Cultural Crossroads Research Articles

Viktor Kosenko: at the Crossroads of Cultures and Traditions. Warsaw

The relevance of the investigation is justified by the lack of research into the first two decades of the life of the outstanding Ukrainian musician of the first half of the 20th century, Viktor Stepanovych Kosenko — an extremely important time when the foundations of the worldview and aesthetic beliefs of the future composer were laid. During this period, Viktor Kosenko, together with other family members, was in Warsaw, where he received a thorough general and musical education.
 The situation of another "white spot in domestic musicology" related to the artist's biography was created due to the lack of materials and documents, as well as the artist's personal belongings related to this period. The socio-political circumstances of Soviet Ukraine, in which Viktor Kosenko found himself in the 20s of the 20th century, became an obstacle to the preservation of sources and information of the relevant time.
 It has also been established that the composer's biography, which has been repeatedly reproduced in reference books and studies, is artificially constructed by him "at the demand of time". The scientific novelty of the study is the introduction into wide circulation of the socio-worldview and cultural panorama of the initial period of the artist's life. Therefore, the actual goal of the article is the reconstruction of the circumstances of the first twenty years of the composer's biography. The methodological basis of the research is the cultural-historical, biographical, as well as the method of source analysis, used to reproduce the initial period of V. S. Kosenko’s life path.
 Thanks to little-known publications of memoirs of the artist's contemporaries, as well as archival findings of modern scientists, it was possible to restore some facts of Viktor Kosenko's biography. The study focuses on the peculiarities of the educational and pedagogical process in the Warsaw Suvorov Cadet Corps, where the future composer studied. Emphasis is placed on the influence of many traditions, both national and social-worldview, with which Viktor Kosenko could come into contact during this period of his life. The atmosphere, traditions, way of life, as well as artistic impressions that formed the personality of the young musician and possibly influenced his further musical life are also considered.
 Conclusions. The multinational and multicultural environment of the earliest period of Victor Kosenko's life in Warsaw probably left an impression on the artist. Being at the intersection of cultures and traditions — a military and artistic environment with their inherent worldviews, a change in artistic and sociopolitical orientations at the border of the 19th and 20th centuries, the presence in everyday life of several national traditions (officially declared Russian, urban culture of Warsaw, preservation of Ukrainian origins in the family circle, a diverse circle of teachers and fellow students, etc.), could not but influence the growth of the creative personality of the Europeanized composer, who was open to other cultures. Tracing multi-level and multi-vector influences on the formation of creative ideas and their further specification looks like a promising direction for further research of the artist's creativity.

Series of problems in Clairaut’s Elements of Geometry: interaction between historical analysis and mathematics education research

In this paper, I propose an analysis of the structure of Clairaut’s Éléments de Géométrie (1741), a book presenting geometrical knowledge organized around problems, with rich metadiscourse connecting problems and other elements of mathematical content. This analysis is inspired both by the “Series of problems at the crossroad of cultures” interdisciplinary history of sciences project, in which texts from various cultures structured around problems were analysed, and by ongoing mathematics educational research on the Hungarian Guided Discovery approach, where “series of problems” play a central role in the planning and implementation of teaching trajectories. I show how a dialog between the analysis of Clairaut’s historical text and mathematics educational research contributes to the reflection on the construction and analysis of inquiry based teaching trajectories in mathematics education.

On the (Re)construction of Identity in the Conditions of Russian-Jewish Borderland (Based on the Story “Apples from Shlitzbutter’s Garden” by Dina Rubina)

This article is devoted to the issues of identity formed in the Russian-Jewish borderland. The study discusses Dina Rubina’s short story “Iabloki iz sada Shlitsbutera” (“Apples from Shlitzbutter’s Garden”) as an autobiographical tale that reflects the actual processes of reconstructing the identity of the author-hero, a representative of the Great Aliyah, a person living at the crossroads of cultures. The author concludes that there is no fixed and unchanging identity. Particularly in the conditions of a cultural borderland and in watershed moments (repatriation), identity evolves and is subject to constant reconstruction.

NANCY HUSTON: WRITING OTHERNESS WITH A TRANSCULTURAL IMAGINARY

Losing North" is an expression in French which means "to be disoriented". The expression is translated into English by Nancy Huston – bilingual writer (English-French) as “to be all abroad” which literally means “to be totally foreigner in abroad”. It's an expression that catches Huston's attention to exactly define her position as a writer, which is why she titles her autobiographical book "Losing North" written in 1999. In this book, she questions her attachment to the French language and her bilingualism which she experiences in a conscious way. This study aims to detail the experience of the writer whose imaginary universe is filled with transcultural marks at the crossroads of several languages, identities and cultures. At Huston we witness this estrangement from one's culture and language of origin to seek refuge in the culture and language of others. From that moment the other becomes the mirror of the self. Thus, the reconceptualization of the terms of identity, of cultures, of languages in Nancy Huston leads her to create "doors" through the distinctive lines of demarcation which differentiate one from the other. In this context, transculturality becomes a plane where the biological, historical, social, economic, philosophical, cultural forms of sovereignty and power relations are problematized both geographically and socially. These power relations are analysed using Huston's concepts of language, culture, identity and literature, and the literary archive is used as a field of social transformation, emancipation and disclosure in order to overcome them. The polyphonic voices and the writing of Huston who is in exile are transformed into a medium where different identities, languages and cultures are inscribed.

Cultural Crossroads: Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Located only a block from the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, stands at the crossroads of one of the most culturally diverse regions of North America. The cathedral itself, as well as the surrounding grounds, incorporates many of these cultural influences, ranging from Pueblo and Native American to Spanish, Hispanic, Anglo, and the French cultural sensibilities of the first archbishop, Jean-Baptiste Lamy, immortalized as Jean Latour in Willa Cather's novel Death Comes for the Archbishop.

Body part metaphors in phraseological expressions

Abstract The paper addresses the employment of body part nouns in the creation of phraseological expressions of some European languages, a topic at the crossroads of language, cognition and culture. In particular, the contrastive analysis explores the common linguistic representation of meanings through body part metaphorical expressions in Italian, French, Spanish and English. While several efforts to gauge the existence of a “European linguistic type” (cf. Haspelmath, 2001) have been largely devoted to the study of grammatical structures, a systematic account of the lexical component of the major European languages has not been attempted yet. Among the lexical units, phraseological expressions (e.g. compounds, multiword units, idiomatic expressions, as well as light verb and light noun constructions) represent a relevant ground to inquire into, since they are the most transparent and authentic vehicle of common ideas and experiences gradually rooted in European communicative realities.

MINORITAS MUSLIM DI NEGARA KOMUNIS LAOS: PERKEMBANGAN DALAM KETERBATASAN

The general statement is that minority groups have always been discriminated against by the majority, plus Laos itself carries out communism as the state ideology. In general, the discourse on the equality of communists with atheists is quite popular in the community. Not only labeled as having no religion, a state labeled as communist is synonymous with not supporting the existence of an ethnicity or a religious community. This article aims to explain the history and life of Muslim groups in Laos as a minority community group. This research is a historical research, where in collecting data sources using literature study techniques, and data analysis using a political history approach. The results of the study show that Laos, which is geographically located in the middle of mainland Indochina, makes it a crossroads of culture and religion. The political turmoil in the Indochina region and the civil war in Laos had an impact on the number of Laos' Muslim population. Pathet Lao's victory over the civil war resulted in an authoritarian communist government, causing the Muslim population to shrink. The 1991 Lao Constitution amendment in 2003 brought a breath of fresh air with religious freedom to the Lao people. Although there are still problems with human and financial resources in developing the community and da'wah, Laotian Muslims live quietly in a communist country. Islam in Laos is developing slowly but quietly within its limitations.

Розвиток бізнесу у сфері креативних індустрій в Україні

Abstract. Introduction. The world market has been dictating the requirements of an innovative and non-standard approach of doing business for the last decade. Thus, the economy is gaining signs of socio-political and socio-cultural spheres of life. The concept of strategic development in the field of creative industries is widely used in Europe and United States. The practical adaptation of this new society direction is only gaining popularity In Ukraine. Creative industries and services that emerged at the crossroads of art, culture, business, and technology are developing today in the world economy. In particular, dance industry is one of the most important areas of development in the cultural and leisure segment of the economy. The development of the dance business is becoming more profitable and promising because of the growing dance popularity in society. Purpose. The aim of the study is to analyse the development of creative industries in Ukraine on the example of dance studios, and identify existing problems in the development of entrepreneurship in this sphere of activity. Results. The advantages of the creative industries development for national economies are determined. The main advantages are getting profit from exports and imports; increasing employment rates, and the number of small businesses. Activity and pace of development of a dance studio are influenced by a number of factors that can either slow down or speed up this pace. Instability of the economic and political situation in the country, low purchasing power of the population, high rents, rising utility costs, and the unwillingness of entrepreneurs to adopt foreign experiences also lead to stagnation in the development. Dance studios are often exposed to administrative risks associated with rent increases, various fines and inspections. Price risk is now most pronounced, as many people lost their jobs and sources of income during the pandemic and war. Also, prices for training, seminars, and competitions began to rise due to the falling of the Ukrainian economy and rising inflation. All this factors significantly reduces the desire and ability of the population to spend money, and, as a result, there is a decline in dance studios. Conclusions Among the main problems hindering the development of the Ukrainian dance industry are low support for the creative sector by the state and a lack of proper legislative, organizational, and information base for this sector. There is a lack of programs and funds that would provide favorable conditions for the development of the creative potential of individual dancers and dance groups. There is no financial assistance to raise awareness of the Ukrainian dance sector in the international market. Overcoming the problems outlined above, ending the war in Ukraine, and improving the business climate will be able to make this sector of the economy profitable and potentially attractive to investors.

Holocene history of the landscape at the biogeographical and cultural crossroads between Central and Eastern Europe (Western Podillia, Ukraine)

Continentality is a globally significant gradient influencing broad-scale biogeographical patterns. An excellent example is the transition from the European temperate forest biome to the continental steppe and forest-steppe of Eurasia. One of the biogeographic crossroads where the two biomes meet is the Western Podillia in the western part of Ukraine. It is known for its rich biodiversity with a mixture of steppe, forest and montane species, despite a relatively humid climate suitable for closed-canopy forests. Biologists have postulated the refugial character of the local steppes, but a modern paleoecological reconstruction of the environmental history of the region has been lacking. We fill this gap here with a multi-proxy study (pollen, plant and mollusc macrofossils, microcharcoal, geochemistry) of two profiles sampled in calcareous fens adjacent to species-rich steppe grasslands. To link the reconstructed environmental history with the history of human settlement, we compiled available archaeological records from the studied region. Together, the analyzed profiles cover the entire Holocene and the end of the Last Glacial period, as shown by high-quality age-depth models. All studied proxies support the hypothesis that an open or semi-open landscape existed in Western Podillia during the Holocene. The complete absence of wood remains in Holocene sediments, and the persistence of fen specialists showed the exceptional long-term stability of open wetlands. The continuous presence of pollen of light-demanding plants, low abundance of closed-canopy trees compared to open-canopy trees, and stable concentrations of geochemical indicators of erosion suggest a semi-open landscape with a mosaic of forests, steppe grasslands, and other open habitats. Multivariate analysis revealed the similarity of pollen assemblages with sites in the forest-steppe zone at the interface between the Pannonian Basin and the Western Carpathians. The continuous presence of non-woody microcharcoal in high abundance suggests a role of fire in maintaining open habitats, and the archaeological record provides evidence of human activity throughout the Holocene near the study sites. Comparison with modern pollen spectra suggests that the landscape was probably somewhat more forested in the past than today, but rather by open-canopy trees. Our results indicate that Western Podillia has become a biogeographic crossroads not only because of its location on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, but also because of the unusual combination of relatively humid climate and continuity of open or semi-open landscapes since the Last Glacial.

Together, a Beautiful and Sustainable Future Begins Today

A century after its founding by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany, the Bauhaus design movement is being reclaimed and reframed as an experimental lab of our collective future on a shared planet. The New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative calls on all of us to imagine and build together a beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive world. Now an official partner of NEB, Leonardo/ISAST celebrates this creative, interdisciplinary initiative as a global movement to connect the European Green Deal and planetary climate adaptation to living spaces and lived experiences beyond geopolitical borders and disciplinary boundaries. The NEB both reflects and reinforces Leonardo’s commitment to foster positive transformation at the nexus of art, science, and technology in pursuit of a more vibrant, just, and regenerative world. As articulated by the European Union, the NEB recognizes three inseparable values: Sustainability: from climate goals, to circularity, zero pollution, and biodiversity; in harmony with nature, the environment, the planetBeauty: aesthetic quality of experience and style, inspired by art and culture, enriching beyond functionalityInclusion: from valuing diversity, to securing accessibility and affordability; encouraging a dialogue across cultures, disciplines, genders, and agesThese values correspond to Leonardo/ISAST’s priorities for a world that is more vibrant (beautiful), just (inclusive), and regenerative (sustainable). Leonardo’s vision is to activate creativity that pushes the boundaries of today and unleashes the possibilities of tomorrow. This vision guides our leadership and participation in festivals, fellowships, residencies, scholarship, and the pages of this issue of Leonardo.With this triad of vibrant-beautiful, just-inclusive, and regenerative-sustainable values in mind, a small group met amidst the Covid 19 pandemic (June 2021) to identify key contributions that SciArt practitioners could make to the NEB. Believing that the strong participation of artists and scientists, along with colleagues from design and engineering, is vital for NEB to realize its vision, the group recognized valuable competencies and practices generated by art and science collaborations, including: Years of Experience: working at the interstices of knowledge, in-between cultures, trans-lingually, transdisciplinarily, outside the habitual, and especially engaging with citizens to build communities; integrating artists and creatives in scientific institutions, enterprises, and integrating the artistic into the non-artistic worlds/structures; translating, developing new languages, of exploring interstices, of defining new territories, of bridging estranged disciplines and creating improbable connectionsContent Expertise: bridging over knowledge gaps (creating culture!) through intriguing works that can exemplify scientific principles, simple phenomena, or a startling recombination of science and art. While kindling curiosity, these works create novel forms of engagement and education as a potent tool against populism, harbingers of a totally different yet more vital pedagogy of the future; developing innovative solutions and products, ranging from an impressive variety of bioart experiments to a host of surprising illustrations of intertwined scientific/artistic/societal realitiesExemplars & Examples: work carried out at the interface of ways of knowing/emotion/research/engagement/accessibility. At the crossroads of art, culture, social inclusion, science and technology, these works push the boundaries and explore new territory, always combining and recombining various disciplines/methodologies/practices. The novel ways of engaging with reality and with the public are the result of (an as yet uncharted) methodology capable of devising new means of engagement on the basis of the project itself. These projects directly tackle societal issues (e.g. Sustainable Development Goals), drawing on the engagement and knowledge of crowds. In these circumstances, the combination of science and art can become the midwife for public engagement.Reimagining and co-creating a vibrant, just, regenerative world, or in the words of New Bauhaus, a “beautiful, inclusive, sustainable future,” begins with art and science, with all of us together, here and now.

Storied Answers to Questions about Interethnic Marriage in Multiethnic Qinghai Province, PR of China

The article discusses the use of stories as answers to direct questions. The author encountered this pattern while conducting fieldwork tracing identity contexts among young Chinese Muslims of the Hui ethnicity in the city of Xining, a cultural crossroads in Qinghai Province in northwest China, between 2016 and 2018. Regardless of a respondent’s ethnicity and gender, respondents shared the same pattern of sharing stories from the lives of unnamed friends and relatives. This pattern appeared predominantly when asking about interethnic relations and personal views on interethnic marriage and can thus be understood as a high-context cultural strategy for politely and indirectly expressing personal attitudes. The article analyzes this pattern in terms of Chinese culture and the national image of harmonious coexistence in a multiethnic society.

Stage-of-life words at the crossroads of language, culture and cognition

AbstractNowhere is the interface between language, culture and cognition more clearly visible than in word meanings and in cases of translational non-equivalence between words of different languages. One such case is that of the meanings of stage-of-life words in different languages. This paper presents a contrastive analysis between the Englishboyand the Italianragazzomade adopting the principles and methods of cross-linguistic semantics. The analysis demonstrates that the semantic non-equivalence between these two stage-of-life words results from the different age and time spans covered by each word and different cultural assumptions about the transition to manhood, showing how these differences are reflected in discourse in the respective languages. First, a discourse analysis is made for each word; after that, two separate semantic explications are produced with the Natural Semantic Metalanguage methodology and then contrasted to highlight the differences in meaning and the role of culture in the formation of different conceptualisations of the human life cycle.

Crossroads of Culture: Christianity, Ancestral Spiritualism, and the Search for Wellness in Northern Malawi, by Eric Lindland.

<i>Crossroads of Culture: Christianity, Ancestral Spiritualism, and the Search for Wellness in Northern Malawi</i>, by Eric Lindland.

Linguistic prestige and anthroponym/toponym use at the crossroads of languages and cultures

Linguistic prestige and anthroponym/toponym use at the crossroads of languages and cultures

Називите на страницата во македонските говори

Based on the corpus of dialects used from the card-index of the “Macedonian Dialects Atlas” Project of the Krste Misirkov Macedonian Language Institute and following the methodology of areal linguistics, the author of this article discusses the words for ‘stranicata, the wooden board that makes the sides of the cart’ in the Macedonian dialects. He observes that various cultures have met on the Macedonian language territory, which has become evident in the naming of the object under study from the thematic area of transport and communication. The author presents the distribution of many lexemes and their varieties on the whole Macedonian dialect area. He provides the etymology of each lexeme and double-checks their frequency and their meaning in the works of Macedonian lexicography. The richness of Macedonian inherited words and borrowings used to name “stranicata” indicates that the Macedonian language territory has long been at the crossroads of various cultures and languages. The borrowings in vernacular varieties reveal the roads that have linked the Macedonian people with other peoples throughout history. The author concludes that some Macedonian inherited words have been standardised in the Macedonian language to refer to the ‘the wooden board that makes the sides of the cart’, stranica and ražnište, but most of them and the domesticated borrowings have been standardised with other meanings, whereas some dialectal words meaning ‘stranica’ have remained to bear witness to the fact that Macedonian dialects are an endless source of enrichment of the Macedonian standard language with new words.

LITERARY WORK IN THE SYSTEM OF CULTURE

The article considers a literary work in the context of the problem of preservation and development of cultural traditions, in particular the traditions of an author's literary and artistic creativity and reader`s co-creation. These traditions are characterized as fundamental to culture as a whole in the context of Yu. Lotman's ideas about the semiosphere as a semiotic space, which is both a prerequisite and a result of the functioning of culture. The intersection of dialogical-communicative, aesthetic-receptive, and ontological-hermeneutic understanding of a literary work presupposes a productive going beyond the narrow literary perspective on this phenomenon, requires the expansion of the theoretical scope of its subject. It is about realizing the special role of literature and, in particular, literary works representing it in the process of dialogical self-disclosure of creative individuals who need artistic expression to reconstruct the position of the other, necessary in the course of artistic cognition and self-knowing. Understanding and self-understanding, achieved in the process of dialogical interaction with the other in the space of a literary work, become a prerequisite for the fullness of life meeting the spiritual needs of personal development. Moreover, a literary work, potentially open to any person, becomes a crossroads of different cultures and eras, a mechanism for the formation and manifestation of the integrity of culture, the unity of mankind, the continuity of culture genesis.&#x0D; The need to return to the position of the author, to restore the idea of ​​the semantic center of the work outlined by the author is stated. By analogy with the concept of "Text", developed by R. Bart, it is proposed to use the concept of "Author", meaning a set of personal dialogic relationships of the author of a literary work with other authors and readers, open into the infinity of time perspective. This understanding of the author's position is aimed to prevent the simularization of a literary work, contribute to the preservation of it as a cultural value, an important tool of culture genesis.

Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture. By Patrice Pavis. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. 219. £96 Hb; £29.59 Pb; £29.59 eBook.

Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture. By Patrice Pavis. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. 219. £96 Hb; £29.59 Pb; £29.59 eBook.

In or Between the Cultures: Hybridity in American Dervish

This study analyzes American Dervish in the light of Homi Bhabha’s cultural theory. As a postcolonial theorist, Bhabha who also had a colonial past has made significant contributions to cultural studies. He conceptualizes hybridity, third space, in-betweenness, or mimicry to shed light on the cultural interactions in the shade of colonial traces. His theory which draws attention to the impossibility of pure culture is used in this study to discover Shah family’s migrant life. Pakistani descent-American author Ayad Akthar depicts immigrant Muslims’ life in America based primarily on his own multicultural experiences. This study tries to shed light on Shah family’s life in America through multicultural perspectives. The primary aim of this study is to depict how Hayat, the protagonist of the book, constructs his hybrid identity to cope with his dilemmas between two separate cultures at the crossroads of cultures, religions and social norms.

Traditional food plants of the upper Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda\u2014a cultural crossroads

BackgroundIn the parkland agroforestry system of northern Uganda, smallholder farming households rely on a diversity of plant species to fulfil their nutritional requirements, many of which also serve a range of medicinal, cultural, and livelihood functions. The purpose of the study was to assemble an inventory of indigenous plant species used as food in four districts within the Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda, and to document their utilization and management by rural communities.MethodsFrom July 1999 to August 2000, a series of 61 community-based focus group discussions on the utilization of plant biodiversity were conducted in the vernacular language at 34 sites in four districts of northern Uganda, with participation by key informants self-selected on basis of their technical knowledge and personal interest. Of these, 232 respondents subsequently contributed to a collection of herbarium specimens, which were submitted to the Makerere University Herbarium for identification. On receipt of each specimen collected, a structured interview was conducted to document the botanical, ecological, seasonal, and alimentary attributes of each identified taxon, and details of its processing and utilization by the community from which it was obtained. The data analysis was undertaken during 2019 and 2020, including statistical tests to assess the relative importance of the cited taxa using the Relative Importance Index (RI), and to determine the similarity of edible plant use between the four cultures using the Jaccard Index of similarity (JI).ResultsKey informant interviews yielded 1347 use reports (URs) for 360 identified specimens of 88 indigenous edible plant species. The data describes patterns of use of indigenous edible plants of four cultures of the Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda. RI scores ranged from 0.93 to 0.11, with fruit trees occupying the top 25 taxa (RI 0.45 and above). Jaccard similarity scores ranged from 25.8% between Lango and Acholi, to 15.8% between Acholi and Ethur, indicating that cultural factors appear to be more significant than shared ancestry as determinants of cultural similarity of plant use.ConclusionsThe data constitute an inventory of on-farm plant species, including cultivated, semi-cultivated, and wild plants, integrated into a parkland agroforestry system in which useful trees and other plant species are sustained and managed under cultivation. Agricultural and on-farm plant biodiversity may be seen as a food security resource, and a nutritional buffer against increasing risks and stressors on low-input smallholder agriculture. Further studies should assess the intra-species biodiversity of these resources, with respect to farmer-valued traits and vernacular (folk) classification systems.

An Analysis of the Migration of Turks of Bulgaria to Turkey in 1950-51 with the Turkey’s Domestic and Foreign Policy of the Era

Movement of populations has been one of the main drivers of the history of humanity. For a geography which is at the crossroads of different cultures and civilizations such as Anatolia, this is much more relevant. Among the mass movement of migrations in Turkish history; migrations from Bulgaria, with their number of migrants and the time span, have a special place. Specifically; 1950-51 Migration, by giving us a chance to study political history of the early years of the Cold War at that geography, offers us a quite interesting study area.&#x0D; In this article, migration of Turks of Bulgaria to Turkey in 1950-51 would be analyzed with a special attention to the Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy of the era. In order to have a holistic understanding, first the background would be explained by studying on the situations of the respective countries during and in the aftermath of World War II. While looking to the aftermath of World War II, the process which led to the 1950-51 Migration would be studied in detail. Later, 1950-51 Migration would be studied with its implications on Turkish domestic and foreign policy. Connected to that, foreign aid issue too would be studied. Finally the conclusion would be made. The analysis shows that, 1950-51 Migration was a milestone event in the history of the Republic of Turkey which shaped Turkish domestic and foreign policy in the early years of the Cold War.