Cultural Ideas Research Articles

Chronological Hygiene and Bayesian Modeling of Poverty Point Sites in the Lower Mississippi Valley, circa 4200 to 3200 cal BP

AbstractDevelopments in radiocarbon dating and analysis provide new opportunities to develop high-resolution chronologies to explore changes through time. We explore the temporality of what has been called the Poverty Point culture of the lower Mississippi Valley circa 4200 to 3200 cal BP, especially the chronology of the type site, Poverty Point. Because of its complicated material culture elaboration without evidence of agriculture, Poverty Point has been identified as the political and economic center of a complex archaeological culture. The duration of site occupation and the historical relationship between the type site and those assumed to be contemporary are critical variables for explaining the emergence of complexity at this time. Most interpretations require political or evolutionary processes that accumulate gradually over hundreds of years. Our data show, however, that there is no temporal coherence among so-called Poverty Point culture sites; among such sites, Poverty Point was occupied for a relatively short period, and it is younger than many sites thought to be derived from it. Using explicit radiometric hygiene and Bayesian analyses of dates, we reject the idea of a unified Poverty Point culture and argue instead that the Poverty Point site earthworks developed through rapid, punctuated events occurring circa 3300 to 3200 cal BP.

Ambiguities and Contradictions Surrounding the Body and Education: Thoughts inspired by S. Polenghi, A. Németh, T. Kasper (eds.). Education and the Body in Europe (1900–1950). Movements, Public Health, Pedagogical Rules and Cultural Ideas.

Ambiguities and Contradictions Surrounding the Body and Education: Thoughts inspired by S. Polenghi, A. Németh, T. Kasper (eds.). Education and the Body in Europe (1900–1950). Movements, Public Health, Pedagogical Rules and Cultural Ideas.

Рец. на кн.: Lan Anh Hoang. Vietnamese Migrants in Russia: Mobility in Times of Uncertainty. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020. 259 p.

The analytical framework of an ethnographic study of the lives of Vietnamese migrants in Russia by Professor Lan Anh Hoang (University of Melbourne) is “uncertainty”. The author understands it as the structural conditions that make the lives of migrants unpredictable and eliminate their ability to influence their choices and the results of their choices. The uncertainty is caused by the migration regime in Russia and xenophobia, pushing migrants into the informal sector of the economy and the zone of invisibility. It is also experienced by migrants as a subjective experience of vulnerability. To reveal the duality of uncertainty as a structural condition and as a subjective experience, Hoang devotes the first part of the book to the main themes of migrants’ lives in Russia: moving to the host country, infrastructure for migrants, work and leisure. The second part of the book is built around traditional anthropological themes: kinship, morality, cultural ideas and how they are determined in structural conditions of uncertainty and vulnerability. Despite the fact that Russia is one of the leading countries in the number of labor migrants, there are very few studies of migration in Russia, and there are practically no ethnographies. The book under review is a rare opportunity to have a glimpse of the life of migrants not from the outside perspective of the host society with its labeling, but from the inside. At the same time, the chosen frame of uncertainty not only sets the logic of the analysis, but also prevents the rich ethnography from disintegrating into separate small research discoveries. The book shows how uncertainty runs deep, how it undermines the foundations of human relationships, and how Vietnamese migrants try to cope with it.

Somatic Antonymy: Common and Specific Features of Lexical and Phraseological Antonyms

The evolution of society and the changes that occur in the surrounding reality also imply continuous changes in the means of verbal expression of a language. Thus, language with its phraseological micro-universe is a very complex phenomenon, susceptible to evolution and change, which is very slow to develop and leads to the emergence of new words and phrases, syntactic structures parallel to the traditional ones. In its uninterrupted dynamic, it enhances the means it offers to express our ideas and feelings more clearly, concisely and expressively. It is well known that there are phraseological units with close meanings (synonymic phraseological expressions) and those with opposite meanings (antonymic phraseological expressions), phenomena that are widespread in the creation of the phraseological treasury stricto modo. In this article we will investigate the phenomenon of somatic phraseological antonymic series and in particular we are to lay emphasis on their common and specific features. We start from the hypothesis that the use of these somatic phraseological antonymic series allows us, on the one hand, to avoid cases of ambiguity of the lexical units themselves, and on the other hand, to identify either bipolar cultural ideas or concepts within a culture. We set out to study the two types of lexical and phraseological antonymy since they complement each other and liquidate the gaps in both systems of English and Romanian polar units.

Boys, Masculinity, and Education

During the 1990s and 2000s, many countries witnessed new discourses on boys and education both within research and the wider popular discourse. This took place in the context of a feminist critique of patriarchal relations, a global monitoring of education, and an increased interest in the negative consequences of traditional masculinity, not only for women, queer people, or the nature and global ressources, but also for boys and men themselves. Mainly, the discussions centred on three key topics. First, boys’ encountering, incorporating, and/or resisting cultural ideas of masculinity were being looked at with a strong focus on gender hierarchies and gender norms (Connell 2000; Kimmel 2008; Plummer 1999; Salisbury and Jackson 1996). Second, boys’ situations in educational institutions were discussed controversially with regard to disadvantages and/or privileges of boys in education (Epstein et al. 1998; Kenway et al. 1997; Martino et al. 2009). Third, the situations of particular groups of boys were explored, acknowledging the diversity of boys and the intersectionality of masculinity and gender with other social categories and hierarchies (Martino and Pallotta-Chiarolli 2003; Nayak 2003).

求福 관련 漢字에 반영된 고대 중국의 문화사유

This study was conducted by focusing on the fact that the Chinese character related to prayer for good luck in the radical '示' of “Shuowenjiezi(說文解字)” is not only the most distributed, but also placed at the very front. In this paper, we looked at ancient Chinese ancestral rite customs and cultural ideas reflected in ‘禮’ and ‘福’ before analyzing Chinese characters related to prayers for good fortune. Since '福' bestowed by the gods can only be achieved by avoiding '禍', this study conducted research by selecting 12 Chinese characters related to '福' and 8 Chinese characters related to '禍' as the Chinese characters related to blessings and blessings. Chinese characters related to wishes for good luck include '祿', '禠', '祥', '祉', '禎', '禧', '祺', '祗', '禛', '禔', It means God's protection, good omens and peace of life. ‘祈’ and ‘禱’ mean to pray for good fortune. In addition, the Chinese characters related to ‘禍’ include ‘禍’, ‘祟’, and ‘䄏’ to mean disaster imposed by God, ‘祓’, ‘’, ‘禜’, ‘禳’ and ‘禬’ to mean escape from disaster.

Immersive Environment as a Tool for Changing Human-Centric Optic

The article is devoted to the scientific problem of theoretical elaboration and contextualization of an immersive environment implemented in the physical space of a gallery or museum, as well as a site-specific work, or in VR and AR, which work to change anthropocentric optics. The aim of the research is to identify the peculiarities of the formation of an immersive environment and the practice of creating VR and AR projects in Ukrainian contemporary art, to identify the work of Ukrainian artists, which takes place outside the country at the intersection of the latest ideas in European culture with a focus on the relationship between human and nature. The task is to study the theoretical foundations of the subjectivity of nature and the development of immersive environments, review and analysis of projects that use digital technologies to create immersion. The methodology of the study consists in theoretical and field researches at the intersection of eco-topics and immersive technologies and the development of author's experiments as part of the research "Analytical Instruments for Audio-Visual Translation of Metabolomics" merging genotype and environment regarding climate changes at Iméra — the Institute of Advanced Studies in Marseille. The main method is a comprehensive approach to highlight issues of the development of deep ecology, the theory of symbiosis, visual and photometric methods, analysis of concepts, spatial structure and artistic works. The peculiarities of creating an immersive environment in physical space were explored in the projects "Cosmogony", "Homage to Leonardo", "Garden of Divine Songs" after Hryhorii Skovoroda, "Homage to Matisse", "Gaia", "The Ocean", "Espace Ocean: Waters Come Into My Soul", "Ecocide", which analyzes the impact of the ongoing war on ecology, in order to be included into the national art discourse. The concept of "non-human agency" is concidered as an imperative of nature's subjectivity. The possibilities of molecular sonification in metabolomics were analyzed. A brief overview of the VR projects "Invasions 1.2.3", "Atmospheric Forest" and "First Day" and AR "Vegetable Kingdom, Vegetable Anarchy" is provided. Festivals OVNi in Nice, Scientifica #2 in Marseille, Ars Electronica in Linz, RIXC in Riga, UNESCO Media Art City in Karlsruhe and Venice Immersive are considered as platforms for the construction of "future civilization". The instrumentality of immersive environments for changing anthropocentric optics has been revealed.

Research on Design Concept and Cultural Inheritance System of Tourism Cultural and Creative Products in the Context of Deep Learning

Abstract In this paper, the design process of cultural and creative product design is first constructed in the context of deep learning and the categories of cultural idea factors are planned. The training of the network for the image extraction classification task is accelerated due to the deep learning model’s fitting ability. Secondly, the 3D virtual intelligence algorithm is applied to use the point cloud as the basis for reconstruction in order to generate a highly reproducible object surface model. Finally, the K-means algorithm is employed to obtain the final extracted color, which constitutes the technical foundation of the product design system. The final results show that the color matching degree reaches 8.91, while the image design level reaches 9.24, which illustrates the effectiveness of the tourism cultural and creative product design system under deep learning.

Spiritual Wonderings: A Study of Phantasmagoria in Early Chinese Cinema

Abstract Phantasmagoria (幻景 huanjing) is a term commonly seen in historical materials on early Chinese cinema. In this thesis, “Phantasmagoria” is taken as the localization of Western cinema tricks in early China. According to sources, “phantasmagoria” is valuable and rich in content, although it has no clear definition. This thesis seeks to define “phantasmagoria” and through a comparison of Chinese and Western cinema investigate which Western cinema tricks were appropriated and eventually labelled phantasmagoria. This article takes phantasmagoria to be a Chinese term, the meaning and application of which carry the traditional cultural ideas behind the localization of cinema tricks.

Осмысление православной культуры посредством системного подхода

The article reveals the semantic ideas of Orthodox culture, discovered by considering it as an independent sys-tem. Orthodox culture in the general system of Russian culture can be considered as a special subsystem with its own laws of existence. In turn, this subsystem “from the inside” appears as a dynamic system. In it, the phe-nomena of Orthodoxy turn out to be structural elements (components) interconnected in a certain way. The ide-ological foundations of the Orthodox faith are revealed, diversely reflected by elements from the subsystems of Orthodoxy – spiritual (priority), material, artistic. Using the example of some phenomena of Orthodoxy, it is sub-stantiated that the main source of semantic content for the material and artistic subsystems of Orthodox culture are the structural components of the spiritual subsystem – these are “Holy Tradition” and “Holy Scripture”. In order to achieve a holistic understanding of the phenomena of Orthodox culture, in their philosophical under-standing, it is proposed to establish a semantic connection between all components of the unified cultural sys-tem of Orthodoxy.

GUARDIANS OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS, THEIR FUNCTIONS IN THE FORMATION OF THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE

The proposed study examines the complex and multifaceted communication process, as well as the role of the media in shaping public perception, values, and beliefs. Recognizing the power and responsibility of the mass media for percepting the environment, emphasizing the importance of media literacy and critical thinking of information consumers, we propose to comprehend the key functional of specialists who dramatically influence the media landscape development, agenda molding, as well as “information bubbles” creating that can be as favorable for the further development of the society, as inhibiting it. In our opinion guidekeepers, spin-doctors and news-ombudsmen play the key roles among communication specialists. They influence not only the control and filters of the content broadcast, but also the formation of moral principles of media workers in general and the creation of professional ethical codes. Considering, that modern media platforms serve as the means of spreading social, political, cultural ideas, as well as public discourse of various orientations, it is worth actualizing functions of the media (both individual representatives and platforms in general) such as: conscious design and dissemination of information; management of public perception in order to prevent political and economic crises; ensuring honesty, accountability and transparency between the public and representatives of the media community. Particularly these functions the mentioned media persons are able to provide, as despite the different contextual bases, they all play an important role in the process, management and development of ethical principles of communication.

CROSS-CULTURAL MUSICAL TRANSFORMATION: SHAPING CHINESE TRADITIONS

This article endeavors to thoroughly examine the processes of Western influence on Chinese musical culture, focusing on the perspectives of prominent figures within the Chinese composer-performer tradition. Specifically, it highlights the role of Westernization as a means of shaping musical concepts in the works of Fei Shi, Ou Man, Qing Zhu, and Zeng Zhizhi. Furthermore, it acknowledges that a substantial number of music scholars pursue education abroad with the intention of delving into Western musical experiences and engaging with the resources of Western musical culture and the arts. Upon their return, whether they adopt a “Westernized” or “reformed” approach, they are actively contributing to the practical development of their own musical culture and innovative musical ideas. It is revealed that the processes of Westernization primarily occurred through the efforts of individual representatives within the Chinese community. The article highlights their practical actions involving the adaptation and creation of contemporary styles and forms within Chinese musical culture.

Ritualized Affective Performances: Syriac Etiquette Guides and Systems Intelligence in Early Christian–Muslim Encounters

In 2009, Michael Penn published a transcription and English translation of two Syriac texts, To the Rulers of the World (ܠܘܬ ܪ̈ܝܫܢܐ ܕܥܠܡܐ) and Concerning the Entrance before a New Emir (ܕܡܥܠܬܐ ܨܝܕ ܐܡܝܪܐ ܚܕܬܐ). This essay proposes a new historiographical approach to these texts based on the concepts and theoretical apparatus of systems intelligence theory and affect theory. I show how these texts use key Islamic theological and cultural ideas that would affectively resonate with the Muslim authorities while remaining non-objectionable to the orthodoxy of the Assyrian Church of the East. Specifically, I argue that Christians sometimes sought to curry favor with Islamic authorities not so much through logical persuasion, but by creating a sense of affective coherence through attunement to the discursive and theological systems of Islam. Through this strategy, Christians perhaps hoped to gain some small measure of political and religious advantage, especially over and against other Christian jurisdictions, such as the Syrian Orthodox Church. I conclude by discussing what methodological prospects these approaches can offer to the subfield, particularly if combined with other theories that similarly remain underused.

My Voice from Perth


 In this paper, I will examine my art projects, A long letter to home (2015-20) and Indian ocean ceremony (2020-present), to extend my discussion on the idea of non-verbal communication. I also discuss the influence of cultural institutions on the recognition of the local artists in Perth and consider possible ways of sharing my voice with the communities. 
 A long letter to home (2015-20): In 1999, I left my homeland Iran and immigrated to Australia. When I came to Australia, I never considered myself a migrant; I saw myself as someone who wanted to exchange and share cultural ideas and become an artist. Shortly after I started studying art in Australian institutions and realised that I am a migrant searching for a home, I understood that I could make something unique, meaningful and negotiable artworks, rather than works that only deal with or speak of my emotions. A long letter to home is a project that I developed during my study and visual research on the idea of home. It is a collaborative project between myself and a group of people living in Iran who responded to my two questions about home and homeland. 
 
 
 Indian ocean ceremony (2020-present): While I was completing my PhD in Fine Art, I arrived at the understanding that I am still a migrant who is continuously searching for a home and exploring the idea of home in public and private places. I have also found myself who needs three key elements to sustain creativity and an artistic career: compassion, dignity and obligation. Indian ocean ceremony reflects a symbolic relationship between the idea of home, these fundamental elements, and the Indian Ocean water. 

Exploration of Ethnomathematics Houses Malay ‘Limas Potong’ The Batam Islands of Riau

Ethnomathematics is the study of how a group of individuals in a particular culture understand, communicate, and use cultural ideas and practices that researchers identify as mathematics. To return cultural heritage of traditional house in Batam, Riau Islands, and to further explore the idea of mathematical geometry inherent in the traditional house, so this research aims to explore the ethnomathematics in the Malay Traditional House 'Limas Potong'. This study applied a qualitative approach that was conducted in the Malay Traditional House 'Limas Potong', specifically in the Kampung Melayu neighborhood of Batam City's Nongsa District in the Riau Archipelago. The data used in this research was obtained from these explorations or already-published articles. Observation, interviews, and documentation were used as data collection methods. In this research, data analysis was carried out in two stages: data analysis in the field and data combining. According to the research findings, each decorative and structural part of the Malay Traditional House 'Limas Potong' incorporates mathematical ideas in geometrical shapes and components. Measurement, architectural design, mathematics learning, and application of learning are all related to ethnomathematics in the Malay Traditional House 'Limas Potong'. The construction of the Malay Traditional House 'Limas Potong' can be utilized as a learning resource for students, especially in geometry material, according to some mathematical ideas contained in the structure of the traditional house. Ethnomathematics exploration will inspire teachers to make this a new alternative to developing creativity in students' mathematics learning.

Attitude to Historical Events and Ideas about the Place and Role of Russia in the Modern World: based on online survey material

The article is devoted to the study of public attitudes by identifying beliefs and values, collectively shared meanings about the place and role of Russia and the "Russian World" in the modern world. It is based on the correlation of online survey data with All-Russian representative opinion polls and the involvement of the results of other studies. Most of the respondents are young people under 35 years old, constantly interested in politics, financially well–off, students or working in state institutions. A negative attitude to the collapse of the USSR and the change of power in Ukraine during the Maidan was recorded in more than sixty percent of respondents. The annexation of Crimea, the formation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, and the entry of new regions into the Russian Federation in 2022 were positively assessed by two-thirds to three-quarters of respondents. There is an ambiguous attitude towards the special military operation and mobilization. In general, more than two thirds of the respondents are patriotic citizens who support the politics of the current government. It shows the coexistence of beliefs, at least of some respondents: on the one hand, the immanent acceptance of democratic institutions and traditions, relevant values, including the protection of human rights, on the other, the support of the state discourse of confrontation with the "collective West" – the source of these cultural and law ideas. The factors bearing the unifying potential for modern Russian society, in our opinion, can be expressed in such beliefs as: "Russia is an empire", "Russia is a great (world) power", the strong state that you can be proud of. The Russian idea (in the ethnic sense), a special civilizational, Orthodox identity, Messianism have fewer supporters.

Narrative Techniques and Symbolism in the Ramayana: A Literary Analysis

For ages, academics have been fascinated by the epic poem known as the Ramayana, which is considered to be one of the most respected works of Indian literature. This study will conduct an extensive literary examination of the Ramayana, with a special emphasis on the Ramayana's storytelling strategies and symbolism. This research aims to discover the deeper levels of significance that are buried in the epic's verses by conducting an investigation of the complex narrative techniques that are used throughout the text. It explores the use of allegory, metaphor, and allegorical storytelling that the sage Valmiki, the epic's original author, and successive retellers utilised in their narratives. The look at the ubiquitous symbolism in the Ramayana and analyses how it functions as a potent vehicle for transmitting important philosophical, ethical, and cultural ideas. This research aims to shed light on the enduring literary significance of the Ramayana and its capacity to resonate with readers across a wide variety of cultural and temporal contexts by dissecting the text on both a structural and thematic level. The research was carried out in order to achieve this goal. As a result of this, it provides new insights into the ageless allure and everlasting significance of this ancient epic.

Hanna Wentlandtowa (1906–1994) – Woman-Soldier, Promoter of Education, Precursor of Health Education and Health Promotion

The article presents the professional, social, and academic profile of Hanna Wentlandtowa. Her work centred around the idea of spreading education and culture, which she pursued from the interwar period to the 1980s. As an ardent patriot, she served in the structures of the Home Army during World War II. Wentlandtowa’s achievements in the field of hygiene and health education are part of the development of the modern concept of health education.

CULTURAL BELIEFS ON PRACTICES OF MOTHERING IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO: A SCOPING REVIEW

Motherhood is a universally recognized experience transcending time, geography, and cultural boundaries. Children’s experiences are influenced by a wide range of cultural ideas and customs, and women play a crucial role in the socialization and rearing of children across all cultures. These cultural beliefs have been shown to influence mothers’ practices of mothering or child-rearing and may have implications for maternal and child. Despite the importance of cultural beliefs and practices in shaping mothering experiences, there needs to be more clarity about the range of cultural beliefs and practices of mothering across different contexts and their implications for maternal and child health outcomes. This scoping review aims to map the existing literature on the cultural beliefs and practices of mothering in the Malay Archipelago. Four databases-Jstor Archive, ProQuest, Scopus, and Google Scholar were used in the research, which found three hundred forty-seven (347) articles for eligibility and a total of twenty-five (25) articles were analyzed after the inclusion and exclusion stage in collecting data for review. Findings indicate that mothering practices in the Malay Archipelago were rooted in the cultural beliefs of collectivism and familism, gender roles, modesty and filial piety, and religion. While there are similarities in the cultural beliefs and practices of mothering across different regions of the Malay Archipelago, there are also notable differences. The current scoping review contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of cultural beliefs in shaping mothering experiences and outcomes. In addition, the present study highlights the areas for future research on cultural beliefs and practices of mothering among mothers in the Malay Archipelago.

Hygiene, Morality, and Power: The Linen Shift as a Colonial Tool in an Ursuline Convent in Seventeenth-Century Quebec

In seventeenth-century colonial New France, an Ursuline convent was established with a mission to convert Indigenous girls to Christianity and assimilate them into French society. The linen chemise, a simple T-shaped undergarment worn across Europe, played an essential role in the nuns’ efforts towards the goals French colonization. Laden with cultural ideas of the body, cleanliness, and purity, the chemise was necessary to make a person Christian as well as culturally and physically French. While ultimately unsuccessful in establishing the physical and cultural uptake of the chemise or French culture in Indigenous communities, the efforts of the Ursuline nuns contributed to the groundwork for imperial justification and future attempts at assimilation of the Indigenous peoples of Canada.