Contemporary Cultural Identity Research Articles

Why We Need Diverse Methods for Assessing Cultural Identity: Introduction to the Special Issue

In this introduction to the special issue on diverse methods for cultural identity, we begin by addressing the evolving complexities of defining oneself amidst modern globalization and immigration. We then preview the current collection of papers, which collectively showcase the complexity of cultural identity by exploring how people, especially adolescents and young adults, navigate a plethora of cultural influences—whether through direct migration or the pervasive impact of global cultures—as they psychologically manage diverse and sometimes conflicting allegiances and worldviews. The studies featured in this issue employ a range of methodologies, from qualitative analyses to mixed-methods approaches, to expand our knowledge of the constitution of contemporary cultural identities beyond common quantitative metrics of self-categorization and group belongingness. For instance, research on Jamaican American adolescents highlights how cultural identity is formed through reciprocal socialization processes and systemic factors such as racism. Similarly, studies involving Hmong American youth and Guatemalan adolescents reveal tensions and creative harmonizations in identity management, challenging notions of a homogenized global culture. We conclude by underscoring the need for future research to take a nuanced, intersectional approach to the study of cultural identity, to explore creative measurement tools that are sensitive to local meaning-making among diverse groups around the world, and to attend to the impact of power dynamics in shaping one’s sense of self in relation to their cultural group(s).

The process of formation and socio-cultural determination of identity in contemporary culture

The article analyzes the phenomenon of identity, as well as the process of its formation, based on the initial intra-subjective stage of distinction. The typologization of identification components is described, based on the concept of the totality of sub-identities of the individual’s personality. The idea of the cyclic nature of the process of subjective identification is proposed.

СИНКРЕТИЗМ СТЕПНОГО МИРОВОЗЗРЕНИЯ И ЭСТЕТИКИ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ В ТВОРЧЕСТВЕ ЮВЕЛИРА ИЛЬИ КАЗАКОВА

This article examines the symbolic interrelation between four main elements — silver/metal, stone, wood, bone — and their interpretation in the creative work of the renowned Kazakh jeweler Ilya Kazakov. The author argues that these concepts not only symbolise various aspects of the steppe universe, but also form a syncretic union with the aesthetics of information technology. Ilya Kazakov, a young, but already mature artist from Karaganda, stands out in the artistic space of contemporary Kazakhstan, and his creativity, in our view, is a fusion of the steppe worldview and the mindset of the information technology. Through the artistic treatment of local metalwork, Kazakov brings an active experimental approach to his work, inspired by the aesthetics of ancient times. Steppe motifs and the codes of the digital era merge in a harmonious symbiosis in his work. By analysing the artistic techniques, choice of materials and figurative decisions in Kazakov’s works, the author of the article seeks to understand the process of merging traditional cultural symbols with contemporary technological realities. The methodological approach employed in the study allows for the interpretation of Kazakov’s creativity not only as an individual expression of the artist but also as a reflection of contemporary cultural identity.

Disfrazados of San Juan Mixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico

This article explores what work the disfrazados (jester characters) do to sustain and promote the construction of contemporary cultural identities and senses of belonging among the members of the Indigenous Mixtec community of San Juan Mixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Disfrazados are poignant examples of what anthropologist Peggy Levitt termed “social remittances,” key elements for creating social and cultural capital in this transnational migratory community. The article extends theoretical discussions about Indigenous peoples in Mexico beyond traditional analyses of economic remittances by exploring their “non-monetary contributions to development,” specifically regarding the construction, maintenance, and practice of cultural identities and senses of belonging through performance.

TO THE QUESTION OF LITERARY INFLUENCES ON VASYL’ STUS’ POETIC CREATIVITY

This article is aimed at studying the intertextual conn ections of Vasyl’ Stus, a key fi gure for contemporary cultural identity, with great Ukrainian poets and writers. It has been confi rmed that among those literary men, whom Stus considered important in his formation as a poet, Taras Shevchenko aroused his interest in a «privileged» way. At the same time, it has been assumed that literary infl uence might not be the main argument in choosing themes and images. It has been proved that a detailed study of the possible infl uence upon Stus would help better understand his way of thinking and his poetry.

سه دیدار با هویت ایرانی

In encountering the question of Iranian identity form my early childhood years to the present, I have been drawn to, struggled with, and ultimately abandoned both the “romantic Achaemenid nationalist” and the “critical modernist” approaches to fundamental aspects of Iranian culture. Instead, I have proposed a “historicizing” perspective that makes a clear distinction between Iranian identity (iraniyat) as a historical entity, on the one hand, and, on the other, “Iranian national identity” as a modern construct that cannot not be applied retrospectively to the historical past. This approach acknowledges the rise of “civic nations” as a product of modernity, but rejects the disjuncture between a people’s history and their contemporary cultural identity. In the case of Iran, I have argued that, while modern conceptions of “Iranian national identity” were subjectively and retrospectively constructed from ancient myths, symbols, and collective memories, they are in fact re-constructions of historical identities that are based on verifiable ethnolinguistic and territorial ties.

Culture, Technology and the New Death: Deadly Disputes in Japan and North America

"Brain death" was institutionalized 25 years ago primarily to make organs "harvested" from brain dead bodies on an artificial ventilator available for transplant. Doubts exist as to whether the donors used in the first heart transplants conducted in South Africa in 1967, and in Japan in 1968, were dead. Reaction to these two experiments was remarkably different. In Japan the surgeon was arrested for murder, a national debate about brain death continues today, and transplants from brain dead bodies have only been made permissible since June 1997. This debate contrasts with that in North America, where transplant technology is routinized and an organ "shortage" is recognized. In Japan the argument is politicized, focuses on death, and draws on cultural knowledge about Self and Other; Japan and the West; harmony and individualism; tradition and modernity / postmodernity. North American discussion focuses on saving lives; making death meaningful; remaking death yet again; and assumes technology to be culturally and politically autonomous. These respective debates are discussed using textual analysis and the results of interviews with philosophers, physicians, and nurses in both cultural settings. An effort is made to suggest why the Japanese debate is central in constituting contemporary cultural identity, whereas the North American debate is of little public interest. The significance for anthropology of the hybrid status of brain dead bodies and organ recipients together with the national and global circulation and commodification of bodies and body parts associated with this technology is considered.

Designing Player Intent through “Playful” Interaction

Designing Player Intent through “Playful” Interaction

Space as a Resource in the Politics of Consumer Identity

AbstractConsumers can pursue a wide range of market-mediated identities in contemporary culture. However, some consumer identities are more valued than others, creating a form of cultural inequality. The present research considers consumers’ deliberate efforts to assert greater cultural value for their identities, a phenomenon termed a “politicized consumer identity project.” Specifically, this research focuses on consumers’ intentional use of space, a resource that is ubiquitous in social life but has, nonetheless, received limited theoretical attention regarding this type of identity project. This ethnography uses mixed methods to study a sample of women embedded in the new cult of domesticity, an ethos that induces participants to use various spaces as a way of claiming greater value for feminine consumer identities that are often demeaned by others. The results reveal a system of spatial practices that consumers employ to contest this cultural devaluation across a broad range of sites in their lives, from their homes to commercial and public venues. We conceptualize these practices as spatial affirmation, repurposing, and incursion, showing their ideological and material interdependencies. This research advances understanding of the ties among consumer identities, space, and cultural politics.

Biography of a Painted Vessel from Starčevo: Discovering Layers of Meaning

Scientific interest in the painted pottery of the Starčevo culture in Serbia dates back to the very beginnings of research and the first works on the relative-chronological systematization of the Early and Middle Neolithic of the central Balkans. This paper presents the deconstruction of our established notion of painted ceramics as the ultimate parameter of relative-chronological dating, the most representative material reflection of the cultural identity of the people of Starčevo culture and the highest achievements of Starčevo culture. The paper discusses circumstances and archaeological practices through which this ingrained view and knowledge of painted pottery was formed. The research is based on the analysis of the biography of a painted vessel from the Starčevo-Grad site, having in mind that a detailed life history of an object can shed light on wider phenomena in the archaeological discipline. The aim of this paper is to remind that objects do not have a single essential meaning, but that their meaning shifts and builds through changes in the historical and social context, as well as through changes of actors gathered around certain practices in which the objects are used. The biography of the painted vessel is therefore viewed as a series of assemblages of relations in two planes, through which its identity and layers of meaning were built. The first plane is the Neolithic, in which the focus is on the practices of painting and use, and the second is her life in the role of an archaeological artifact, during which she moves from the sphere of scientific research and musealization to the sphere of negotiating contemporary cultural identities. By applying a new analytical approach, we discovered that this vessel was not very skilfully and carefully painted, and that as such it does not testify to the highest achievements of Starčevo culture, but to a social practice, learning, apprentices and mastering the skill of pottery painting. Therefore, I believe that by reducing painted pottery to relative-chronological parameters and luxury objects, we lose sight of the possibilities through which we can build much more diverse interpretations of the past.

Genetic Prosopography and Caste: Natureculture in Contemporary India

Donna Haraway’s theorization of natureculture webs has enormous potential for reading collective biographies (prosopography) that involve genetic ‘roots’ and ‘routes’. This essay examines the genetic prosopographic narratives revolving around caste identity in India and their imbrication of genetic ‘testimony’ and contemporary cultural identities. Genetically informed prosopography in the Indian media emphasises genetic roots, cultural codes (of caste identities), genetic and cultural routes (of migrations) and social stratification. This is cultural genomics where genetic data seeks to explain cultural boundaries or practices, and instances natureculture. Then, such prosopographies, while tracing ancestry, make projections founded on biochemical stories and cultural genomics. Questions of social justice need to frame debates on genetic inevitability, and genetic variations must be seen within the cultural contexts of social hierarchization.

The Integrated Bicultural Referent of the Built Colonial Heritage: Social Housing Models in Oran (1954–1958), Algeria

The built heritage of the 1950s French colonial era represents the complexity of the hybrid cultural identity bequeathed by history but attracts minimal interest and consid­eration as an accepted local heritage. This research focuses on the opportunities and misconceptions about cultural reinterpretations and on the role a given society plays in the definition of cultural and patrimonial identity. For this purpose, the paper explores four social housing models and their derivatives (Nid d’abeilles, Semiramis, Trefle and Brunie) built during the French colonial period between 1954 and 1958 in Oran, Alge­ria. The historical analysis, supported by a qualitative study of the spatio-temporal evo­lution of these public housing projects, is based on the dynamics of cultural transfers. It aims to understand the interweaving and evolution of formal, organizational and func­tional reinterpretations of architectural components generated by western architects and remodeled by the local population. The result identifies hybrid cultural housing and highlights the pivotal role of social stakeholders in the acceptance and accommodation of mixed models. It encourages the identification of sustained and integrated bicultural referents which reflect the contemporary cultural identity.

Re-conceptualizing Common Ground of the Cultural Landscape

This paper discusses the complex processes and practices of global flows within the dynamic nature of European cultural landscapes in a contemporary context. It examines the role of new technologies, recent demographic fluctuations and increasing interconnectedness in cultural landscape reconfiguration. This paper represents an attempt to encourage a shift in thinking on existing environmental resources and sustainable landscape practices, and to question alternative approaches that are sensitive to the cultural interchange process. Substantively, complex and contradictory nature of contemporary cultural identities is addressed in the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Idealized Nationalism in Downton Abbey

With the Downton Abbey series as a starting point, this study examines how fictional media is a new source of renegotiating national identity, in this case Englishness. A close analysis of Downton Abbey and similar cultural phenomena shows how heritage film modify and idealize certain aspects and values of history to alter and ultimately rewrite the memory of history. Different definitions of nationalism and identity are explored to lay the basis of a discussion of why Downton Abbey appeared when it did and how fictional productions of history and culture might key to the recreation of contemporary cultural identity. Thus, this article will reveal the connection between the popularity of heritage productions and their impact on the cultivation of cultural identities and national sentiments.

Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam

The cult of Tianhou (Vietnamese: Thien Hậu) originated in Putian, Fujian Province in Southern China, was officially entitled Furen, Tainfei and Tianhou by Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, finally become the popular sea goddess in Southeast China coastlines. At around the late seventeenth century, Southern Chinese immigrated to Southern Vietnam, including the Mekong River Delta, hence the cult was introduced into the region. The whole region has got a total of 74 Tianhou temples (of which the Chinese built 57, the Vietnamese built 17 and around 100 temples of gods in which Tianhou is co-worshipped. After over three hundred years of cultural integration and social development, Tianhou has changed from the main functions of a sea protector to powerful multi-functional Mother Goddess of both ethnic Chinese (also called “ethnic Hoa”) and a great number of Vietnamese people. This paper is to explore the structure and connotation of the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta from the perspective of cultural studies, and applies Western theories of hierarchy of need, superscription and standardization in popular religion and rituals as well as concept of distinction between acculturation and assimilation to analyze the transformation and adaptation of a symbolic faith under the specific background of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam. The research also aims to investigate the principles of reshaping and constructing contemporary cultural identity of the ethnic Chinese people in Vietnam as well as the activeness and flexibility of local Vietnamese in dealing with the external cultural practices. This case study plays an important role in shaping a systematic look of cultural exchanges and multicultural harmonization in Vietnam nowadays.

Advanced Dublin English as audience and referee design in Irish radio advertising

AbstractThis paper examines change in the sociolinguistic landscape of Irish English based on a diachronic corpus of radio advertisements from 1997 and 2007, with a focus on the relatively new accent variety, Advanced Dublin English (AdvD) (Hickey 2013). The quantitative and qualitative analyses are based onSussex’s (1989)“Action and Comment” framework (which differentiates the advertisement components based on discourse genre) and onBell’s (1984)audience and referee design framework. AdvD is viewed in the 1997 subcorpus as outgroup referee design where it has an “initiative” role in constructing listener identity. In the 2007 subcorpus, the increased frequency of AdvD suggests that it is evolving to an audience designed style. Stylised representations of this accent can be understood as ingroup referee design, a strategy which facilitates the evolution of this form as audience design. These findings illustrate the initiative role of the media in constructing contemporary cultural identities (Piller 2001).

What's Cooking, Man? Masculinity in European Cooking Shows after The Naked Chef

The cooking show The Naked Chef (1999–2001) with Jamie Oliver has often been highlighted as an example of the cooking show genre's potential for reformulating masculine identity through cooking. Through a series of close readings of a selection of cooking shows from France, the UK and Denmark post-The Naked Chef and through a dialogue with other works on the subject, this article will attempt to identify the tendencies in the constructions and negotiations of masculinity in the cooking show genre following The Naked Chef and to understand these in relation to a revision of masculine identity in contemporary culture. The article is informed by poststructural gender theory and understands ‘doing food’ and ‘doing masculinity’ as two mutually constituting practices. The analyses identify four new tendencies in the construction of masculinity in cooking shows at the beginning of the twenty-first century: 1) rechefisation, 2) the TV chef as a moral entrepreneur, 3) the TV chef and the revitalisation of the national myth and 4) cooking as masculine escapism. The article concludes that the innovation of the masculine identity that was launched in The Naked Chef has not continued; rather, the genre has become a platform for the revitalisation of traditional masculinity discourses.

Identidades fragmentadas em Garotos de Programa de Gus Van Sant

This article aims to explore Gus Van Sant’s film My Own Private Idaho (1991) starting from different approaches on the perception of the fragmentation of contemporary cultural identity from the perspective of cultural studies. We use especially the propositions from the authors Stuart Hall and Tomaz Tadeu da Silva in order to understand how this fragmentation condition configured in the film and its characters. Keywords : identity, fragmentation, My Own Private Idaho, Gus Van Sant.

I media e la promozione del plurilinguismo in Europa: un percorso transdisciplinare

O artigo focaliza o tema da promoção e da tutela da diversidade cultural, comparando a política linguística europeia com atitudes e práticas discursivas difundidas na esfera pública nacional. Enquanto a União Europeia coloca a diversidade - linguística e cultural, em sentido amplo - como fundamento da identidade, das práticas discursivas que caracterizam o debate público emerge novamente a herança de uma ideologia monolíngue de tradição nacional. Ao mesmo tempo, no quadro das políticas linguísticas, o papel da mídia parece ser subestimado. Seguindo um percurso transdisciplinar, que compara a abordagem sociológica, sociolinguística e sócio-antropológica, com a filosófica e dos estudos culturais, identifica-se na pesquisa dos últimos anos uma tendência comum a conceitualizar a identidade cultural em termos de capital, mais que de patrimônio, para evidenciar seu caráter processual e dinâmico. Sobre o tema da diversidade linguística, uma abordagem transcultural apresenta-se vantajosa não apenas do ponto de vista teórico, porque permite conceitualizar a complexa articulação das culturas no contexto da globalização, mas também pelo que concerne às consequências concretas para uma atitude mais geral, também discursiva, em relação à superdiversidade (Vertovec, 2009), termo que enfatiza o caráter estratificado da identidade cultural na contemporaneidade. Frente ao potencial e aos desafios da superdiversidade, o papel da mídia em promover ou, ao contrário, obstaculizar os esforços atualmente em curso em outros setores - da educação à política, à pesquisa - para a construção de uma cultura da diversidade em estilo europeu, poderia ser decisivo

Celebrity, ageing and the construction of ‘third age’ identities

This article explores celebrity as a point of articulation between consumer culture and the reconfiguration of ageing lifestyles and identities in contemporary culture – described by cultural gerontologists as the ‘Third Age’. We focus on ageing stars whose celebrity is used to promote a particular vision of successful ageing, describing the cultural basis and significance of this phenomenon through a case study of cover celebrities in Zoomer, a contemporary Canadian lifestyle magazine for older adults. We identify and analyse four key elements of an aspirational identity for Third Agers – fit, fashionable, functional and flexible – within the discourses of representation used. In conclusion, we discuss how the social functions of celebrity are central to constructing this new vision of ageing, both through its promotional role and, crucially, in its ability to mediate the contradictions of discourses of positive ageing in youth oriented consumer societies.