a modern Ukrainian political nation. The multifaceted, intellectually powerful pedagogical legacy of the classics of Ukrainian pedagogy belongs to the treasury of European culture and therefore should become a matter of national pride for Ukrainians. Modern researchers should give a comprehensive, unbiased, and balanced assessment of the place and role of Konstantin Dmytrovych Ushynskyi in the development of modern pedagogical and psychological science, his deep innovative works as an important component of the multifaceted cultural and historical heritage of both Ukraine and Europe.

Aesthetic Values in the Myroslav Skoryk’s Creativity

The ideological sources and origins of the issues of values in European culture at the beginning of the 20th century became the basis of this study. It is noted that the challenges regarding the specifics of the existence of value orientations were raised by neo-Kantian philosophers, in particular by Heinrich Rickert. Attention is focused on the priority role of art and music in the formation of artistic values, as well as on their aesthetic, ethical, psychological, pedagogical influence and on the creation of the ground for artistic dialogues in cultural life. The idea of value as a form of affirmation of human nature is substantiated in terms of the fundamental basis necessary for universal human culture. The content and functions, which include general cultural values: truth, beauty, good, as well as aesthetic: catharsis, kalokagathia, aura, based on the achievements of European musical art, are revealed by the author in the context of personal creativity. It is indicated that value relations are always emotional, connected with feelings of direct joyous delight, surprise; values always have a certain sacred mode, act as a shrine. It is emphasized that art in general and musical art in particular are closely related to moral and ethical guidelines, with the understanding that the concept of love in the structure of an aesthetic relationship acts as its concretization. Using the example of one of the earliest works of the composer Myroslav Skoryk (the cantata "Spring" based on a poem by Ivan Franko), it is demonstrated that the artistic material is imbued with a sensitive, joyful and loving perception of the surrounding nature; an open, trusting attitude to the surrounding world, which is generally a characteristic feature of art, especially modern art. The article examines the creative heritage of the Ukrainian artist as a carrier of valuable expression of Ukrainian culture, its intertextual, avant-garde character. It is proved that in the works of M. Skoryk, national values are organically combined with universal values.

L’origine de la perle : imaginaire d’une immaculée conception au Moyen Âge et à l’époque moderne

Among pearl origin myths, one of the most widespread in Western European culture was handed down to us by Pliny the Elder: a shell fertilized by dew would give birth to the pearl. This myth became a topos in the lapidaries and bestiaries of the Middle Ages, as well as in treatises on naturalia in the modern era. One of the reasons for its success was its evocative power, making it an ideal metaphor for the Incarnation of Christ in Christian iconography.

Staging Hillula: Ariel Bension and Avraham Zvi Idelsohn in early twentieth-century Jerusalem

ABSTRACT The writer, Zohar scholar and Zionist activist Ariel Bension (1880–1932) has attracted attention of late from scholars seeking to recover an alternative vision of Zionism with Mizrahi roots in Ottoman Palestine. Yet the instrumentalization of Bension’s biography for the politics of identity in present-day Israel has led to a flattening effect whereby Bension is divorced from his manifold ties to European and global Jewish culture. In this article, we demonstrate those complex transnational and multidisciplinary dimensions of Bension’s life, theatrical oeuvre and thought through a reconstruction of his brief collaboration on a Hebrew musical play and film project with music scholar, composer and educator Avraham Zvi Idelsohn (1882–1938). Presenting newly discovered archival documents, we explore both the tangled array of social identities present in the early Zionist cultural elite and the emergence of a shared global Jewish imaginary in a moment of profound historical change.

«Тюрьма народов»: рождение метафоры

The article discusses the emergence of the image of the prison of peoples in the European culture. Most often, this image is traced back to the book by Astolf de Custine “Russia in 1839”. However, de Custine, in essence, talks only about one enslaved people in the Russian Empire, namely the Polish. The idea about the prison of peoples took root only after the “non-historical” peoples of the Central and Eastern Europe entered the political scene. The image of Russia as a prison of peoples dates back to the Polish and even more so to the Ukrainian literature and journalism. In the Ukrainian press, referring to Russia as a prison of peoples becomes common practice in the 1900s. Mikhail Grushevsky in his article “Unity or disintegration?” presents this metaphor in its most extensive form. The image of the prison of peoples played an important role in the program documents of the Austrophile Ukrainian organizations of the First World War era. At the same time, Ukrainian leaders did not forget about Polish nationalism, which “would like to build a new „prison of peoples“” in a revived Poland. In the Polish press in 1900— 1917 the prison of peoples was mentioned less frequently, and not in program documents. Lenin most probably borrowed the formula “prison of peoples” from the Ukrainian or Polish press. From Lenin’s journalism it moved into the Soviet political language. Until the First World War, Russia was referred to almost exclusively as the prison of peoples; then the metaphor began to be applied to other countries, primarily to Austria-Hungary.

Revival of the Material Cultural Relics of the Renaissance by Modern Technology

European art, culture, science and philosophy underwent substantial progress during the Renaissance, leaving behind rich material cultural relics that have inspired and mesmerized people for ages. Due to their fragility and the passage of time, these priceless artifacts are vulnerable to theft, loss, and damage. This paper expresses the impact of modern technology, which has proven to be a helpful ally in maintaining and renewing the material cultural relics of the Renaissance in order to address these concerns. The impact of contemporary technology on the Renaissance's material cultural relics is examined in this article, as is how it can efficiently preserve, transmit, and disseminate these priceless relics. The difficulties that Renaissance cultural artifacts encounter as a result of historical developments and the passage of time are covered in the study. These priceless cultural artifacts are fragile, which makes them more susceptible to theft, loss, and destruction. The paper makes the case that leveraging contemporary technologies can more successfully preserve, transmit, and spread Renaissance cultural heritage. Examples include virtual reality, artistic creativity, and social media. For instance, augmented reality (AR) can be used to see how the Last Supper frescoes in the Convent of Santa Maria de Milano originally appeared. The essay also looks at how preserving and passing on Renaissance cultural history inspires and enhances the present and future while fostering cultural variety, innovation, and tolerance. Finally, the report emphasizes the significance of considering the potential negative effects of technology, including the possible harm that immersive experiences may cause to people's physical health.

Modeling and Analysis of Noise Emission Using Data from Flight Simulators

The main goal of this article is to examine the impact of various factors, including the aircraft take-off weight and configuration, on the noise and gaseous emissions. The analysis was based on trajectory data obtained from the X-Plane 11 simulator and a MATLAB noise engine created in accordance with ECAC.CEAC (European Civil Aviation Conference) Doc 29 recommendations. It allowed us to present various noise metrics in the form of noise maps and conduct a general analysis of how certain factors, e.g., flap settings, impact the noise and gaseous emissions. The study indicates that, from the “global” perspective (i.e., the entire airport vicinity), the NADP1 procedure shows better noise reduction, while the NADP2 procedure exhibits lower CO2 emissions. Conversely, from the perspective of individual observers (i.e., the local perspective), it may (but not necessarily) be the case that the NADP2 procedure allows for achieving both minimal noise and CO2 emissions compared to the NADP1 procedure. For example, reducing take-off thrust may reduce the SEL > 85 [dB] area in NADP2 by twice as much as in NADP1, but at the cost of almost four times less CO2 emission reductions. The study may be further developed to find an algorithm for designating individual noise-abatement procedure parameters that will account for various factors in order to minimize the aforementioned emissions.

Unternehmen Kolibri: Of Hitler and Hummingbirds

Abstract The hummingbird’s biological and cultural associations with beauty, sweetness, and docility belie a longstanding symbolic association with violence and danger. Taking the Nazis’ surprising adoption of the symbol as a point of departure, this essay traces this association to its Mesoamerican origins, and follows its emergence in European and British culture through travel writing, naturalism, commercialism, and popular culture, reflecting on how an evolving understanding of the birds’ behavior and morphology influenced its symbolic history.

Dissolution of the Self

This article explores the connection between digital technology and privacy and intimacy in Europe and the Sinophone regions, with a particular focus on the changing role and constitution of human personhood. It argues that digital technology has fundamentally altered the ways in which individuals construct and maintain their personal boundaries, resulting in the erosion of traditional notions of the human self. Through an analysis of cultural and historical factors, the article demonstrates how this phenomenon manifests itself differently in Europe and mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively, highlighting the specific challenges and opportunities that arise in each context. The article also considers the cultural differences between the European and Chinese cultures regarding privacy and intimacy, and the ways in which digital technology has amplified these differences. It argues that while digital technology has created new opportunities for connection and intimacy, it has also exposed individuals to new risks and vulnerabilities, including the loss of privacy and the erosion of selfhood. Overall, the article aims to contribute to our understanding of the cultural and social implications of digital technology. It highlights the need for a more nuanced approach to the regulation of digital technology, one that takes into account cultural differences and the complex ways in which technology is reshaping our sense of self and our relationships with others.

Implementing the Right to Education in the Integration Legal Systems of the European Union countries: Research Methodology and Areas of Improvement

The purpose of the research:Implementing the right to education in the European Union countries is considered. Main content: It has been established that implementationof the right to education plays an important role in the system of human and citizen rights and freedoms, and has complex connections with many of them. It is noted that in most European countries the right to education is socially oriented. European countries are characterized by the following: continuous education; compulsory primary education; standardized ways of organizing the educational process, regulating participation of students, parents and teachers in it; great attention is paid to financing and protecting the right to education. Methodology: The methodological basis of the research is presented as comparative-legal and systematic analysis, formal-legal method, interpretation method, hermeneutic method as well as methods of analysis and synthesis. Conclusions: Despite the diversity of educational systems in the European region, the member states of the Council of Europe recognize the need to promote the free access of young Europeans to the intellectual resources of the member states of the Council of Europe, as well as to the study of European culture, languages, history and culture of other countries by all citizens.

Reassessing the Marginalization of Astrology in the Early Modern World

AbstractThe marginalization of astrology – the protracted process by which a rich scholarly field and a highly skilled trade migrated into the margins of European culture – is coming to be recognized as one of the most fundamental transformations in the transition from the pre-modern to the modern world. Long assumed to be a casualty of the ‘scientific revolution’ and ‘Enlightenment’, since the 1970s historians have questioned the power of intellectual developments to carry the weight of this major shift, and have constructed alternative social, political, and cultural narratives. However, in the last fifteen years, the field has been making a (re-)turn to intellectual history, albeit in innovative ways. This critical historiographical review accumulates and digests this large body of new work, showing how these historiographical about-turns leave us with broader questions about the role of ideas in cultural transformations, as well as – on a smaller scale – the processes by which individuals change their minds. I close the review by contending that after decades of neglect, it is an opportune time to bring intellectual history back into our studies of the ‘disenchantment of the world’.

Entrepreneurial Capacities and Knowledge Development Processes – insights from a research project –

The importance to enhance entrepreneurial capacities and knowledge development in is part of the Europe 2030 strategy with the aim to advance a European entrepreneurial culture. Consequently, entrepreneurship education is considered essential and thus encouraged by European Commission. Europe is facing a high rate of unemployment according to International Labour Organization (2022) and thus entrepreneurship capacities need to be developed as a possible way for facing unemployment. To address this problem and identify the main entrepreneurial capacities and knowledge processes to develop those capacities a literature review and a focus group were performed. The results show that the ten students participating in the focus group identified as the most urgent entrepreneurial capacities to be improved in young entrepreneurs are critical thinking, technical knowledge, problem solving capacity, relational and communication capacities, and team working. Regarding the most relevant knowledge development processes to promote successful entrepreneurship, they suggested education and training for the practical transition from the idea to its realization.

ENGLISH CONCEPT LORD: SECULAR, RELIGIOUS AND ARTISTIC ASPECTS OF STUDY

The article presents an analysis of the linguocultural and cultural-historical aspects of the functioning and verbalization of the English concept LORD. Our research is based on the study of the semantic content of the concept presented in its key nomination lord. The purpose of our study was to identify the main factors and directions of the development of the concept. The object of the study is the nature and principles of the increase in the concept, its transformation under the influence of cultural and historical factors, ideological and artistic ideas, as well as the actual linguistic principles of transformations of the lexical unit lord representing it. The subject of the study is lexicographic data, semantic characteristics of the lexeme lord. By studying the functioning of the lexeme representing the concept in the secular, religious and artistic linguo-cultural planes and the corresponding semantic transformations on the basis of the analyzed lexicographic sources, the nominative field of the English-language concept LORD is modeled. During the study, we came to the following results. The lexeme lord is the central term of the cultural concept LORD — the lord, the ruler and master, the vicegerent of God on earth or God Himself. The considered concept is a multi-tiered system that covers the attitude of the representatives of the English linguistic community to the vital spheres of their existence: religious, social class or artistic and figurative affiliation. The semantic content of the lexeme has expanded over the centuries, and the lexeme began to serve as a nomination in two different planes of social models of the world: religious and secular. All pre-Christian accumulation and all chronologically coinciding pre-Christian representations of the concept act as the basic charge for the embodiment of the Christian idea of denoting God, which, since the 12th century, has borrowed the tradition of treating God as the Lord, and to the lords as the Lord’s vicars on earth. The plane of the ideological priority meaning of this lexeme in the Christian picture of the world as an appeal to the Lord, universal for European cultures, remains only one “pole” of the concept consideration. The second meaning, which is included in the nuclear zone of the nominative field of the key lexeme, denoting the concept, incorporates a purely national, English concept. This semantic part of the concept is due to the sphere of secular ideas, which are more mundane in the conceptual and linguistic pictures of the world. This meaning acts as an independent nuclear subsphere containing a reference to a specific, ethnically dependent reality — a courtesy title, an ethnic identifier. Conclusions: Due to its conceptual «insecurity», the concept LORD is far from being a stable system. The process of conceptualization of its key nomination lord continues for objective reasons — the influence of new cultural trends, including the heroes of popular books and cinema, political transformations, leading figures who have and receive the title of lord.

Transformation of Female Archetypes in Chinese Traditional National Opera of the Twentieth Century

The purpose of the article is to identify transformative changes in female archetypes in twentieth-century Chinese national opera in the context of the gender factor and the ideologisation of Chinese society. The research methodology is to apply the methods of analysis and synthesis, systematisation of facts, comparison and generalisation of the research results. The system-historical method allowed us to consider the formation of female archetypes in Chinese national opera. The comparative and analytical methods were used to structure the stages of transformation of female archetypes in Chinese national opera of the twentieth century. The novelty of the research lies in an attempt to periodise the stages of transformation of female archetypes in twentieth-century Chinese national opera, to identify the reasons for these changes, and to contrast the traditional European masculinisation of artistic archetypes with the Chinese operatic tradition. Conclusions. The Chinese patriarchal system has consistently adapted to a series of revolutionary reforms in society in twentieth-century society. The key meanings of modernity emerged in public debates and transformed the social and political life of the Chinese. However, even in the twentieth century, Chinese culture demonstrated a specific context in relation to European culture. For example, the main characters in many classical tragedies, from monumental ancient Greek works to works of the Renaissance, were men. This tradition is opposed to Chinese culture, in which female archetypes were particularly prominent in the context of strong female heroines and female warriors. The cultural code of the female archetype in Chinese opera contrasted with the traditional European cultural code, where "softness won over strength". Women in twentieth-century Chinese society challenged gender norms, which contributed to their empowerment, increased social status, and strengthened their positions in the opera genre. Key words: Chinese national opera, female archetype, gender factor, image of a female warrior, transformation, decline of the opera genre.

A Brief Analysis of Chinese Interior Design Style

Chinese decoration style originated from the end of the 20th century, with the continuous recovery of China's economy, a design concept began to emerge in the construction industry, the rise of sinology also makes Chinese people begin to examine things from a cultural perspective. The vigorous rise of Chinese style is attributed to it in line with the various psychological, aesthetic and times needs of Chinese people in the new era. In the modern society where European and American cultures are ubiquitous and where materialistic desires are rampant and various contradictions emerge one after another, the traditional Chinese culture has been paid attention to again due to its harmony and calm, and combined with the aesthetic needs of contemporary people, the Chinese style has gained a new life. This article intends to elaborate the origin and background of Chinese decoration style, and summarize its design principles and methods, so that Chinese style can be more flexibly applied to modern home life, be found and loved by more people, and provide a concise basis for the practice of Chinese style decoration.

“Exsultate Jubilate” by W. A. Mozart in the Hallelujah Paradigm of European Culture and Music

The purpose of the study is to reveal the poetic and intonation uniqueness of the motet “Exsultate Jubilate” by W. A. Mozart in the context of spiritual guidelines of the European musical art of the New Age and its halleluiah paradigm. The research methodology. The interdisciplinary, historical and cultural, genre and stylistic approaches were essential for this work. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that it is the first to summarise the poetic and intonational specificity of W. A. Mozart's motet “Exsultate Jubilate” in the context of the praise tradition of European sacred music culture and its Byzantine genesis. Conclusions. On the one hand, W. A. Mozart's motet "Exsultate Jubilate", created in the early period of the composer's work, incorporated the spiritual, ethical, genre and stylistic experience of the culture and music of the Austrian Enlightenment with its characteristic tendency to a harmoniously optimistic worldview that united the spiritual and secular genre spheres of musical creativity (including musical theatre). On the other hand, the analysed work by W. A. Mozart's work, which preceded it in the liturgical cycle "Gloria", its virtuoso fioritura nature, focused on the singing and performance capabilities of the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini, reveals contact with the hallelujah paradigm of Christian culture and music, which genetically descended to the art of Byzantine calophony and its spiritual and ethical guidelines, which formed the basis for the formation of the intonational and performing specificity of bel canto.. Key words: works of W. A. Mozart, “Exsultate Jubilate” by W. A. Mozart, motet, Italian motet, Austrian Enlightenment.

The Image of the City of Balti in Memory of the Victims of the Totalitarian-Communist Regime

The theme of the dialogue is devoted to the image of the city of Bălți, as it is revealed through the results of studying the “small histories” of those who personally knew the period of deportations and whose victims they were. The experience of researching the memory of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR and the analysing of new sources of historical research – the oral history testimonies – made it possible to investigate some undervalued layers, but with the deep potential to penetrate into the human dimension of history and the histories of those who have lived in Soviet-administered Bălți. The memory carried by the families that passed through the Soviet occupation in the city of Bălți in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991, respectively, is part of the today city’s historical heritage. By erecting monuments, organizing commemorative actions or thematic events, the places of memory will keep alive the memory of the victims of the Soviet occupation regime and the connection between the generations of Bălți residents. At the same time, these actions will build a European culture of memory, integrated into the European cultural heritage.

Кросс-культурный диалог европейской и восточной культур: шинуазри в придворном искусстве князей Радзивиллов XVIII века на Беларуси

Кросс-культурный диалог европейской и восточной культур: шинуазри в придворном искусстве князей Радзивиллов XVIII века на Беларуси