Cultural Alliance Research Articles

The Unlikely Alliance of Mormonism and Christian Nationalism

ABSTRACT American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are typically seen as politically conservative and proponents of Christian natioanalism. However, this has not always been the case. This essay provides a historical overview of how the Mormon tradition evolved from being dissenters from America’s patriotic imagination to some of its most adamant promotors. I also highlight the paradoxes at the heart of the current cultural alliance between devout Latter-day Saints and evangelical activists.

Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Uptake Among African Immigrants: Lessons from a Community-Based Outreach Program.

In 2021, the African Cultural Alliance of North America (ACANA) implemented a community-based vaccine education and outreach program to decrease hesitancy and increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake among African immigrants in Philadelphia. The program had three components: (1) tailored messaging on the benefits of vaccines by trusted community health navigators in familiar languages/dialects, (2) use of educational/tabling events, and (3) establishment of a vaccine clinic in community settings. Using secondary data analysis, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and a self-administered survey, we explored (i) the impact and effectiveness of the outreach program and extent of vaccine uptake, (ii) African immigrants' beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine, and (iii) barriers and facilitators of vaccine knowledge, uptake, and hesitancy.Our analysis showed that ACANA's outreach program was effective in addressing several cultural, logistic, and systematic barriers to vaccine uptake. The program distributed 2000 educational/informational flyers,reached 3000 community members via social media campaigns,and an additional2320 through other person-to-person outreach events.The programwas effective and resulted inthe vaccination of 1265 community members over the course of the outreach. The impact of this outreach underscores the critical role of community-based organizations in addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccine uptake in underserved and minority communities. The paper concludes with suggestions and recommendations for using community-based outreach programs to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake and decrease hesitancy.

A Health Belief Model Examination of Factors Related to Hepatitis B Screening Among African Immigrants in Philadelphia.

Chronic hepatitis B infection is a leading cause of liver cancer worldwide. In the USA, African immigrants (AI) have high hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection rates but low HBV knowledge and screening rates. Research about HBV among AI living in Philadelphia is particularly limited. This study aims to assess barriers to and factors influencing HBV screening in the Philadelphia AI population. African and Caribbean-born adults in Greater Philadelphia were recruited for phone interviews at community health fairs hosted by the African Cultural Alliance of North America (ACANA) and the African Family Health Organization (AFAHO) in partnership with the Hepatitis B Foundation. Seventeen interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded independently by two members of the research team using NVivo software. Themes and subthemes were created by analysis of the codes and arranged under Health Belief Model (HBM) concepts. Major perceived barriers included lack of HBV knowledge and awareness and cultural challenges related to health care access, preventive care, fear, and stigma. Participants recommended using community organizations and programs to spread awareness about HBV and serve as cues to action. In-person education was emphasized due to lack of access to and knowledge of technology such as Zoom. While HBV educational sessions have been implemented in this population, they have not been consistent or far-reaching. The results of this study can contribute to the implementation of a comprehensive AI-specific HBV education and screening program through partnerships with community organizations to ensure that all high-risk individuals in the Philadelphia area are screened.

DISPARITY IN QUALITY ASSURANCE - A CATALOGUE OF CHOICES OR IMBALANCE OF TRADE

‘Big or Small, Consumer Rights is for All!’With time immemorial, cross-border trade is something which nations have always relied upon for strengthening economic, political and cultural alliances and for the expansion of their territory in the quest of becoming global power. India was at the receiving end of this ambition of nations, which led to it being ruled by foreign powers who invaded India under the garb of trading with it. Post-independence, has India actually managed to free itself from the clutches of these dominating trans-national business powers, is still a question. When India opened its economy for foreign trade and became a signatory to WTO, it amended many of its restrictive frameworks and converted them into regulatory ones. But what India failed to do was to increase its quality assurance norms as per the western standards. This made it easy for the western countries to dump their products in India, but the same was not reciprocated. This was because the standard of quality of the products (with respect to both perishable and non-perishable goods) demanded by the western countries were much higher than what we accepted here in India. This led us to accept even the sub-standard products from these countries. But when it came to us exporting our products to them, they were extremely vigilant about the quality of the products that they accepted. This led to the imbalance of trade resulting in hardships being caused to Indian economy hereby leading to the weakening of Indian currency. The changes in consumer law were adopted to bring the consumer protection standards at par with the internationally recognized standards. The intention of doing so is to achieve the major goals of universally applicable minimum standard of consumer protection and to abolish the obstacles in cross-border trade, but the imbalance created has ultimately burdened the consumer. This has defeated the very objective of consumer protection laws. The authors in this paper wish to elaborate upon the reasons for the negative balance of payments and wish to suggest the changes in the trade policies which will ultimately prove to be beneficial for the consumers of our country.

Bukhara and its neighborhood. Reassessing the cultural links of the oasis from new ceramic evidence

Ceramic assemblages from the Bukhara Oasis show an interesting mix of vessel forms and decorative styles, specifically in pre-Islamic times. Some elements of the tableware bear resemblance to material from adjacent regions in the south-west and south-east, including Margiana and Bactria, while others, specifically the storage vessels, appear to be inspired by the north-west or eastern areas, such as Khoresm and Chach. Surface coatings and slip paint proved to be highly significant in identifying these distinct cultural links.Drawing upon samples from the recent excavations by the MAFOUB project, this paper will trace the various cultural strains through analyzing the use of slip and slip-paint as an exemplary feature in the ceramic assemblages of the Bukhara Oasis from antiquity to the early Islamic period. Individual decorative patterns appear to be restricted to certain parts of the vessel repertoire. While coated vessels firmly belong to the tableware inventory, cursory applied slip paint with drizzling effects is mostly observed on containers and storage jars. Some slip painted decorations illustrate the considerable variation this technique enjoyed within the Bukhara Oasis.Our diachronic study highlights these diversities and follows the implied cultural alliances to shed light on Bukhara's position and role within the Central Asian neighborhood.

Прешовский самоуправляемый край и его международное сотрудничество

The regional self-government was established in Slovakia in 2001. Since then, it has been legally possible to carry out its own international cooperation. The Prešov self-governing region is one of the eight self-governing regions in Slovakia. It carries out various paradiplomatic activities, from establishing relations with foreign partners at various levels, to the highest level of cooperation – partner regions based on a cooperation agreement. The development of international cooperation of the self-governing region was influenced not only by the political situation, but also by national legislation and national government, as well as the geopolitical situation and integration processes, namely the accession of Slovakia and some neighboring countries to the European Union. The European Union is also linked to the European Structural and Investment Funds and other multifaceted support, such as cross-border cooperation, which encourages self-governing regions to cooperate mutually beneficial on a project basis. In terms of geography, the Prešov self-governing region borders with Poland and Ukraine. Therefore, the neighboring regions of these countries should be logical partners for cooperation, in terms of common history, culture, traditions, and the like. Nevertheless, political instability in Ukraine, but especially the Schengen border and differences in the legal and economic system initially hampered the development of functional cooperation with Ukrainian regions. Before and after Slovakia’s accession to the European Union in 2004, the Prešov self-governing region preferred cooperation with regions from European Union countries. Based on the intensity of cooperation in the form of joint projects and financial benefits, we can state that the most intensive cooperation has taken place and is taking place with the Podkarpackie Voivodeship and the Lesser Poland (Małopolskie) Voivodeship in Poland. In addition to pragmatic alliances with the regions of the old member states of the European Union, there are also historical and cultural alliances with the regions of the Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia and, due to the national and cultural specificity of the northeastern part of the Prešov self-governing region, with Vologda Oblast of the Russian Federation. The article focuses on selected aspects of international cooperation of the Prešov self-governing region and provides a legislative, organizational and management overview of international cooperation of the self-governing region and an overview of partnership cooperation of the Prešov self-governing region.

“MISS RONA IS REALLY CLAPPING THE WHITE SUPREMACISTS”: BLACK TWITTER'S POLITICAL HUMOR IN COVID-19 TIMES

As has been widely reported, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately sickened and killed Black Americans. At the same time, however, there is a significant body of conversation on Black Twitter that jokes about the pandemic. This includes tweets that nickname the pandemic as "Miss Rona,” as in “god i need a drink so bad, miss rona i promise i will be good.” Through an analysis of tweets using the “Miss Rona” nickname, we examine how Black Twitter humor serves as a site of political critique of both public policy failures and the Trump administration more broadly, with users leveraging practices like Signifyin’, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and wordplay to resist legibility by outsiders as they orient toward their own community. Black humor is political commentary that resonates with the Black community because the tweets address or refer to Black trauma during the pandemic: dealing with continued racial violence, white supremacist ideology, and medical disparities based on race. The tweets are also expressions of Black Twitter catharsis (joy despite pain) through witty one-sided Twitter banters that skillfully and playfully engage with several facets of the social and political climate. We consider how these conversations go beyond laughing to keep from crying to coded political statements and cultural alliance, and argue that Black Twitter’s jokes about the collective trauma of COVID-19 is a resource for online camaraderie, cultural critique, and community affiliation.

Examining how lesbian, gay, and bisexual Christian clients' perceptions of therapists' cultural humility contribute to psychotherapy outcomes.

Understanding the intersection between sexual and religious identity has important implications for mental health. The lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community is at high risk for a wide range of psychopathologies, and religious culture can further these risks when it creates homophobic environments (Sherry et al., 2010). The present study examined lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) Christian clients' religious commitment and perceptions of their therapists' cultural humility in relation to the working alliance and therapeutic outcomes. A sample of 158 LGB Christians who were currently or had been in psychotherapy within the last year participated in the study. Perceptions of their therapists' cultural humility positively predicted therapeutic outcomes, and the working alliance partially mediated the relation between cultural humility and therapeutic outcomes. Contrary to predictions, religious commitment did not moderate the relation between cultural humility and working alliance. Implications are discussed, namely, that the results of this study join existing literature to potentially suggest a systemic shift in psychotherapy training that includes cultural humility. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Australian mental health care practitioners\u2019 construing of non-White and White people: implications for cultural competence and therapeutic alliance

BackgroundThe development of cultural competence is central to the therapeutic alliance with clients from diverse backgrounds. Given that the majority of Australia’s population growth is due to migration, mental health practitioner construing of non-White and White people has a significant role and impact on client engagement.MethodTo examine the impact of mental health practitioner construing on their strategies for cultural competence and the therapeutic alliance, 20 White and non-White mental health practitioners and trainees providing mental health services were purposively sampled and interviewed face-to-face or via videoconferencing. Data was analysed thematically and the impact of construing on practitioner cultural competence and the therapeutic alliance were interpreted using Personal Construct Psychology.ResultsPractitioners demonstrated cultural competence in their acknowledgement of the impact of negative construing of ethnic, cultural, religious, social, racial and linguistic diversity on client wellbeing. Practitioners sought to address these negative impacts on clients by drawing on the client-practitioner relationship to improve the therapeutic alliance.ConclusionsThe results reinforce the need for mental health care workers to develop cultural competence with a focus on developing awareness of the impact of frameworks of Whiteness on the experiences of non-White people. This is central to the development of a therapeutic alliance where clients feel understood and assured that their mental health concerns will not be constructed (and treated) through a framework that constrains both White and non-White people’s opportunities for improved mental health and wellbeing.

French Cultural Strategy and the Japanese Paradigm

France used to have one of the most powerful cultural diplomacy: it needs nowadays to modernize its strategy to hold on to its international position. France has a long history of foreign cultural policy and is one of the few countries that have placed great emphasis on fostering its culture abroad. However, the French position is currently being challenged by emerging international rivalries. Establishing a cultural strategy in the 21st century requires not only a consistent approach between the projection of an elite culture and of a pop culture, but also a joint action between public and private players. Japan could be a model, even a paradigm for France and its cultural action abroad, as well as an ally through a cultural alliance.

The Transatlantic Dynamics of European Cultural Diplomacy: Germany, France and the Battle for US Affections in the 1920s

The article explores the role of cultural diplomacy in Weimar Germany and France's competing efforts to win the sympathies and support of the United States after the First World War. In the post-war United States, both France and Germany used cultural initiatives to pursue their opposing visions of the new international order: France to maintain and extend wartime cultural alliances beyond the armistice and implement the provisions of the peace treaty; Germany to overturn these very alliances and build a desirable transatlantic ‘friendship’ in line with its efforts to revise the Versailles Treaty. By focusing on the Franco–German rivalry for US affinities, the article calls attention to the transatlantic dynamics of interwar cultural diplomacy. It shows that the emergence of German cultural diplomacy was strongly shaped by French competition for the affections of politically isolationist Americans and that, in general, the rapid expansion of cultural diplomacy in interwar Europe arose from mutual feelings of crisis, starkly competing ambitions as well as the rapid circulation of ideas and practices.

Ali Erken. America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture and Political Alliances.

A<scp>li</scp> E<scp>rken</scp>. <i>America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture and Political Alliances</i>.

Introducing Oceanic Societies in COVID‐19

Introducing Oceanic Societies in <scp>COVID</scp>‐19

Reconstructing the Sacred Experience at the Sanctuary of Hekate at Lagina

In Reconstructing the Sacred Experience at the Sanctuary of Hekate at Lagina, Amanda Herring traces aspects of ancient worshippers’ experience at this Hellenistic sanctuary. As the sanctuary was located 10 kilometers outside the closest city, Stratonikeia, most visitors would have traveled to Lagina only when they participated in state-sponsored festivals. Lagina represents the only monumental temple dedicated to Hekate and the only site at which the goddess had a central role in the local pantheon. The rites and rituals practiced there were thus unique to the site and required a specific type of architectural framework. Drawing on theories of cultural biography and experiential architecture, Herring argues that the complex’s architectural design and sculpted decoration conveyed an intricate yet cohesive message of political and cultural alliances, a message made accessible via ritualized experience of the space.

In This Issue

Other| September 01 2020 In This Issue Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2020) 79 (3): 246. https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2020.79.3.246 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation In This Issue. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 September 2020; 79 (3): 246. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2020.79.3.246 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search In Reconstructing the Sacred Experience at the Sanctuary of Hekate at Lagina, Amanda Herring traces aspects of ancient worshippers' experience at this Hellenistic sanctuary. As the sanctuary was located 10 kilometers outside the closest city, Stratonikeia, most visitors would have traveled to Lagina only when they participated in state-sponsored festivals. Lagina represents the only monumental temple dedicated to Hekate and the only site at which the goddess had a central role in the local pantheon. The rites and rituals practiced there were thus unique to the site and required a specific type of architectural framework. Drawing on theories of cultural biography and experiential architecture, Herring argues that the complex's architectural design and sculpted decoration conveyed an intricate yet cohesive message of political and cultural alliances, a message made accessible via ritualized experience of the space. Recurrent in architectural historiography is the notion that large-scale building projects in premodern societies... You do not currently have access to this content.

America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture, and Political Alliances, Ali Erken

America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture, and Political Alliances, Ali Erken

America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture, and Political Alliances, Ali Erken

America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture, and Political Alliances, Ali Erken

In their own words: Lessons from community arts partnership leaders

Editor’s note: In assembling this issue, I sought to compile compelling stories of arts education cuts and the responses of local communities. I invited National Council on the Arts member Dr. Bruce Carter to share such a story. The following article begins with Carter’s narrativized account of informal research on the arts partnership in the Chula Vista Elementary School District in Chula Vista, California. Following this, Nancy Roucher, chair of the Arts Education Task Force of the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County and co-chair of the Community/Schools Partnership for the Arts, shares a story from Sarasota, Florida.

Selection of Alliance Scope for Cultural and Product Market Similarity and Alliance Type

Selection of Alliance Scope for Cultural and Product Market Similarity and Alliance Type

Nonprofit Cultural Alliances: Initiatory Qualitative and Empirical Examinations of an Emergent U.S. Phenomenon

ABSTRACTThis study examines the recent spontaneous emergence of nonprofit cultural alliance organizations in the U.S. Cultural alliances are community-based associations, formed by arts/cultural organization members, which provide member interaction, collaboration, networking, resource sharing, and professional education opportunities. This research accomplishes three objectives: (1) generation of a body of knowledge about cultural alliances, (2) development of a cultural alliance member satisfaction model, and (3) quantitative analysis of member survey data to assess services provided, service quality, and member satisfaction. The results indicate that the survey instrument is an important assessment tool for use by association boards of directors and executive directors.