Contemporary Modern Societies Research Articles

For a Phenomenology of the Crisis of Contemporary Modern Society

For a Phenomenology of the Crisis of Contemporary Modern Society

Graphic Novels and Traditional Art Forms: The Indian Context

The visual language of graphic novels is increasingly becoming a powerful tool of expression. Originally known as the comic books, the contemporary graphic novels are being acknowledged as a potential medium for handling serious issues. Recently, a great changeover in the thematic concerns and the art style of Indian Graphic Novels has been witnessed. This hybrid medium of text and image is addressing to the sensitive issues and questions of the contemporary modern society and also establishing a cultural identity through its artistic (visual) expression. The conventional style of comic sketching and caricaturing on paper is being replaced by the traditional art forms from different cultures and regions of India. This shift has brought about a change in the perspectives or the ways of ‘seeing’ both the Indian Graphic Novels and the Indian visual art forms. The paper purports to establish a connection between these two with a proposition that the graphic novels are a potential mode of preserving the traditional art forms of India and helping them gain recognition globally so that the Indian Graphic Novel can also create a distinguished identity in verbal-visual literature like that of Japanese Manga. The paper is an endeavour to examine how the traditional art forms are being contextualized in the contemporary times and how they are effectively registering the resistance against the stereotype and the negligence especially of women and Dalits in the Indian society itself.

The Impact of Emmanuel Levinas’ Philosophy on the Problem of Determining Others in Contemporary Society – in Relation to Ethics and Political Practice

This paper aims to examine the impact and overlap of the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas in connection with the issue of determining others in contemporary modern society, especially in relation to ethical theoretical background and real political practice. This paper aims to relate Levinasian philosophy to the phenomena of contemporary modern society, specifically, its ethics and political practice. This paper intends to capture the relevance of Levinasian philosophy to our current political and religious conflicts, the issue of refugees, immigrants, and the phenomenon of mass migration. In a broader sense, it also reflects upon the issues of racism and globalization as pertinent issues in our current age.

The fight over the Marian Column and a religious narrative template in a society of unbelievers

The paper explains the current dominance of unbelievers in Czech society as a consequence of the replication of the narrative template about religion, which is part of the national collective memory. This narrative template manifests itself in certain events provided by the interpretative framework. The aim of the study is to identify the Czech religious narrative template based on the analysis of public debate on the restoration of the Marian Column in Prague. The paper shows that a key element of this narrative template is the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, which has not been resolved in the course of Czech history and is replicated in contemporary modern society through a discussion of the ‘meaning of Czech history’. This split has become a part of Czech national identity and its long-term consequence is the shift of Czech society away from religion.

Ask Tesadüfleri Sever2/Love Likes Coincidences 2 (Feature by Ömer Faruk Sorak, ?pek Sorak, and Alp Tekin)

Reviewed by: Ask Tesadüfleri Sever2/Love Likes Coincidences 2 Cigdem Slankard (bio) Ask Tesadüfleri Sever2/Love Likes Coincidences 2 Feature, Starring Nesrin Cavadzade, Yiğit Kirazcı, Elif Doğan, and Uğur Polat, 2020, 121 Minutes, Directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak and İpek Sorak, Produced by Ömer Faruk Sorak and Alp Tekin Love Likes Coincidences 2 is a popular Turkish feature from husband-and-wife co-directors Ömer Faruk Sorak and İpek Sorak, which tells an implausibly intertwined tale of two love stories. One takes place in Istanbul in 1963 with the backdrop of Istanbul’s Greek Community’s mistreatment by the Turkish government, while the second story is set in contemporary Ankara. Although the title hints at a sequel, Love Likes Coincidences 2 contains a narrative independent of the first film, namely, Love Likes Coincidences 1. Yet, the fact remains that both films explore similar themes like love and coincidence. Love Likes Coincidences 2 is inspired by a true story, originally written by İpek Sorak and adapted to screenplay by Nuran Evren Şit. We first meet the main characters from the 1960s love story, Sema (starring Elif Doğan), a high school student, and Niko (starring Uğur Polat) who is training at a mechanic’s shop and is slightly older than Sema. They run into each other one day when Sema is late for school. Her dad, a local police officer (starring Erkan Can), usually drives her to school. Distracted by Sema’s tardiness, he calls her to hurry up only to find himself rear-ending a motorcycle. This scene constitutes the first coincidence of the first love story: Meet cute 1: Sema meets Niko as he opens his eyes after a gentle tumble off his vehicle. Upon eye contact with the beautiful Sema, he utters the words “Am I dead?” a line which ends up bookending their love story throughout the film. The Niko-Sema love story is contextualized in the social and family structure of 1960s Turkey where it was not uncommon for a high school girl to start considering her options for marriage at a young age. While casual dating and any aspect of premarital sex would have been taboo, this type of romance was encouraged in some families with the hope of young people entering into a marriage grounded in both logic and love. This idea is repeatedly expressed throughout the film’s narrative as the relationship between Sema and Niko unfolds, featuring their families’ reception of their love story. The film then flash-forwards to 2011-Ankara, where the audience meets Kerem (starring Yiğit Kirazcı), an attractive and charismatic young man with his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, Aylin (starring Türkü Turan), at a night club where the beautiful and talented Defne (staring Nesrin Cavadzade) takes the stage to perform a song, “I had a Dream Last Night.” Her voice captures Kerem’s attention. Kerem is [End Page 126] captivated by Defne and can’t keep his eyes off her despite his girlfriend’s attempts to distract him from the stage. Kerem and Defne make eye contact right before Aylin drags Kerem off: Meet Cute 2, which is followed by a montage of letter-writing from the 1960s and texting from the new millennium as couples-to-be connected on the eve of their budding romances. Indeed, all four main characters do pair up, Sema with Niko and Defne with Kerem in no time. How romantic advances are shared may have changed, but the gist of it remains the same. In presenting two intertwined and parallel love stories, the film comments on how romance and relationships have changed over time. The ease of connecting with a new potential partner in contemporary modern societies is contrasted to the slow-moving romantic communication, from decades ago, between two people via handwritten notes messengered by a young boy. The cautious conversations between a young couple of the 1960s is juxtaposed to a contemporary couple hooking up immediately after their first face-to-face encounter. The filmmakers acknowledge and highlight these changes and variations. At some points, however, this happens at the expense of an authentic representation of romance in Turkish culture...

The Subversion of Human Freedom in ‘V for Vendetta’ by Alan Moore. A Futuristic Approach and Comparative Analysis in Contemporary Modern Societies

Human rights and political freedoms are very important in a society, and lies at the nerve of history and political thought of democratic societies. Political freedom can be explained from the realms of being free from both oppression and coercion in the participation of a country's political progress. Political freedom encompasses the freedom of the majority of citizens to influence and guide a political course as well as the freedom of minority groups to voice their concerns. Increasing research has shed light on how freedom is denied in Alan Moore's comic book, 'V for Vendetta.’ Alan Moore, in his book, depicts a society caught in the undertow of anarchism, fascism, and the oppressive regime under the iron fist of the Norsefire government. Little attention has been paid to compare ‘V for Vendetta’ to world’s oppressive political systems. In fiction work, reality leaves a lot to imagination. However, literature always mirror the society, both at present and future. Most fictions works written at different chronological accounts always come alive at one point in time. There is a lot of similarity between the society in ‘V for Vendetta’ and that of today. Themes such as fascism, sexual abuse, dictatorship, media political propaganda, oppression and anarchy in Alan Moore’s comic have for the past, and even now, been witnessed in the society today.

The church and the indispensability and fragility of morality revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic

In this article the view that the Covid-19 pandemic – especially the lockdown that went hand in hand with it – revealed both the indispensability and fragility of morality was substantiated and the response of the church to the moral challenges posed by the pandemic discussed. Findings were based on information gained from South African media regarding the pandemic and the response to it in the South African context interpreted with the assistance of research in academic publications. Various respects in which the pandemic underlined the indispensability of morality were discussed first. This was followed by a discussion of ways in which the pandemic also demonstrated the fragility of morality. The fragility of morality was traced back to the undermining influence of modern life on morality. Finally, the mixed record of South African churches in providing guidance on the moral challenges the Covid-19 pandemic posed, was noted. It was pointed out that the challenge remains to the church to provide moral guidance on life after the pandemic. The church would also have to effectively deal with the challenge to overcome the curtailment of its ability to provide such moral guidance in contemporary modern societies. Contribution: The contribution of the article lies in identifying the moral issues posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and in gauging the response of the church in the South African context to these issues. The challenges that remain to the church to also after the pandemic provide moral guidance and overcome obstacles in providing such guidance were also highlighted.

BODY PHYSICALITY AS A KEY FACTOR OF MEDIA SELF PRESENTATION – BODY IMAGE IN ADVERTISING

The contribution is a consideration of the role of a human body in personal, physical reflections, in the field of art and in media space. The presented text is a thought starting point for a scientific study of the role and forms of the human body in contemporary advertising. In contemporary modern society, there is an increasing interest in the appearance and presentation of the body in its female or male modality. Body image is a complex, dynamic and multidimensional aspect of an individual’s personality, determined by a number of individual and socio-cultural factors. Body image creation takes place under the influence and experience of information and it can change throughout life. The perception of body image is linked to the general ideas that the culture connects with the ideal form of the body. It is not only a mental image, but also includes an assessment component, an attitude based on cognitive schemes and emotional processing of information with which the individual is confronted

The Identity Politics of Masculinity as a Colonial Legacy

ABSTRACTPrior to Dutch colonization, there was a clear distinction between men and women in Indonesia. However, the hierarchical structure between these gender categories is part and parcel of the colonial legacy. Masculinity was first introduced in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial period as a repudiation from femininity. This signaled a significant shift, as previously being modest and part of the community had been valued much more highly in Indonesian society than was individuality. By asking to what extent men’s gender expectations are subject to the identity politics of masculinity, and to what extent this is reflected on Indonesian popular culture specifically men’s lifestyle magazine, I intend to shed light on the incompatibility of the identity politics of masculinity with contemporary Indonesian men. Towards this goal, I analyse eight men’s lifestyle magazines, for they play a key role in contemporary modern societies, exposing men to generalized notions of what it means to be a ‘man’. Spanning the period from the earliest men’s lifestyle magazines published in Indonesia in the mid-1970s until 2015, I map contemporary narratives of masculinity in Indonesian context as a reflection of the effects colonial ideologies continue to have on Indonesian society and the division of gender roles.

National Character in the Context of Modern Societies

Discussions of the realisation and transformation of national characteristics and the emergence of new national identities in contemporary modern societies are not to be reduced solely to the effects of globalisation, contemporary capitalism and market economy. What needs to be foregrounded and confronted is the ideological and political factor. Scientific studies primarily examine the national character in the context of culture and personality, focusing on the isomorphism of personality traits and cultural patterns, which are often assessed according to political interests and national values. As such, they help to shape the collective movement of each nation, displaying the interdependence between the nation and its national sentiments. What is essential to contemporary modern societies is the national state in a political sense. As a result, the national character is now more than ever assessed on purely pragmatic foundations, such as the role of politics, national values, and forms of nationalism. These forms dictate the national symbols, myths, and national sentiments about a common origin, which are fundamental to the existence and revitalisation of people within a particular nation, a nation with a common national identity. What is crucial, the national rituals and sentiments are supposed to create a feeling of unity. The awareness of the unity and the sense of the shared mission of a particular nation, especially in terms of its cultural and political homogeneity and its common past, form the basis of a political perspective in examining its national character. The role and study of the national character were intensified in the wake of national revolutions, world wars, and similar crises, especially in the context of promoting forms of nationalism: the uncertain circumstances led to new explanations of the nation’s realities on the basis of common-sense conceptions, which generated distinct ideological polarisations between ‘us’ and ‘them’.

O debate legislativo carioca sobre a “mudança da homossexualidade”: ciência, política e religião

Resumo O artigo analisa o debate na mídia impressa em torno do projeto de lei 717/03, apresentado na Assembleia Legislativa do Rio de Janeiro em agosto de 2003, que previa o uso de verbas públicas para a “mudança da homossexualidade”. Foram utilizadas como fontes de pesquisa notícias sobre este projeto publicadas em jornais e revistas de grande circulação estadual e nacional, considerando-se os autores, os atores sociais e as categorias citadas nos diferentes tipos de matéria, bem como os argumentos contrários e favoráveis à proposta legislativa. Verificamos assim o modo como argumentos relativos aos campos científico, religioso e político ressignificaram as relações entre natureza/cultura e normal/patológico, operando de modo especifico, e por vezes contraditório, com valores caros às sociedades modernas contemporâneas, como igualdade entre os homens e livre arbítrio individual.

An Acoustic Analysis of Noise Environments during Mobile Device Usage

In contemporary modern society, people are constantly exposed to many kinds of noise, such as that from machinery, aircraft, construction sites, or road traffic. Noise is considered one of the most indispensable and influential parts of human life. This study investigates the acoustic characteristics of noise transfer from external sources to the human ear. For this study, we measured and analyzed various types of noise environments, installed monitoring speakers in a semi-anechoic room, and conducted intentional noise-filled experiments. In this environment, the size of the sounds generated by use of a portable device was also measured and the SNR (signal to noise ratio) calculated to study the influence of the noise. As sound is transmitted to the ear and the human body, it affects not only auditory damage but also other parts of the body. In this paper, we propose a proper SNR for noise emitted by portable IT equipment to prevent hearing loss when IT equipment is used.

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES ASSOCIATED WITH DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE CLIMATE DEVELOPMENT FOR PREPARATORY STAGE STUDENTS A FIELD STUDY IN VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTS

creative Summit grew in contemporary modern societies after the novelty, creativity is an added value contributes to the competitive process that determines the layout in the globalization process and creative climate is who thinks and learns and grows where multitudes of individuals and then, good and innovative education becomes a path towards justice between the two types of basic education. In addition to education is a human right and basis for development, it is also clear humanitarian investment leads, ultimately transforming the community. Education must be based on good and innovative interventions achieve this transformation The study focused on secondary school students, the study aims to identify the creative climate and its components and stages and has components and tracks and its constraints, social and environmental factors associated with the development of the creative climate in middle school and the relationship between school pupils ' creativity and creative climate in middle school, highlighting educational roles that can be performed by the teacher in the classroom to prepare him a favorable climate for the development of creativity among pupils as well as allasavi, where the sample of the study consisted of (250) alone from the middle school students sample the new Egypt area. Education, selected schools according to the relative importance of preparing students, while teachers are part of the study, were taken to the restriction and their number 76 teacher and mentor of various scientific disciplines. The study has adopted the method of using anthropological approach which is based on thick description – up close – to what goes on inside the classroom to understand waltaoil and monetary perspective, And he cares about his approach to study the phenomenon in which field to study how the temporal and spatial And in collecting data the researcher used participant observation form contains several themes related to climate and the variables that affect the students ' creative climate. The study has several important results working on allowing creators and creative production and encourage them to develop strategies and programs that help caregivers and provide social, economic and cultural environment that helps to enrich the talent with the formation of teams of experts and researchers to discover these talents to begin care and refinement and moral and material support of microfinance

New modes of integration: Individuality and sociality in digital networks

The rapid and fundamental changes of societal communication that occur against the backdrop of current media development (digitization) call for an extension of communication research by revisiting the social theoretical foundations of social cohesion and integration. Arguing that social change and media change are intimately tied up, we discuss important changes in the means and modalities of communication in the digital era as indicative of — and bound to — changes in contemporary modern societies. Based on a discussion of the concepts individualization and network, the paper devises a theoretical perspective that places current media convergence firmly at the center of social change. At the heart of this approach lies the concept of networked individuality as an increasingly important mode of creating personal identity and shaping social relations today.

Ethnocentrism and the Problem of Terrorism: A Sociological Analysis in the Context of Contemporary India

The phenomenon of terrorism, intensively and extensively experienced over the last three decades in India and elsewhere; it is, in fact, an extreme expression of ethnocentrist mindset. As for India, it is most likely to lead to an erosion of the basic Indian cultural ethos of ‘unity in diversity’ and of its resilience. It has also become a challenge to Indian plural society and to its nationalism itself. The present research paper undertakes to analyse the real nature of this challenge, its forms and consequences, particularly in the context of the contemporary modern society.

문화예술교육에서 애니메이션에 대한 논의 분석

과학적 합리성, 인문학과 사회과학의 상상력과 통찰력, 예술적 창조성을 중요시하는 현대사회의 교육은 지식정보의 단순한 전달과 암기나 기능중심의 교육보다는 역사적 문맥의 폭넓은 이해, 학습자의 반성적 판단력, 창의적 기획력, 의사소통능력, 인지와 감성의 통합, 매체해석과 활용능력을 함양하는 문화예술을 중시하는 방향으로 변화하고 있다. 본 연구는 영상예술분야인 애니메이션의 교육담론 분석을 통해 문화예술교육으로서 가치와 중요성, 향후 방향에 대해 살펴봄을 목적으로 한다. 애니메이션을 활용한 문화예술교육은 영향력이 막강한 예술장르간의 융합, 학제간의 융합을 유도하여 탈장르의 형태로 인간의 삶과 문화를 변화시키며 다양한 교육방법과 실천으로 이어지고 있다. 한편, 국가차원의 문화복지 성격의 예술교육정책이 추진되고, 국민들의 문화예술의 향수권과 사회문화교육이 점차 확대되는 시점에서, 통합적 문화예술로서 애니메이션의 교육적 역할 증대와 학문의 지속적 발전을 위해 애니메이션의 교육학적 역할 재정립, 애니메이션교육의 다양화와 대중화, 애니메이션 전문 교육인력양성, 애니메이션 인프라확대와 종합교육지원시스템 구축이 필요하다. In the contemporary modern society, information and knowledge generate a set of new social values. These changes demand a transformation not only in socio-cultural and educational spheres, but also, specifically, in the field of culture and art education. Culture and Art education emphasizes the integration and cross-discipline of other related fields which have great impact on culture and arts. This study applies theoretical analysis of Animation education in the context of culture and art education. Animation education takes an interdisciplinary approach to integrate various subjects in the field of culture and art education. Animation, as a form of culture and art education, plays an educational role in the social classroom. Animation education should be developed and expanded to become a regular classroom course. The goal of Animation education is to pursue and develop a connection with other educational courses of study. In order to strengthen the role of Animation education, we should first re-structure the pedagogical role of Animation education. Secondly, Animation education needs to become a diversified and popularized education. Third, the cultivation of creative human resources is considered of vital importance to Animation education. Finally, the expansion of infrastructure and the establishment of a comprehensive support system for Animation education has to be established.

Science, Human Nature, and a New Paradigm for Ethics Education

For centuries, religion and philosophy have been the primary basis for efforts to guide humans to be more ethical. However, training in ethics and religion and imparting positive values and morality tests such as those emanating from the categorical imperative and the Golden Rule have not been enough to protect humankind from its bad behaviors. To improve ethics education educators must better understand aspects of human nature such as those that lead to "self-deception" and "personal bias." Through rationalizations, faulty reasoning and hidden bias, individuals trick themselves into believing there is little wrong with their own unethical behavior. The application of science to human nature offers the possibility of improving ethics education through better self-knowledge. The author recommends a new paradigm for ethics education in contemporary modern society. This includes the creation of a new field called "applied evolutionary neuro-ethics" which integrates science and social sciences to improve ethics education. The paradigm can merge traditional thinking about ethics from religious and philosophical perspectives with new ideas from applied evolutionary neuro-ethics.

Colloquium paper: gene-culture coevolution in the age of genomics.

The use of socially learned information (culture) is central to human adaptations. We investigate the hypothesis that the process of cultural evolution has played an active, leading role in the evolution of genes. Culture normally evolves more rapidly than genes, creating novel environments that expose genes to new selective pressures. Many human genes that have been shown to be under recent or current selection are changing as a result of new environments created by cultural innovations. Some changed in response to the development of agricultural subsistence systems in the Early and Middle Holocene. Alleles coding for adaptations to diets rich in plant starch (e.g., amylase copy number) and to epidemic diseases evolved as human populations expanded (e.g., sickle cell and G6PD deficiency alleles that provide protection against malaria). Large-scale scans using patterns of linkage disequilibrium to detect recent selection suggest that many more genes evolved in response to agriculture. Genetic change in response to the novel social environment of contemporary modern societies is also likely to be occurring. The functional effects of most of the alleles under selection during the last 10,000 years are currently unknown. Also unknown is the role of paleoenvironmental change in regulating the tempo of hominin evolution. Although the full extent of culture-driven gene-culture coevolution is thus far unknown for the deeper history of the human lineage, theory and some evidence suggest that such effects were profound. Genomic methods promise to have a major impact on our understanding of gene-culture coevolution over the span of hominin evolutionary history.

“CRACKER CULTURE”: A PRELIMINARY DEFINITION

IN THE STUDY of modern societies it is of value to the social scientist to distinguish and describe the regional variations which occur within a larger society. It is important to understand the various regional specializations in which man has established in order to conceptualize the nature of the contemporary modern world. Alfred Kroeber1 has correctly suggested that the culture is a subject matter for the social scientist; he defines culture as the natural region within which several communities have similar cultural and social norms. The variations from community to community within the area serve to distinguish the communities of the area from each other and from those in surrounding regions. It is the purpose of this paper to describe in broad terms the general cultural configuration of such a cultural area in Southeast Georgia and North Central Florida. The inhabitants refer to themselves and are referred to by others as Crackers, and we have used this name as a general term to denote the particular of these people. In describing this we attempt to develop a device for understanding the nature of contemporary modern society by placing it in the proper area context. Cracker Culture is a sub-type within the larger regional denoted as Southern. It is distinguished by three factors: the geographic features (topography, flora, fauna, and weather); the logic of its social order (social organization); and the sacred logic (rationale) which supports and gives meaning to the culture. The outstanding geographic features of the area are its mild waters, hot, humid summers, and the red clay upland soils; they are the sedimentary soils of the terraces that resulted from the progressive up-lift of the Atlantic littoral. They are the sand and sandy clay loams, whose primary drainage system consists of the east-west rivers such as the Savannah, Satilla, Altamaha and the Ogeechee, originating above the fall line in the uplands. The rivers serve as channels of migration from the sea-island region of the coast into the fertile areas of the uplands and Piedmont. The relatively infertile soils between these rivers discouraged settlers in search of the wealth that came from cotton production. A typical plant of the area is the Long-Leaf Pine which occurred in such profusion that the early settlers termed the area the

Medicine and culture: transcultural needs in modern Western societies

A distinction can be made between two types of cultural diversity in the practice of medicine: cultural diversity among the individuals involved in healthcare settings (i.e. doctors, nurses, patients, etc.), and diversity in the health paradigms now prevalent in contemporary modern societies (e.g. orthodox Western medicine, Chinese acupuncture, Indian ayurveda and Yorùbá medicine). In contrast to the received view, in which diversity is regarded as 'challenging' or 'problematic' for the provision and delivery of optimal healthcare, this paper argues that because health, wellbeing and wellness are themselves cultural goods in all paradigms of medicine, it is always possible to perform transcultural assessments of the methods, theories and practices adopted in specific paradigms of medicine.