Contemporary Multicultural Societies Research Articles

Linguistic landscape as a tool of identity negotiation: The case of the Nepali ethnic communities in West Bengal

Ethnic identity is dynamic and hence mutable concerning time and place. It is a social construction that involves society and its actors. Ethnic identity as a social construction is not free from the negotiation process. Such negotiations occur through various tools, the linguistic landscape being one of them. Despite the plethora of literature on identity negotiation in a multicultural and multilingual context, the linguistic landscape has not been sufficiently explored, especially considering it a tool in the ethnic identity negotiation process. Thus, how an ethnic community negotiates identity through linguistic landscape has been the major quest of the research. Therefore, the research tries to empirically examine the process of identity negotiation among the Nepali ethnic communities of Siliguri in the Darjeeling district of the state of West Bengal, India. 60 shop signs of the Nepali ethnic communities were photographed, applying the photographic data collection method. Unstructured interviews with each Nepali shop owner (ethnic sign producer) were also conducted. Photographic data were analyzed semiotically, and thematic and narrative analysis methods were adopted to interpret the interview data. In general, a mixed-method approach was used to analyze the data. The findings suggest that ethnic members symbolically ethnicize their shop signs to negotiate identity. The study shows how LL can be a tool of ethnic identity politics in India. The study signifies how ethnic communities assert identity through LL signage and how LL acts as an effective tool for identity negotiation in contemporary multicultural and multilingual Indian society. Also, this study contends that ethnicity is a relevant aspect of contemporary society and a political resource to ethnic communities.

THE DISCRIMINATION OF MULTICULTURALISM ON MUSLIM WOMEN DRESS CODE (HIJAB)

The challenges and discrimination facing the Hijab in the contemporary world against the Muslim women is definitely a worrisome. The objective of this paper is to make a conceptual exertion relating to the challenges and discrimination facing the Hijab in the contemporary multicultural society. The concepts of Hijab, Multiculturalism were discussed. We also looked at the social, economic, psychological, and cultural concepts as designed in the conceptual framework of the study. The paper explained the objectives off the hijab from the Islamic point of view covering obligation, religiosity, chastity, modesty, and piety. The study concludes that ignorance and lack of piety, modesty, and religiosity were among the major challenges responsible for the negligence of practicing the commandment of wearing hijab by some Muslim women. In addition to that, lack of consciousness of Almighty Allah by many Muslim woman, liberalism, western civilization, fashioning the hijab, modern Medias, and several others are some of the major challenges facing the hijab in the Muslim world.

Culturally Responsive Artificial Intelligence – Problems, Challenges and Solutions

In the contemporary interconnected world, the concept of cultural responsibility occupies paramount importance. As the lines between nations become less distinct, it is incumbent upon individuals, communities, and institutions to assume the responsibility of safeguarding and valuing the landscape of diverse cultures that constitute our global society. This paper explores the socio-cultural and ethical challenges stemming from the implementation of AI algorithms and highlights the necessity for their culturally responsive development. It also offers recommendations on essential elements required to enhance AI systems’ adaptability to meet the demands of contemporary multicultural societies. The paper highlights the need for further multidisciplinary research to create AI models that effectively address these challenges. It also advocates the significance of AI enculturation and underlines the importance of regulatory measures to promote cultural responsibility in AI systems.

New citizenship and the negotiation of the global/local interface: reflexivity, emotions, and metapragmatics

Abstract New citizens are typically characterized as people who occupy an estuarial position between the global and the local: to simultaneously become authentic to their global provenience and rooted in their new local societies, they are expected to cautiously partake in processes of differentiation as they construct their identities. This article investigates how new citizens negotiate this seemingly untenable position to present themselves as new citizens of Singapore who have negotiated the global/local dichotomy, rendering themselves as legitimate citizens. By adopting a metapragmatic approach, the article focuses on two object-signs that new citizens commonly deploy: familial relations and passports. The analysis traces how the semiotic potential of these object-signs is mediated by accounts of emotions, which are indispensable considerations of how signs realize their semiotic potential. Through situated reflexive practices, new citizens use these object-signs to equivocally and strategically manage supposed markers of difference, which consequently enables them to claim legitimacy as Singaporeans. These identities challenge regimented views about the global and local affordances of the notion of citizenship. This expands the semiotic range of good/new citizenship, which may prove instructive in understanding variegated understandings of citizenship not just in Singapore but also in other contemporary multicultural societies.

Understanding Human Dignity in Shi’i Islam: Debates, Challenges, and Solutions for Contemporary Issues

This study delves into the nuanced understanding of human dignity as expressed and upheld within the framework of Shi’i Islam. Drawing on the Quran as the primary source of Shi’i interpretation of the law and human rights, this research investigates the portrayal of human dignity in the Shia tradition through Islamic revelation. Furthermore, this study illuminates how certain Shia scholars depict the Quran as striving for the coherence of diverse religions and cultures and how Shia Imams have contributed to the discourse surrounding human dignity through their thoughts and actions. In addition, this study scrutinizes the debates on the compatibility of Islamic human dignity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including contemporary challenges and the responses of Shi’i jurists to these challenges. However, while the Quran and Hadith resources offer sufficient references to human dignity, various approaches to human dignity remain among Shia jurists. Some Shia scholars consider human dignity to be acquired (Iktisābī) through human thoughts and deeds, while others ascribe to dignity an essential characteristic of humankind (dhātī) unconditionally bestowed by God. This research elaborates on how these interpretations, consequences, and requirements inspire Shia jurisprudence (fiqh), particularly in contemporary multicultural and pluralistic societies. Furthermore, it examines how this challenge is being debated among the proponents of each group and how it relates to human rights and current challenges. The study of contemporary developments in Shi’i fiqh regarding the role of human dignity and justice as Legal Maxims (al-qawāʿid al-fiqh) provides a necessary context for understanding and ensuring just legal rulings. Philosophically speaking, if God is the Lawgiver (Shāriʿ) and is Just and Wise, this raises the question of whether it is permissible for a jurist to enact laws that contradict human dignity and justice. This study aims to explore potential solutions to traditional challenges that do not consider human dignity and to suggest ways in which human dignity and justice can be applied as legal maxims.

Religious Literacy in National Curricula of Estonia

Religious literacy may be seen as a prerequisite for religious freedom. This article analyzes how the development of religious literacy is supported in the curricula of Estonian primary and secondary schools and the extent to which these schools guarantee religious freedom. We assume that developing religious literacy is not limited to the lessons of Religious Education but can also be achieved in schools in which Religious Education is not taught. We analyze the national curricula for both basic and upper secondary schools to understand how religious literacy is represented, whether implicitly or explicitly. We are particularly interested in how the competencies of religious literacy are supported in the curricula and how freedom of religion is ensured in state-funded schools. The texts are analyzed according to the core curriculum analysis method and the religious literacy model, which identifies four stages in the development of religious literacy: examining religion as a category, engaging with a disposition towards religions, building up relevant knowledge, and promoting skills to interact well in multicultural society. This analysis shows that the dominant discourse related to religious literacy in the curricula focuses on social skills for future citizens, but religious literacy itself, a vital skill for operating in the modern multicultural world, is scarcely mentioned. Instead, it is present primarily as an implicit concept, and religion is portrayed as distant both in time and in space. Thus, this approach to education contributes insufficiently to the freedom of religion needed in a contemporary multicultural society.

Overcoming Linguacultural Barriers in Screen Translation

The multilingual discourse practices distinctive of contemporary multicultural societies have assumed an increasingly prominent position in contemporary European and American multicultural films (cf. Bleichenbacher, 2008; Berghahn & Sternberg, 2010; Jacobsson, 2017), where code-switching (cf. Myers-Scotton, 1993; Auer, 1998; Gardner-Chloros, 2009; Bathia & Ritchie, 2014) stands out as a key conversational strategy when interethnic encounters are at stake. This ties issues of on-screen multilingualism to the field of audiovisual translation (cf. Corrius & Zabalbeascoa, 2011, 2019; Şerban, 2012; Zabalbeascoa & Voellmer, 2014; de Higes Andino, 2014), intended as a key vehicle of intercultural/interlinguistic mediation. This paper aims at looking contrastively and diachronically at how code-switching, implying the recurrent on-screen presence of L3s, has been dealt with in the original version and in the Italian dubbed versions of twenty European and American multicultural/multilingual films, belonging to different genres and released within a time span covering three decades, where interracial relationships are at centre stage; the main objective of this study is to verify whether specific translation, or non-translation, strategies are applied to the instances of language alternation either to faithfully re-create the original linguistic interplay for the Italian audience or to manipulate it in dubbing. Lay summary The multilingual discourse practices distinctive of contemporary multicultural societies have assumed an increasingly prominent position also in contemporary European and American multicultural films, where the alternation of different languages by bilingual/multilingual characters stands out as a key conversational strategy when interethnic encounters and cross-cultural romance are at stake. On-screen multilingualism thus results to be strictly tied to the field of audiovisual translation, nowadays intended as a crucial vehicle of intercultural/interlinguistic mediation worldwide. This paper aims at analyzing how different language alternation practices have been dealt with in the original version and in the Italian dubbed versions of twenty European and American multicultural/multilingual films, belonging to different genres and released within a time span of thirty years, where interracial relationships and love-stories are at centre stage. The main objective of this study is indeed to verify whether specific translation, or non-translation, strategies are applied to the instances of language alternation enacted throughout the film dialogues, either to faithfully re-create the original linguistic interplay for the Italian audience or to manipulate it through dubbing. All this primarily aims at pointing out what can be achieved by screen translation in terms of transcultural and translingual transmission, mediation and re-mediation when cross-cultural relations are at stake and at highlighting a series of translation (or non-translation) trends that increasingly favour affective bonds between Self and Other, liable to overcome cultural clashes as well as to cross linguistic bridges both on and off the screen.

Material Culture and Changing Identities

This article surveys intersections between art, religion, and society in three periods of the history of Aotearoa New Zealand: 1) Polynesian settlement, 2) British colonization and 3) a contemporary multicultural society built on a bicultural base. Using a material culture framework which traces changes in the uses and significance of artistic objects as they pass through the hands of members of various religious and secular communities, it illustrates, through a variety of examples from the fields of popular art, fine arts and architecture, that art has, and can, play a large part in negotiations between religious traditions, particularly when they encounter one another in conflict, reconciliation and hybridization.

Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire: A family tragedy rewritten

Kamila Shamsie’s 2017 novel Home Fire is a reworking of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone. The novel is based on the existential struggle of three siblings, Isma, Aneeka and Parvaiz, who are British-Pakistani citizens living in contemporary multi-cultural British society where diversities are deemed to be tolerated as long as concerned minority groups internalise “the concept of Britishness.” Along with the process of globalisation, especially in the last decades of the twentieth century, the number of immigrants from the South to the North increased rapidly. Coupled with this unwanted mobility, the chaotic aftermath of 9/11 strengthened the tendency of classifying Muslims living in the West under two distinct groups: the first group called “moderate Muslims” consists of those who act and live in accordance with Western paradigms; members of this group are seen as proper citizens, with access to all the regular privileges; the second group, however, includes those who do not deserve to be a national of the concerned country due to their extremist tendencies. Since Western security policies are built on eliminating extremists, conflict becomes inevitable whenever a presumably dissident voice is heard. In Shamsie’s Home Fire, having extremist ideas or involvement in radical activities turns not just the related person but all her/his kin into an “enemy of the State.” This essay dwells on the tragic outcomes of the erroneous surveillance policies targeting British Muslims as portrayed in Kamila Shamsie’s novel.

Природні та культурні детермінанти соціальної напруженості в сучасних європейських суспільствах

The characteristics of the main directions of the fundamental innovative sociological research, which are orientated to identification the new determinants of social tensions caused by the contradictory practical human attitudes to nature and environment, have been presented in the article – argued that the latest global and regional transformations change the traditional forms of the human cultural influence to nature as the physical reality. Therefore, the sociological research of the cultural integration and differentiation in contemporary European societies, as the social systems of industrial and post-industrial types, open the new cognitive stimulus for the fundamental and applied scientific studies of the new forms of social tensions in the “nature-society” system. Proved that in the contemporary multicultural European societies, the different subcultures arise and coexist in their competitive and contradictory interactions. These subcultures, reflecting the essential humanitarian values, at the same time, produce the critical human attitude to existing social orders. So, the scholars, who study the reasons for the contradictory human attitudes to nature, try to develop conceptual views on the subculture phenomena as the specific sources of the social tensions. Paid attention to the need for the correct identification of the “social tension” concept’s cognitive status, taking into account that this concept is vital for innovative studies in the scientific spheres of sociology, social ecology, and social management.

From a stranger to a ‘one-of-us’ ally: A new Confucian approach to community allyship

ABSTRACT Promoting social inclusion and supporting positive outcomes for marginalised groups through allyship has been a persistent feature of community-orientated psychological theories. Central to such works are mutually beneficial relationships between scholarly activists and communities. In considering such collaborations, the relevance of the Confucian concept of Ren (benevolent, human-heartedness) to allyship is clear. This approach features a Chinese form of relationalism, which involves transitions across different levels of interpersonal relations. From this perspective, establishing allyship involves a process whereby scholar activists’ transition from being a stranger to a one-of-us community participant. This transition is exemplified through reflections on a reciprocal collaboration between the first author and the Townsville Chinese Club. In theorising this example of allyship from a Confucian standpoint, we highlight the importance of understanding and enacting cultural nuances for establishing ethical and effective allyship in contemporary multicultural societies.

Mowa nienawiści jako zagrożenie dla spójności kulturowej współczesnych społeczeństw wielokulturowych

Hate Speech as a Threat to Cultural Cohesion of Contemporary Multicultural Societies The article presents the idea of social cohesion and its implementation in diverse and multicultural societies or societies in transition, such as the Polish community. It also explores the phenomenon of hate speech in racial contexts or against migrants, both voluntary and involuntary, and tries to draw the conditions in which hateful language can interfere with the integration processes within such societies, affecting social cohesion. The role of institutionalized xenophobia and nationalistic attachment are discussed as part of the problem. Political, media, cultural and environmental contexts are described, with particular emphasis given to the actions to be undertaken in local municipalities in order to prevent hate speech against immigrants.

Insegnamento dell’italiano e l’educazione interculturale in Slovenia

L’articolo si propone di presentare una panoramica delle principali caratteristiche che riguardano l’insegnamento/apprendimento dell’italiano in Slovenia e una riflessione sull’importanza dell’educazione interculturale al fine di contribuire all’inclusione del singolo nella società che lo circonda. Dopo una sintetica illustrazione del quadro giuridico nel quale si inserisce la tutela delle lingue minoritarie in Slovenia, si presenta il percorso scolastico e le caratteristiche dell’insegnamento/apprendimento della lingua italiana come lingua materna (L1) e lingua seconda (L2) nel territorio bilingue nonché come lingua straniera (LS) nel resto della Slovenia. In particolare, vengono delineate le peculiarità del modello di educazione bilingue del Litorale sloveno, territorio di confine e area di contatto di culture prevalentemente romanze e slave. Infine, si evidenzia la necessità di applicare un approccio interculturale all’insegnamento in quanto il buon funzionamento della società multiculturale contemporanea dipende dalla consapevolezza della propria cultura congiuntamente all’esistenza di altre culture dell’ambiente. In questo modo sia insegnanti che studenti saranno coscienti del bisogno costante di accrescere le proprie competenze sia linguistiche che interculturali.

From Gaza to Warsaw: Mapping Multidirectional Memory

What happens when different histories of extreme violence confront each other in the public sphere? Does the remembrance of one event erase others from view? When memories of colonialism, occupation, slavery, and the Holocaust bump up against one another in contemporary multi cultural societies, must a competition of victims ensue? Such questions of remembrance, justice, and comparison lie at the heart of any attempt to think through the topic of this special issue: transcultural negotiations of Holocaust memory. These questions have also oriented my attempt to construct a theory of multidirectional that focuses on exemplary sites of tension involving remembrance of the Nazi genocide of European Jews in order to offer an alternative framework for thinking about and confronting the recent and ongoing memory wars.1 In Multidirectional Memory (2009), I make three moves toward a new account of transcultural remembrance. First, I argue against a logic of competitive based on the zero-sum game, which has dominated many popular and scholarly approaches to public remembrance. Accord ing to this understanding, memories crowd each other out of the pub lic sphere—for example, too much emphasis on the Holocaust is said to marginalize other traumas, or, inversely, adoption of Holocaust rhetoric to speak of those other traumas is said to relativize or even deny the Holo caust's uniqueness. To be sure, political, economic, and cultural forms of power contour the circulation of memories in the public sphere, but a pre Foucauldian understanding of power as repressive cannot capture mem ory's relative autonomy from such forces. In contrast, I suggest, works productively: the result of conflict is not less memory, but more—even of subordinated traditions. For instance, I would argue that the result of the rise to prominence of Holocaust is not

A Sikh Boy’s Exclusion in Australian School: A Phenomenological Study of Parent’s Response

Diasporic relocation and resettlement ideally generate new experiences for diasporic communities and their host societies. At times, host societies (in general) and education (in concomitance) could remain impervious towards the unique cultural practices of diasporic communities, fostering a cultural gap. Such gaps may result in conflicts that impact social engagement, including education, posing cultural and educational challenges for diasporic people. Towards realisation of social justice and whilst balancing diversity, contemporary multi-cultural Australian society and educational institutions may cultivate the enactment of exclusion for students with unique diasporic cultural backgrounds. Hence, the search for equity within Australian education may remain elusive. Considering the responses of two diasporic Sikh parents faced by potential exclusion of their child in a Melbourne suburban school due to wearing a Patka (turban for young Sikh boys), this qualitative study provides a phenomenological exploration of their experiences.

Governance of religious diversity in Western Europe

“Governance of religious diversity” appears to be the latest term to address the relationship between the state and (immigrant) religious groups in Western Europe. Conventional/established arrangements and frameworks of state-church relations (i.e. secularism) need to be revisited to include new religions and religious groups to the equation. It is suggested that contemporary multicultural societies require a broader perspective and a sophisticated framework than established understandings of secularism, and receiving states’ governmental policies. Today, the main concern of Western European states is not the relationship between the state and church, but how to deal with Islam and accommodate distinctive religious practices in public spaces. This review article examines the current debates on governance of religious diversity through elaborating on the six books reviewed.

The Transcultural Projections of the Strategies of Global Integration of the Contemporary Multicultural Societies

The article deals with the innovative theoretical problems related to the research of the prospects for the further development of the integrative multicultural practices and the harmonization of intercultural communications in the multicultural societies of the modern world under economic, political, and cultural globalization. The author presents the characteristic of the conceptual evolution of the idea of ​​multicultural coexistence and analyses the cognitive potential of the concepts of acculturation and cultural diffusion in the cultural and sociological studies. The scientific significance of generalization of the specialized knowledge concerning the real practices of realization of the multicultural projects into the processes of organizing the social order of modern societies under the contexts of increasing the global social movements of the forced and voluntary character of various ethnocultural groups and communities is argued. The article substantiates the need for wider use in scientific studies the concept of transculturalism which has distinct perspectives to become an effective methodological tool to provide the non-violent coexistence of interacting ethnocultural communities presenting different national-states and regional unions. The author identifies specific problematic complexes of transcultural studies paying attention: 1) to the problem of basic determinants that restrict the global universalism of multicultural politics; 2) to the problem of identification of the most conflicting spheres of the contemporary multicultural world; 3) to the problems of the integrative potential of new socio-cultural phenomena. Further scientific researches will contribute to the creation of a new conceptual model of the transcultural integration of contemporary societies.

The indifference that makes a difference: Why unconcern for minorities disguises prejudicial attitudes

ABSTRACTStudies on historical episodes of intergroup violence and conflicts have underlined the complicit role of bystanders in extreme intergroup dynamics. In regard to contemporary multicultural societies, the concept of intergroup indifference has recently been introduced, defined as being uncaring vis-à-vis arbitrary policies affecting other social groups. In the present manuscript, the reasons why an indifferent position towards minorities may imply some prejudicial attitudes towards them will be analyzed. In particular, moral disengagement and lack of social responsibility are considered to be variables that could explain why indifference might mask prejudicial attitudes and a lack of altruism for out-groups. The results show that moral disengagement and social responsibility are indeed significant mediators of the prediction of intergroup indifference to racism and altruism. In particular, the mediation model shows that moral disengagement partially mediates the path from indifference to racism, while social responsibility partially mediates that from indifference to altruism.

Exclusiveness and Inclusiveness in the British National Identity

The issue of identity has been a fundamental one in virtually all human societies. The binary questions “who are we?” and “who are not we?” are constitutive of the meaning of any identity formation. Identity is an elusive concept that generates more questions than answers. Multifarious challenges face identity formation and consolidation which makes those two processes hard multidimensional tasks. In Britain, the concept of identity is central given the complex multinational and multicultural character of the nation. In their contact with different nations and peoples (the imperial experience), the British found themselves constantly negotiating their identity. They defined themselves with what they are and with what they are not as well. The British national identity or what is widely known as Britishness, has been a fuzzy and a difficult-to-define concept. It has been defined in different ways by different political sociologists each focusing on a distinctive aspect of the concept according to one’s perspective. It is a legal and political notion for politicians, an important cohesive concept for sociologists and a major source of identity for cultural critics. However, we propose in this article to broach the concept from an historical race-related perspective. We argue that the concept has been a useful index of the changing character of post-war race-related British politics. Historically, British race politics can roughly be divided into two major phases: the Assimilationist phase (starting from 1945 till the end 1970’s) and Multicultural phase (1980 till now). The assimilationist Britishness was based on a racial definition that excluded the different “other” (the alien, the immigrant) whereas the multicultural Britishness has been more tolerant and inclusive of difference. This article attempts to trace the ups and downs of the British national identity (Britishness) within the context of contemporary multicultural British society. This allows us to show how the same concept is capable of excluding and including the same set of ideological assumptions according to changes in the “structure of feeling” of those who believe in it.

ПРОШЛОЕ НА ПЕРЕДНЕМ КРАЕ ПОЛИТИКИ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ

Интерпретации истории стали заметной частью политического дискурса в странах Европейского союза, а политика памяти – ключевым направлением политики идентичности не только в “новой” Европе в контексте процессов нациестроительства, но и в “старой” Европе, где на уровне государств, регионов в их составе, претендующих на автономный статус, и наднациональных структур оформляются разные исторические нарративы. В образовательном пространстве ЕС предпринимаются попытки преодоления разделенного прошлого при подготовке школьных учебников истории нового поколения. Активную роль в этом процессе играет Германия. Пересмотр национальных “больших нарративов” и отражение в политике идентичности нарративов и идентичностей различных групп многокультурных обществ – феномен ХХI века, связанный не только с поиском эффективных механизмов поддержания социального согласия, но и с ростом массового недовольства перспективами интеграционного проекта и подъемом “нового национализма” в благополучных регионах “старой” Европы. На основе анализа массива эмпирических источников – результатов массовых опросов и анкетирования школьников, текстов учебных программ, сетевых ресурсов, экспертных оценок учебников истории – показано, как в странах демократической политической традиции интерпретации прошлого используются в школьном образовании для пересмотра повестки дня государственного регулирования и легитимации установок “нового национализма” в массовом сознании.&nbsp