Contemporary Western Research Articles

Hype: Marker and maker of entrepreneurial culture

This article extends existing scholarship that views hype primarily as an individual entrepreneurial storytelling strategy for generating excitement about a venture's future. We argue that hype also functions as a cultural marker, distinguishing entrepreneurial modes of communication and behavior from those of traditional corporate culture. By tracing the conceptual history of hype, we demonstrate that the term and its associated practices (a.) originated in early-twentieth-century criminal subcultures to distinguish them from respectable culture, (b.) was subsequently adopted by mid-twentieth-century countercultures to distinguish themselves from mainstream culture, and (c.) ultimately became a marker used by late twentieth-century startup culture to distinguish itself from corporate culture. Understanding these historical roots, we contend, illuminates key characteristics of contemporary Western startup culture: the valorization of revolutionary futures, the celebration of rule-breaking, and the embrace of social deviance as a hallmark of entrepreneurial authenticity. By historicizing hype in this manner, we can better appreciate both its “destructive” and “productive” dimensions and explore alternative modes of communication that are prevalent in other entrepreneurial contexts.

An Investigation of Ibn Taymiyya’s Critique of Muslim Scholars and Pervez Hoodbhoy’s Distorted View on Islamic Worldview: A Potential Response for Muslim Youths from Being Assimilated With The Scientific Worldview

Imam Ibn Taymiyya is considered one of the most famous figures in Islamic history to defend the fundamental teachings of Islam that prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) and his companions practiced according to the Quranic message. Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy from Pakistan vehemently attacked Imam Ghazali’s defence of orthodox Islam as anti-science. For Hoodbhoy, Imam Ghazali’s orthodox view is dangerous for the scientific progression and freedom of thought . With the advent of New Atheism, there is a trend of Islamophobia within Muslim countries. This research is significant in understanding Islamophobia among Muslim youths due to the rise of the science vs religion debate. How would Muslim youths justify their position against contemporary Western thought? The research is qualitative. Descriptive and normative methods have been used. The study finds that Imam Taymiyya had a unique way of dealing with the influence of Greek and mystic thoughts. This research suggests that Imam Taymmiya’s approach may help Muslim youths encounter the scientific worldview and other emerging ideologies in the 21st century.

Interaction Between Gender and Space: A Study on the Genealogy of Feminist Architecture

The exploration and advancement of feminism are vital for addressing critical issues such as social progress, equitable education, and healthcare access. This paper comprehensively examines the feminist movement’s impact on architecture over the past century, identifying key trends and significant areas to establish an academic foundation for feminist architecture. A literature review on feminism in urban planning, architecture, landscape design, and urban safety highlights the current research focus on feminist architectural development. Furthermore, this paper traces the evolution of feminist architecture through both purpose-driven and process-oriented approaches, exploring the interplay between feminist and modern architectural practices. It specifically examines the development of feminist architecture within the Chinese context from two perspectives: the influence of feminist thought on architecture and the evolution of gendered spaces within the “Residence and Courtyard” model. By comparing the internal logic of feminist architectural development in China and the West, this study investigates how geopolitical culture and regional differences shape the future trajectory of this field. Unlike traditional feminist architectural research, which often emphasizes women’s practices within specific feminist ideologies or focuses on visual culture and psychological interpretations of gendered spaces, this paper redefines the scope of feminist architectural studies through a comparative analysis of historical and contemporary contexts, and Eastern and Western perspectives, employing a systematic genealogical approach.

Differences in the cartographic presentation of contemporary Polish western and northern territories in European cartography of the 20th and 21st centuries

Differences in the cartographic presentation of contemporary Polish western and northern territories in European cartography of the 20th and 21st centuries

Sensing the River Torne: Luminous Encounters in the Riverine Archive

This article explores the luminous exchanges that animate contemporary Western geoscience ways of imagining the Earth. Inquiring into fluvial geomorphology, it employs creative research practice and feminist materialist ideas to interrogate the multiple roles of light in the ways in which rivers become configured, envisioned, and known. Focusing on the River Torne in northern Finland and Sweden, the article contemplates creative gestures of sensing the Torne via various “technologies of light,” which draw the researcher into a haunted, intra-active, and ecological exchange with the riverscape. This immersive engagement with the Torne prompts reflection on the particular riverine knowledges, ecologies, and archives that become presenced in luminous research encounters—prompting a recognition of a distributed cognition in our practices of knowing riverscapes. In the process, the geomorphological notion of a riverscape archive becomes situated amid complex ecologies of light, which invites a radical commitment to the memory and lively potentiality of place and encourages care-full research entanglements within our luminous research archives.

Mirrors of the Past: Time and Historical Consciousness in Contemporary Western Astrology

Mirrors of the Past: Time and Historical Consciousness in Contemporary Western Astrology

Children in the face of death

The expropriation of death in contemporary Western civilisation has mainly affected children. Through the skirmishes of adults, they have been kept away from the subject and the reality of dying, often out of concern not to disturb the horizon of joy of their childish condition and often also to avoid the resonant blows that can be thrown back from children to adults.

Islam and the Notion Modernity

Most Muslim countries and Muslim scholars continue to dispute Islam and modernity, even if contemporary Western scholars have begun to address post-modernity. The main issue is how to deal with modernity and whether or not modernity and Islam could be related. It appears that Muslim Reformists and Muslim Revivalists have somewhat diverse perspectives on the matter. This essay aims to examine Muslim reformists' points of view regarding Islam and modernity's compatibility.

Nová hledání staré Rusi

The aim of this study is to provide an elementary overview of contemporary Russian research on the history of Russia up until the 15th century and to present some of the issues to which contemporary Russian medieval studies is currently devoting itself. After a period of enforced isolation, Russian scholars in the 1990s began concerning themselves intensively with the methodologies used in Western medieval studies and has been trying to apply them to Eastern European historical material which Western medieval studies has heretofore – with rare exceptions – largely ignored. Following the establishment of democracy in academia, the need to revise the landscape of the history of the Russia of the Kievan and "partition" periods became apparent. However, due to the character of Russian sources, it is not possible in any simple way to transfer the methods used in working with Western medieval materials to the study of these periods. This is why the new historical fields have devoted themselves primarily to the 16th and 17th centuries, which provide the richest and most varied sources materials. Although it is certain that Russian medieval studies has succeeded in overcoming the crisis it experienced in the 1990s, one of the central problems afflicting contemporary Russian and Western medieval studies remains: the absolute separation between research on the middle ages in Russia and in Western and indeed in Central Europe.

The Illusory Health Beliefs Scale: preliminary validation using exploratory factor and Rasch analysis.

Illusory health beliefs are ill-founded, erroneous notions about well-being. They are important as they can influence allied attitudes, actions, and behaviors to the detriment of personal and societal welfare. Noting this, and the prevalence of paranormal beliefs in contemporary Western society, researchers developed the Paranormal Health Beliefs Scale (PHBS). Modification of the PHBS for use with a United Kingdom-based sample resulted in the instrument broadening to incorporate illusory rather than merely paranormal health beliefs. The present study psychometrically assessed the emergent Illusory Health Beliefs Scale (IHBS). The principal objective was to validate the IHBS using a large, representative sample. Eight hundred and fifty participants (360 males, 482 females, eight non-binary) completed the IHBS alongside instruments assessing theoretically associated constructs (i.e., magical thinking, faith in scientifically unsubstantiated notions, and forms of self-referential, intuitive causation). Exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of six meaningful IHBS dimensions: Religious/Spiritual, Superstition, Precognitive, Health Myths, Skepticism, and Health Pseudoscience. The IHBS demonstrated satisfactory reliability and convergent validity with theoretically aligned constructs. Rasch analysis at the subscale level revealed good item/person fit and item/person reliability, unidimensionality, and equivalency of items across subgroups (gender and religious affiliation). Analysis confirmed the IHBS was an effective measure of illusory health beliefs. However, researchers should undertake further work to refine the scale and evaluate its performance across different samples and time points.

Marcusean resources to think coloniality

The article aims to take a stand in the debates surrounding the potential contribution of the theoreticians of the first generation of the Frankfurt School to postcolonial/decolonial theory, by showing that Herbert Marcuse, in his work, has outlined coloniality as later authors have defined it. Marcuse denounced the neocolonialism and neoimperialism of which the Global South populations were prey at the time of decolonizations. He showed that the welfare state and the affluent society in contemporary Western societies largely fed themselves on the continued economic exploitation of the Global South. Marcuse decried the uneven development bred by the capitalist system and criticized the ideology and mechanisms of development imposed on the newly independent countries, which also violated the subjectivity of their peoples, ignoring their values and aspirations. He condemned the racial-based violence and war imposed on the ‘underprivileged’ in the Global South and the Global North alike. These trains of thought describe different aspects of coloniality. This article will analyze these insights through a close reading of Marcuse’s work and comparisons with the writings of Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah and Samir Amin.

A Bridge Between East and West: Dr. Johan Louis Schlimmer's Medical Contributions in Qajar Iran (1819-1881).

Dr. Johan Louis Schlimmer (1819-1881), a Dutch physician, played a transformative role in the development of modern medicine in Qajar-era Iran. Arriving in Iran driven by a deep passion for Eastern culture, Schlimmer's contributions extended far beyond the confines of traditional medical practice. His work in medical education, particularly at the prestigious Dar al-Fonun, laid the foundation for the modernization of Iranian healthcare. Schlimmer's efforts to bridge the gap between Western and Iranian medical knowledge are epitomized by his collaboration on the Persian medical dictionary, commonly known as Schlimmer's Dictionary, and his seminal work, Terminologie Médico-Pharmaceutique et Anthropologique Française-Persane. These texts not only expanded the Persian medical lexicon but also integrated contemporary Western medical concepts with traditional Iranian practices. Schlimmer's approach, which emphasized the indigenization of medical knowledge, made complex medical phenomena accessible to Iranian practitioners and laid the groundwork for the advancement of public health in Iran. His legacy, marked by a commitment to cultural and scientific exchange, continues to resonate in the field of Iranian medical history. This article explores the multifaceted contributions of Dr. Schlimmer, highlighting his enduring impact on the evolution of healthcare in 19th-century Iran.

Decolonizing Literary Studies: Unveiling Postcolonial Narratives in Post-Yugoslav Academic Curricula*

This paper explores the presence and integration of postcolonial studies in literature education within the faculties of philology in the capitals of the former Yugoslav countries. Focusing on the emerging field of critical curriculum studies, the research delves into the nuanced landscape of literature education, particularly at higher levels, specifically emphasizing literary students’ specialized education. The study contextualizes postcolonial studies as a hybrid space for theoretical discourse, tracing its roots to anticolonial critique and contemporary Western theories. Drawing on the anticolonial heritage of socialist Yugoslavia and its involvement in the Non-Aligned Movement, the paper navigates the complexities of (post)colonial dynamics in the Balkans. This paper investigates the presence, or absence, of postcolonial theory in literature curricula within humanities faculties in the former Yugoslav countries’ capital cities. This research is based on the close interconnection of literature and postcolonial theory, whose origins lie within the literary representation of colonization relations. The primary objective is to discern the extent to which postcolonial studies are integrated into literary education and what implications this holds within the national context. Through an examination of course programs and content at various academic levels, the research aims to illuminate the role of postcolonial theory in shaping the narrative of literature education in the context of the former Yugoslavia.

Contemporary Turkish and Western historiography on post-secularisation processes in Turkey

The assessment of secularisation and post-secularisation processes that took place in Turkey in the 20th century are associated by scholars with internal and global socio-political processes such as collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the establishment of the Turkish Republic, the course towards Westernisation, the development of capitalism, the confrontation between the West and the USSR, etc. This issue was preferred as the subject of the study as it is topical due to the revival of religious values, despite the secularisation processes that engulfed many countries worldwide. This article examines the representation of post-secularisation processes in Turkey through assessing the works of Western and Turkish scholars. The analysis of these works provides an understanding of the consequences of historical events in the form of the phenomenon of “religious revival”.

How strong is the democratic defence of ‘defence spending?’ Consequence of military expenditure for democracy in OECD countries

AbstractThe article identifies and seeks to abridge a gap in the literature consisting of the problem of relations between military expenditure and democracy, especially the consequences of the first for the second. It specifically investigates the consequences that military expenditure produces for democracy among contemporary Western and comparable societies such as OECD countries during 2006–2017. It first surveys the relevant pertinent literature about the relationship of military expenditure and militaristic processes with democracy and political, civil and individual liberties. Then it proposes a theoretical sociological framework for approaching the problem of military expenditure and democracy, focusing on the consequences of the first for the second variable. It develops this framework by formulating testable hypotheses regarding the nature of consequences that military expenditure has for democracy. Next, it specifies data and their sources, the method and variables that the study uses. It reports empirical findings such as descriptive and proximately causal (regression) results. It infers that these findings for the most part support the theory and hypotheses that large and increasing military expenditure has adverse consequence for liberal democracy in general, and in OECD countries in particular.

Fertile Ground

Yellowstone is an American, contemporary Western primetime television series which has evolved into a cultural phenomenon. In this article, we critically read purposive samples from this popular cultural text through the prism of the plaasroman (Afrikaans farm novel), a seminal subgenre in Afrikaans literature. Through an analysis of a range of tropes, we identify similarities between these seemingly disparate genres in terms of the representation of the Boer and Frontier myth, ownership and belonging, centre-periphery dichotomies, and identity. The value of this analysis is two-fold: First, it lies in what such a comparative analysis reveals about the contemporary moment in both a local and transnational context. The resurgence of nostalgic yearning for a particular brand of patriarchal, heteronormative, conservative, rural simplicity in the narratives of Yellowstone is read against the background of farm, and land, as depicted in the plaasroman. This is relevant given that there is a similar propensity for nostalgia in certain South African contexts which takes the form of appropriations of the construct of the Afrikaner Boer imaginary and the concomitant utopian farm ideal. Second, and perhaps more importantly, we argue that analysing Yellowstone from the theoretical vantage point of the plaasroman, which originates from a minor language and literary system, inverts the ways in which Global North genre-lenses are usually used to read Global South genres. The research follows a controlled case comparison approach and, building on a deep description of the plaasroman, presents an analysis and interpretation of Yellowstone’s first season.

Etyczny behawioryzm i zwrot relacyjny jako dwa przejawy antyantropocentryzmu

This text discusses three positions within the debate on the moral status of robots. The first, referred to as the “orthodox” position, expresses the still-dominant anthropocentric view in contemporary Western culture, which assigns humans a privileged, central status due to their unique qualities such as consciousness, emotions, free will, etc. The two alternative positions to the orthodox view, ethical behaviorism and relational turn, propose different criteria for attributing moral status than the aforementioned qualities and are interpreted as manifestations of a tendency to deny the unique ontological and axiological status of humans. In the case of ethical behaviorism, humans are “trivialized” to the level of other entities in a reductionist-naturalistic manner, whereas the relational turn involves “extraordinarizing” the non-human by re-legitimizing magical thinking in a posthumanist spirit. Thus, the article illustrates how contemporary cultural tendencies towards dual elimination of human uniqueness, based on reductionist naturalism and magical posthumanism, are revealed in the discussion on the moral status of robots.

Decolonizing Method of Hadith Matn Criticism on the Case of Aisha's Age at Marriage in Western Scholarship

This paper critically engages with the methodological frameworks utilized in Western scholarship concerning the age of Aisha at the time of her marriage to Prophet Muhammad. Within the context of contemporary Western modernism, which has introduced new ethical standards and norms previously absent but now regarded as authoritative, this study aims to scrutinize the impact of such norms on interpretations within Hadith scholarship. Through a decolonial lens applied to the criticism of Hadith matn, it seeks to unravel and challenge colonial biases and Eurocentric perspectives that have historically shaped scholarly discourse on this issue. Furthermore, this research highlights the contributions and perspectives of prominent figures in Western Hadith scholarship, including Jonathan AC Brown, to enrich the dialogue on the subject. By advocating for a decolonized approach to Hadith criticism, this study underscores the necessity of contextual understanding, cultural sensitivity, and epistemic inclusivity in the examination of Islamic history and tradition.

Transforming Artistic Practice: Collingwood, Adorno, and the Diseases of the Mind

Abstract This paper addresses the views of R.G. Collingwood and Theodor Adorno on the role of amusement and art in what each of them saw as the crisis of contemporary Western civilization. We will begin by showing how the aesthetic theories of Collingwood and Adorno develop out of their shared concerns about the harmful effects of amusement and bad art on the consciousness of human beings. We will argue that a productive dialogue between these two figures clarifies that the value of art consists in its ability to remedy the corruption of the mental and emotional lives of human beings and in helping to fashion a different social and political order. As part of this, we will show how, despite appearances, Adorno’s aesthetic cognitivism and Collingwood’s expression theory of art agree with and complement one another in significant ways. In establishing this point, this work will leave us with an understanding of art that is more comprehensive and better equipped to address the crisis of contemporary Western society.

« Une Terre au défi de l’habitabilité ». Entretien avec Nathalie Blanc

Faced with an environmental crisis that threatens the survival of humanity, contemporary Western societies need to invent new ways of living on Earth. According to Nathalie Blanc, art and literature, and the research associated with them, have a role to play in this area: because they enable us to develop new imaginaries, they help to establish new relationships between nature and culture. Nathalie Blanc is a geographer, director of research at the CNRS, and director of the Centre des Politiques de la Terre (Université Paris Cité / Sciences Po), which she co-founded in 2019. Her work focuses on nature in the city, and more specifically on the cultural dimension of relations with nature at the heart of local policy projects. Committed to a research-creation approach, she examines the role of art and creativity in environmental mobilisations.