Contemporary Global Culture Research Articles

Reimagining Macbeth in Africa and the Persistence of Primitivism

Abstract: This essay examines the relationship between “Africa” and “Shakespeare,” two powerful cultural constructs that hold particular ideological traction in contemporary global culture in the aftermath of colonialism. Attempts to “Africanize” Shakespeare may seem well-aligned with the imperative to decolonize knowledge and culture. However, invocations of “Africa” on international stages all too often rely on suggestions of primitivism and reproduce the age-old association of Africa with supposed barbarism or beastliness, inherited from antiquity and absorbed into the cultural myths against which notions of “Englishness” took hold. The essay considers how contemporary theater-making might reckon with these histories and with their lingering influence on public culture today, arguing that the conjuring of an “Africa” that is especially amenable to the violent excesses in evidence in Macbeth may reinforce simplistic readings of history and perpetuate racist teleologies. The essay examines a number of adaptations of Macbeth , some not widely known, others already familiar within Shakespeare studies, such as Welcome Msomi’s uMabatha, the Zulu Macbeth (1970), the so-called “Voodoo Macbeth ” directed by Orson Welles for the Federal Theater Project (New York, 1936), and Brett Bailey’s adaptation of Verdi’s operatic Macbeth set within a failing contemporary African state (2014). More nuanced representations of African cultural legacies and political histories emerge through innovative modes of storytelling, evident in two more recent productions: the short film In iRedu directed by Abiola Sobo (2013), and the 2021 production of Macbeth at the Joburg Theatre in South Africa, which drew on active, “actor-centric” modes of interpretation and multilingual innovations. Theater practice is well equipped to engage African worlds as sources of influence and inspiration, without resorting to the pejorative and unimaginative discourses of primitivism that have persisted well past the independence movements of the twentieth century.

In/Visibility and the (post-soviet) ‘queer closet’

ABSTRACT This article discusses in/visibility regarding sexual identities, the ‘gay closet’, and ‘coming-out’ within the post-soviet context from a queer feminist perspective. Contemporary western-oriented global queer political culture favours individualized visual representation to fight for social acceptance. In many post-soviet and western contexts, however, LGBTIQ+ visibility is increasingly threatened. Accordingly, many choose strategies to sustain their queer lives beyond visibility and public representation. Queer and feminist theory does not offer adequate concepts to account for these forms of resistance. Building on Édouard Glissant, the decolonial and anti-imperialist philosopher, with his demand for the right to opacity, and off queer theory that reconceptualizes the gay closet, such as that of Anna T. I rethink visual in/visibility and the queer closet as space for relationality and recuperation. While Glissant and T. use the concept of opacity primarily on the level of the verbal, I will re-conceptualize opacity as in/visibility on the level of visual discourses. Engaging with the artistic practice of multimedia artist Ruthie Jenrbekova and filmmaker Masha Godovannaya, both of whom play with the in/visibilisation of queerness as artistic strategies, I show how visual opacity can facilitate coalitions beyond identity politics based on nationality, sexuality and/or gender.

E-cigarette use in global digital youth culture. A qualitative study of the social practices and meaning of vaping among 15–20-year-olds in Denmark, Finland, and Norway

The introduction of e-cigarettes on the tobacco market has brought new regulatory challenges, and particular concerns relate to e-cigarette uptake among young people. The aim of this study was to explore the use and social meaning of e-cigarettes among Nordic young people and to discuss this in the context of current legislation. Thirteen focus groups were conducted with 46 Danish, Finnish, and Norwegian young people (24 boys) with vaping experience aged 15-20 years (mean age 17 years). Young people's vaping stood out as an inherently social practice that was commonly interlinked with experimental use patterns. Relative to smoking, vaping was seen as socially acceptable and less harmful to health. Product innovations like flavour additives and nicotine-free liquid options added to perceptions of low harm, and innovative device design features facilitated new and playful user practices. Finally, digital markets eased the young people's access to e-cigarettes, and the digital world also represented an arena for e-cigarette exposure and self-presentation. They commonly viewed vaping-related content in their social media feeds and also produced such content themselves. Young people's vaping is a social practice interwoven in contemporary digital and global youth culture. Transnational regulations are needed to support individual countries in preventing e-cigarette use and exposure among young people.

Exhausting Beauties, Fashion Faux Pas, and Sartorial Rights. How Fashion Shaped the Self-definition of Gen X, Y, Z? A Case Study ofEuphoria,Girls, andSex and the City

AbstractThe article focuses on fashion consumption patterns emerging from prominent TV series that have created generational fandoms. Three series (Sex and the City,Girls, andEuphoria) representing the three most important generations (Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z) present in contemporary US society and global popular culture highlight the most mainstream contemporary fashion attitudes. Based on a deductive approach-based thematic analysis with focus on the semantic role of the dress played in the visual narrative, the research considers how fashion is used in building characters and their fashion- and clothing-culture-related values. The analysis concludes that the most important features of the generational fashion attitudes are as follows: materialist individualism for generation X, irony and anti-fashion for generation Y, and psychological coping mechanism for generation Z.

Globalization in the Educational Culture of Punjab Public Secondary Schools

The review-based study puts light on globalization in an educational culture like the effect of contemporary global educational culture, the technical effect, and the effect of the corrosion of values in Punjab Public Secondary Schools. This paper also analyzed the support and development of globalization to provide public secondary school education. In addition, the research discussed the opportunities and challenges of globalization in educational culture. The results of the study showed that Pakistanis educational culture at the secondary schools level has become hybrid due to dominant countries' styles adopted by our educational system while taking benefits from the western school system within the dimension of its ideology, moreover, cultural factors are affecting the values and norms as well as the education. The research will be helpful for policymakers, parents and other stakeholders, and heads of public secondary school education.

Between engagement and disengagement in contemporary global culture. Types of cultural consumers among youth in Adriatic Croatia

ABSTRACT Using data from a large survey (N = 2736) of high school students in six major cities of Adriatic Croatia, this paper examines the relationship between cultural consumption, values and parental cultural capital. In order to identify the main dimensions that structure the space of cultural practices and taste, multiple correspondence analysis was employed. We find that this space is primarily structured by a dimension differentiating between engagement and disengagement in contemporary global culture, while the second dimension describes a relation towards popular and traditional culture. By superimposing supplementary variables on this map, we show that both dimensions are strongly associated with parental cultural capital and students’ value orientations. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, five specific clusters of cultural consumers were identified: Folk Univors, Neo-Traditionalists, Eclectic Consumers, Modern Omnivores and Elite Alternatives. The obtained results point not only to the intergenerational transmission of taste, but also to new forms of distinction among Croatian youth.

Storytelling in Apocalyptic Times: Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play

Abstract This article analyzes Anne Washburn’s wildly popular, and often controversial, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play (2012) by focusing on the principal retellings that shape Mr. Burns and delineating how Washburn’s adaptations produce the thematic content of the play. Washburn deftly interweaves a variety of high and low culture source material within the plot. Pandemic and apocalyptic tropes provide the ecofictional narrative base to adaptations of Stephen King’s The Stand (1978), Euripides’s Orestes, Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear (1991), and a variety of episodes of The Simpsons (1989–). Through these retellings, Mr. Burns metatheatrically chronicles how stories shape listeners and their cultures. When the stories told simply pander to the materialism, greed, and commodification that permeate contemporary global capitalist culture, then society proliferates those solipsistic values. Washburn ultimately argues that, in what may seem like apocalyptic times, storytelling as embodied in the theater arts must instead advocate humanitarian collectivist values.

Jack and the Beanstalk: The human plot in narrative traditions and contemporary global culture

The narrative tradition, going back to the Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh and Homer’s Odyssey, presents itself as a framework for any person faced with taking up their life and making something of it. It works with archetypes, images that seek to resonate with the human psyche. According to Christopher Booker, the central theme underlying the narratives – from quest stories through tragedy and comedy – is one that moves us from egocentricity to the achievement of an authentic and generous self. But the narrative relies on the distinction between an appearance of success or failure (“above the line”), and the personal journey that is, or is not, successfully undertaken, “below the line”. Our global commercially oriented culture has decoupled us from the traditional normative images and roles, but the danger, for example with superhero fantasies, is that the below the line plot is lost, and with it the self-referentiality that is the source of character growth. Against Booker’s negative take on post-moral fiction, I argue, finally, that a more self-conscious self-referentiality is shown in the technique of “free indirect style” discussed by James Wood, calling for a greater degree of co-authoring of the moral of the plot.

Cultural Identity in Sustainable Architecture

A highly debateabletopicin architectural fraternity is the 'sustainable architecture' which has been addressed in many publications. Literature terminology applies to different types of such architecture: 1970s eco-design, 1980s green design, late 1980s and 1990s ecological design. This demonstrates the emergence of a construction-oriented architecture that prioritizes the natural environment until the mid-1990s. Sustainable architecture, on the other hand, as with all previous architecture approaches, can not only be considered a moral and architectural practice, but its contribution to social, cultural and economic infrastructure in the region. [1] UNESCO has coined "real life sustainability" to expand the overall concept of sustainable architecture from design to architecture incorporating local identity as part of the design process. [1] UNESCO coined the concept 'absolute sustainable life.'[2] Frampton aims to tackle local and contemporary global architectural culture at the same time as the notion of 'critical regionalism.' In his narrated essay, he stresses on value of sustainability in architecture as a cultural framework, not just a technique or process. [3] Culture defines a diverse concept that incorporates all intellectual activity of society. [4]Culture is; dynamic, exchanged, transformed into a new generation, expressed within the group and the person, interpreted in each community member. This includes laws, beliefs, principles, convictions and expectations. It transmits longevity and can improve the community's vitality. These are the assertion of "culture" in Matsumato's book "Psychology and Community."[5][6] The paper discusses about the sustainable cultural with architectural aspects. Part 1 discusses about eco-cultural architecture from various aspects of sustainable architecture. Next part 2 analyses world-class construction practices as eco-cultural reasoning practices, and part 3 discusses a case study of Turkey's sustainable solutions to local issues.

Gin: a marketplace icon

ABSTRACT Gin is far more than just a juniper-flavored alcoholic beverage distilled or infused with botanicals. This spirit boasts an incredibly rich (albeit tumultuous) cultural and social history, and its identity has shifted considerably over the centuries. Born as a medical treatment in the eleventh century, rising in popularity, especially in the Low Countries and in Germany, between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and held up as a material signifier of Englishness by the end of the seventeenth century, gin spawned a plague in England as the country transitioned to an era of modernization. It subsequently evolved from a symbol of English hegemony during colonialism to the spirit that is shaping the contemporary global drinking culture more than any other today. In this essay, we retrace the history of gin from the beginning to the present and recount how this spirit became a marketplace icon.

SOCIOCULTURAL ASPECT OF TEACHING TO PLAY LITHUANIAN NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

The sociocultural aspect of teaching to play Lithuanian national music instruments is a neglected topic in terms of research. There are various folk instruments and forms of their promotion in the contemporary pedagogics and culture, therefore the author of the article conducts the research aiming at determining the most currently efficient methods of folk instruments expression, which could have a positive effect on the entire development of pedagogics in this area. The article discusses international contests, festivals and scientific conferences bringing together folk instruments performers, taken place in Lithuania and in Europe, analyzes the influence of such events on pedagogics of national instruments. The aim of the research: to analyze and to define the sociocultural peculiarities of teaching to play Lithuanian national music instruments. Tasks of the research: to describe the role and significance of the ethnic music in the contemporary music education in Lithuania; to analyze the opportunities for spreading sociocultural pedagogics of Lithuanian national music instruments and the role thereof in the contemporary global culture. Research methods: observation, comparison, interview, review of scientific and methodological papers, analysis of legislators and guiding documents on education.

New nationalism and the struggle for domination in the global digital cultural space

The article is devoted to one of the paradoxes of the modern system of international relations: the desire of many countries to restore their political and economic sovereignty, combined with the rapid development of digital technologies and the formation of an increasingly homogeneous global cultural space. The phenomenon of “new nationalism” arose in connection with the obvious crisis of globalization led by the United States. At the same time, this “new nationalism” is fundamentally different from the classical models of the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, clearly visible is its weak connection with the ideas of a national cultural revival and the sphere of culture in general. The digital revolution that humankind is going through today creates favorable conditions for the “restart” of globalization. The locomotive of integration processes in the new conditions is mass culture — in the form of new consumption technologies and everyday practices. A global digital civilization is gradually taking shape. The struggle for economic influence and political dominance, particularly between states such as the United States and China, is complemented by the opposition of “Westernization” and “Easternization” as the leading trends in contemporary global culture. The arguments presented in the article allow us to make the following assumption: in several decades, China, the United States and other countries will occupy a place in the world political, economic and cultural hierarchy that is comparable not with the level of their sovereignty and national identity, but with the scale and quality of their participation in the global exchange of goods, ideas and cultural meanings.

КУЛЬТУРНА ІДЕНТИЧНІСТЬ В ПОЛІКУЛЬТУРНОМУ СУСПІЛЬСТВІ

Sociological conceptualization of identification phenomenon in frame of modern socio-cultural world is proposed to be analyzed in this article. Contemporary researchers pay more and more attention to the identification processes, facing the stage of cultural patterns change in our country, as well as the global “cultural war” in a globalized world. Sociologists argues that the success in social transformations correlates with the level of inclusion in cultural life, as well as individual cultural identity definitions, guiding human activity and providing socio-cultural “cementing” of common life. Problems of cultural citizenship and cultural identification are being actualized in the context of contemporary global culture formation. In this light, postmodern interpretations of cultural identities are being analyzed, with emphasis on mosaics, ambiguity and inevitable state of diversity of cultural identities in “postmodern situation”. This phenomenon is analyzed from the viewpoint of J. Alexander’s “cultural sociology”, as well as F. Fukuyama’s “identity policy” interpretation. The arguments in favor of emergence of “new tribalism” (neotribalism) are presented, based on a specific cultural identity concept of M. Maffesoli. These concepts and analysis of identification processes, being investigated in contemporary societies, allow to make a general conclusion regarding the importance of cultural identity and its position in contemporary social development.

Cmentarz w strukturze przestrzennej miasta

Umieranie nie mieści się we współczesnej globalnej kulturze pop gloryfikującej młodość i witalność. Jeśli dodać do tego katolickie sacrum-tabu śmierci okaże się, że dzisiaj nie ma miejsca na cmentarze. Celem artykułu jest pokazanie, że nie da się ich jednak wyprzeć, że są częścią każdej cywilizacji i mają lokalizację w przestrzeni i krajobrazie. Ważnym spostrzeżeniem jest to, że znaczenie i miejsce cmentarzy zmieniało się tak, jak zmieniała się kultura. Posłużono się przykładem Łodzi.

Collision of Cultural Identity in MulticulturalSociety

Sociological conceptualization of identification phenomenon in frame of modern multicultural world is proposed to be analyzed in this article. That is, the emphasis will be placed on the cultural dimension of human identification, in contrast to its dimensions such as political, ideological, socioeconomic or ethno-national. Contemporary researchers pay more and more attention to the identification processes. The relevance of such studies is explained, on the one hand, by the observed variability of identity that the citizens of Ukraine demonstrate against the backdrop of changing cultural patterns in our country, and on the other hand, by the increasingly obvious manifestations of the global “cultural war” in a globalized world. Sociologists argues that the success in social transformations correlates with the level of inclusion in cultural life, as well as individual cultural identity definitions, guiding human activity and providing socio-cultural “cementing” of communal life. Problems of cultural citizenship and cultural identification are being actualized in the context of contemporary global culture formation. In this light, post-modern interpretations of cultural identities are being analyzed, with emphasis on mosaics, ambiguity and inevitable state of diversity of cultural identities in “post-modern situation”. This phenomenon is analyzed from the viewpoint of U. Beck, as well as F. Fureri and F. Fukuyama’s “identity policy” interpretation. The arguments in favour of emergence of “new tribalism” are presented, based on a specific cultural identity concept of M. Maffesoli. These concepts and analysis of identification processes, being investigated in contemporary Ukrainian society, give grounds for a general conclusion regarding the importance of cultural reciprocal cooperation.

Unworked and unavowable: Communities of practice in twenty-first century transatlantic poetry

ABSTRACTJean-Luc Nancy’s The Inoperative Community (1986) and subsequent critical responses to it [Rorty, Richard. Contingency, Irony, Solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989; Agamben, Giorgio. The Coming Community. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993; Blanchot, Maurice. The Unavowable Community. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press, 1998; Esposito, Roberto. Communitas: The Origin and Destiny of Community. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998; Miller, Joseph Hillis. The Conflagration of Community: Fiction Before and After Auschwitz. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2011; Miller, Joseph Hillis. Communities in Fiction. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014] create a philosophical framework which can be applied to unearth communities of culture which go beyond geographical, physical or temporal contact. This paper defends this cultural framework’s usefulness to ascertain points of contact for contemporary poetry in English on both sides of the Atlantic, thus responding to Nancy’s denunciation of the “dissolution, the dislocation, or the conflagration of the community” in modern thought. The fate of poetic production across the Atlantic seems to be divergent; while in Europe poetry is a liminal activity, it remains a vibrant activity both in the USA and Canada. Younger British poets continue to write lyrical and experiential poems, often within received forms. It contrasts with the overabundance of new, radical ideas about poetry put forward by American and Canadian poets: from experimental, technology mediated or intermedial poetry to conceptualism, poets beyond the Atlantic try to self-impose limits to poetic diction in order to supersede Romantic poetics. Comparing both poetics proves most fruitful when they are analysed against an unworked (Nancy’s désoeuvrée, often also translated as inoperative) transatlantic community of practice: there are formal influences between European movements such as French Oulipo in the 1960s or Fluxus in the 1970s with current poetry in the States and Canada; conversely, poetry in Europe has been permeable to high Modernism and post-modern aesthetics from across the Atlantic. As the paper demonstrates, this comparative approach provides a more inclusive vantage point that insists on the fluidity of our contemporary global culture and allows for the establishment of connections hitherto unnoticed in current poetry, thus countering claims of its stagnancy, commoditisation and complacency.

Seeking delocalization

AbstractThe continuing development of the Internet and broader technologization have made the presence of game fans and the diverse fan community highly visible, shaping part of contemporary global game culture. The influences of such user empowerment have been debated, notably along the lines of the emergence of participatory culture (Jenkins 2006). Increased fan participation in translation facilitated by technological environments is highlighting the need to pay attention to the role played by such highly engaged users in the localization industry. Yet, to date the topic has not been explored fully in game localization research. To fill this gap, this article considers the significance for game localization of the dynamically evolving status and influence of international game fan communities. Taking the case of a controversy that erupted during 2015 and 2016 over localization of a Japanese tactical RPG (Role Playing Game) title, the article investigates how user empowerment is impacting on game localization. This article demonstrates the importance – for game publishers and developers alike – of recognizing the increasingly significant presence of global game fan communities. In particular, game publishers and developers must be prepared to have clear and consistent localization policies and strategies in place in order to face the scrutiny of increasingly knowledgeable and empowered fan communities.

Reina Lewis, Muslim Fashion: Contemporary Style Cultures

Reina Lewis examines Muslim women’s hijab (i.e., veiling) as ‘fashion’, a phenomenon that prevails in the contemporary global consumer culture. Her central argument is that the over-politicization of hijab, particularly in the West, has deterred not only the public but also academics from understanding a plethora of dynamics that both influence and are influenced by hijab as fashion. While this overlook is largely related to the post-9/11 signification of hijab as Islamism, Lewis holds Orientalism equally accountable for the underrepresentation of hijab in the fashion discourse. As the author argues, traditionally, fashion has been associated with Western modernity, assuming no place for fashion among Muslims and confining hijab to ethnicity and religiosity. Following the recent rise of Islam’s visibility in the West, hijab has been largely viewed as exclusion from and/or opposition to a progressive modernity, manifested in the West-centric consumer culture.

Measuring Organizational-Fit Through Socio-Cultural Big Data

We propose that businesses, government, and not-for-profit entities could benefit from a better understanding of organizational behavior through the lens of a contemporary global culture model. Human resourcing and partnering decisions could be improved by using global culture to ensure a better organizational-fit as well as to reduce the risk of destructive relationship dependencies. For an extreme-limits example, a company could inadvertently hire a terrorist or a social loafer seeking to steal competitive intelligence. A big data approach supported by a socio-cultural framework could help in hypothesis testing which is essential for advancing the body of knowledge in organizational behavior. This paper will make a scholarly contribution by identifying literature relevant to collecting and analyzing organizational big data that could explain beneficial socio-cultural behavior. This paper will explore how sources of qualitative big data could be collected and then analyzed to measure organizational-fit factors relevant for decision-making.

Apartheid’s wolves: political animals and animal politics

This paper explores the particular complexity of thinking about nature and animals in post-liberation South Africa through focusing on one group of animals, the wolves housed in the Tsitsikamma Wolf Sanctuary. Wolves are not indigenous to South Africa and the presence of the sanctuary raises questions about the place of alien species in the symbolic configuration of the emerging South African nation. Although the Wolf Sanctuary is anomalous in the wider discourse of environmental management in South Africa, the wolves provide an interesting focus for thinking about the production of nature both within the South African nation and within contemporary global culture. These South African wolves are very clearly products of history, imported from North America to satisfy a particular political purpose – the breeding of wolf-dogs for use by the South African military and police during the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions transcripts of Hearings on Chemical and Biological Warfare, two self-published border war memoirs, and newspaper reports, this paper investigates how wildness was configured under apartheid particularly in the crucible of the border war. Finally, the paper discusses how as material animals the wolves leave their own traces on the actual and conceptual landscape surrounding wild predators and their place in South Africa.