Cultural Grounds Research Articles

Dźwiękowe emanacje oporu i strategie przetrwania w Litzmannstadt Ghetto

The history of the creation and activities of the Lodz Ghetto is a tale of escalating terror techniques. The structure of repression included isolation, starvation, slave labor, persecution on personal, cultural and religious grounds, as well as measures that reinforced social and material stratification. Against this background, practices of resistance of an acoustic nature – one of the few forms of resistance that could slip through the dense web of oppression – take on particular significance. Acoustic strategies of survival include, on the one hand, artistic creation or singing during work, strikes and opposition gatherings, and on the other, practices that ensured survival: deliberate silence, listening to the radio, or secret communication systems between those in hiding. The article illustrates the multifaceted nature of the resistance undertaken by those imprisoned in the ghetto, emphasizing the importance of sound strategies – hitherto overlooked in Holocaust studies. Key-words: Holocaust audiosphere, sound history, holocaust, Lodz ghetto, sound studies

Connected from Afar: Culturally Grounded Remote Peer Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this article, two PhD students from separate Canadian universities, both sharing an immigrant background, engage in autobiographical narrative inquiry, highlighting the importance of peer-support experiences during the pandemic. They explore their journeys as immigrants and PhD students, recounting their experiences in a virtual support group. This narrative illustrates the exchange of academic, mental health and personal support rooted in shared culture, language and ethnicity. The study provides insights into the benefits of peer support on virtual platforms and adds immigrant perspectives. It suggests that university administrators can find innovative ways to support marginalized students, fostering mutual support among them, particularly in the remote-learning context of COVID. This article highlights the potential for authentic and effective support systems that address the unique challenges faced by immigrant and marginalized students, enhancing their academic and personal development.

Decolonising Minds, Empowering Futures: Rethinking Entrepreneurial Education for University Students in Africa

This paper provides a theoretical synthesis of entrepreneurial education in African universities. It argues that these models are deeply influenced by colonial legacies, which perpetuate disempowerment and dependency. The paper advocates for a transformative decolonial approach, stressing the need to reimagine and restructure entrepreneurial education in a way that aligns it with African realities, values, and aspirations. The paper underscores the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge systems, local contexts, and African philosophies into the educational curriculum. This integration ensures that the learning experience is relevant, contextual, and empowering for African university students. By presenting a range of arguments, the paper establishes a framework for a decolonial approach to entrepreneurial education. It demonstrates the potential of such models to foster innovation, self-reliance, and critical thinking. In conclusion, the paper asserts that decolonising entrepreneurial education in African universities is essential for nurturing a generation of entrepreneurs who possess economic acumen, cultural grounding, and social responsibility. This paper contributes to the existing knowledge by offering a theoretical framework for decolonial entrepreneurial education. It also provides practical insights for implementation and highlights the transformative potential of such education in shaping the future of African nations.

Euphemisms as Cultural and Social Phenomenon: Cross- Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Albanian Euphemistic Expressions

Euphemisms have been traditionally viewed as social taboos operative within the language-community and specifically as being “isolated” into their historical contexts and the established cultural conditions. Euphemisms help us to understand how taboo topics are conceived in cultural groups and what beliefs are accepted, rejected, or implicitly legitimated. Indeed, it is the social and cultural nature of euphemisms that make them so changing over time and across societies Different cultural backgrounds have reflected various views and attitudes towards delicate and touching issues such as taboos. In this context Albanian and English communities as distinguishable culturally identified societies have in an original and unrepetitive way designated the linguistic material in the process of euphemistic expressions generation and embedment. This contrastive analysis aims at investigating the way superstitious and social taboos have given rise to several types of euphemisms in both languages, linguistic materials which should be explained based on social cultural and mental grounds and peoples’ general belief that there is a somehow supernatural and instinctive hidden link between the linguistic sign and the referent it represents. At this point, it seems that Albanian and English communities have not “suffered” from similar unexplained fears, doubts, insecurities, and irrationalities. It is more than evident that while consulting the euphemistic corpus of Albanian and English euphemisms, distinguishable differences can be spotted.

‘They abscond’: migration and coloniality in the contemporary conjuncture in Europe*

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, the public sphere in Europe has become increasingly ‘culturalised’. Ideas about European heritage and culture have been used as a way to exclude people, notably migrants. My intention is to understand how at this time the cultural, political and economic are articulated together in Europe. I do so by examining the trope of ‘migrants absconding’ which is a prominent concern of the European Commission, as reflected in legal innovations and in media and far-right generated moral panics. By focusing on the social, political and legal relations around ‘migrants absconding’, I read from the ground up value regimes that animate and organize the European social formation at this conjuncture. This social formation is made up of articulations along political, economic and cultural grounds, which allow for incorporating the themes of populist far right groups into the very core of the European Commission. This fosters and legitimizes value regimes bent on culturally cheapening migrants as incompatible, deviant or dangerous outsiders with a very limited right to social and political participation, much less an independent social reproduction. This then allows for their labour power to be also cheapened, super exploited and disposable. This type of value regime centring on culturally cheapening people deemed outsiders, controlling their social reproduction, and making them available as cheap labour was also a key feature of the colonial social formations of the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries, where concerns about ‘natives’ absconding tended to also be prominent. That there is something colonial about the contemporary conjuncture may be seen in the cultural-political-economic articulations dominant in Europe and their cultural and economic cheapening strategies. To abscond is to leave value regimes. Absconding is transgressive, it is to deliberately step out of place, and to attempt to pursue an independent social reproduction.

Минералого-геохимический анализ металлических украшений погребения № 59 Кокпомъягского могильника вымской культуры перми вычегодской* XI—XIV вв.

The article is devoted to the archaeological and mineralogical analysis of metal products from burial No. 59 from the Kokpomyag burial ground of the Vym culture in Vychegda Permian, dating from the mid-12th to the first half of the 13th century. The chronological framework of the burial is determined, a description of the grave goods is given, and imported silver jewelry from the Perm Kama region and Volga Bulgaria is found. Using analytical SEM, 13 artifacts of copper, bronze, brass and silver composition, the phase and chemical composition of the objects have been studied in detail. The results of the research indicate that Perm foundry workers from Vychegda possessed not only the technology of bronze foundry production, but also silver jewelry making.

Elementary Teachers Designing Culturally Grounded Cases for Preservice Teachers: A Process for Reciprocal Learning

Connecting university methods courses and teacher daily practice is a persistent challenge in teacher education. Another challenge is preparing teachers to enact equitable instruction that meets the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. We take on these challenges by supporting practicing elementary teachers to design case-based teaching scenarios for preservice teachers that engage them with enacting culturally grounded mathematics and science instruction. We draw on data from workshops with teachers to illustrate how the design process elevates teachers’ voices while also supporting their own learning. Workshop features that proved powerful for teachers included collaborating with colleagues, offering and receiving peer feedback, and working with a table describing key features of culturally grounded pedagogy in mathematics and science.

Цветные и благородные металлы в погребении № 115 кокпомъягского могильника вымской культуры: археологический и археолого-минералогические аспекты

The paper discusses the results of archeological and archeomineralogical analyses of items made of non-ferrous and precious metals from burial No. 115 of the Kokpomyag burial ground of the Vym culture of the Vychegda Perm, dating back to the XI–XIV centuries. It includes a general characteristics of the burial ground, burial No. 115, a description of bronze and silver items, and the results of experimental studies of these items using a complex of modern mineralogical and geochemical methods. The results obtained indicate that local bronze casters possessed sophisticated technologies for the production of a variety of tin-copper and tin-silver alloys.

Mistakes in Language Policy as a Factor in the Collapse of the Soviet Union

This article analyses the evolution of language policy in the former Soviet Union with reference to documentary sources and its relationship with national policy and the Constitution. The rapid changes in the national policy of the USSR, starting with the idea of full equality of all nations and the right to self-determination, with subsequent changes towards the rapprochement of peoples, influenced the language policy, which evolved from multilingualism to bilingualism with an emphasis on the Russian language. It is important to note that the Russian language did not have a clear legal status in the USSR Constitution, unlike the national languages, which were enshrined in the constitutions and language laws of the Soviet republics. The Russian language mainly spread through administrative decrees, which led to negative consequences such as manipulation of language issues by local nationalists and the emergence of national conflicts, and influenced the process of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Compared to the modern European Union, where English dominates over other languages, the USSR represented a different version of language coexistence and a different language policy. This emphasizes the importance of finding a balance between the unity and diversity of languages and cultures of nations. The lack of a clear position on multilingualism and manipulation of the national sense of language as an indicator of identity contributed to tensions and aroused all kinds of emotions, thus provoking conflicts on cultural and national grounds.

“Hurdles” or “lubricants”: Petty corruption and Chinese migrants in Africa

AbstractDrawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana and China between 2016 and 2022, this paper provides a sociological analysis of how new Chinese migrants in Ghana, and more generally in Sub‐Saharan Africa, navigate their social and economic integration into the host society by dealing with petty corruption in everyday life. This article examines how similarities and discrepancies in corruption norms contribute to “cultural matching” and cultural conflicts in Sino‐African encounters, as well as the coping strategies and social‐cultural techniques the migrants develop to navigate their relationship with local bureaucracy. My findings demonstrate that for migrants within the Global South, corruption in the sending and receiving regions is likely to be rooted in different politico‐economic structures and cultural grounds. Conflicting understandings of corruption can pose challenges to migrants' initial adaptation in the host society. However, as the migrants develop a proper “cultural toolkit,” engagement in corruption and rent‐seeking activities may provide a “cultural matching” interface that facilitates the rapid integration of new migrants into the local market and society. This study provides new insights into our understanding of bureaucracy in international migration, corruption, and migration settlement, as well as the sociocultural negotiation of corruption codes and norms in cross‐cultural encounters.

Comparative Analysis of Gender Based Violence Knowledge and Attitudes among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Youths in Zimbabwe

This study sought to investigate Knowledge and attitudes of gender based violence among HIV-positive and HIV-negative youths in Zimbabwe. A cross-sectional mixed method research design was employed in the study. This study used random sampling approach to select respondents. The general youth population was sampled from the general population, while Youths living with HIV (YLHIV) was sampled from clinic records. This study was conducted in three provinces in Zimbabwe that are Matabeleland South, Harare and Manicaland. The study administered 600 questionnaires, conducted four focus group discussions. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 25) was used to analyse quantitative information while, FGD data was analysed using content analysis and Nvivo Version 11 software. The study shows moderate levels of knowledge about GBV with approximately 65% of the youths reported ever hearing of gender-based violence. The study findings show that YLHIV were more likely to have ever heard of gender-based violence, 71%, compared to HIV negative youths, 53%. The study shows that the majority of youths, 80%, reported radio as the major source of information about gender-based violence. Results show that Youths are more knowledgeable about physical-type violence such as sexual and physical, than soft violence such as emotional and economic. It is however encouraging to note that experience of physical abuse, albeit with some grueling reports of it, is quite low. A handful of youths, 9%, reported ever been physically abused in the past year. The study concludes that knowledge about GBV is moderate among the youth with YLHIV more likely to have ever heard of gender-based violence than HIV negative youths. Qualitative findings show that reporting on GBV was not encouraged largely on cultural grounds. Furthermore, reporting on sexual abuse for both HIV positive and negative youths was extremely hard.

A Socio-Pragmatic Study of Satire in English Political Speeches with Reference to Its Arabic Translations

Satire is a typical mode of expression that is humorously utilized with the intent of attacking or criticizing a certain person, behavior, state, or the whole community. Satire, in political genres, is informatively manifested for materializing negative ends on the part of the satire entity. Satirical expressions are oppositely devised, critically held, and morally targeted; whereof a problematic area would arouse towards the perception of their incongruous targets, the extent of their critical dimensions about their aim of moral reform. Besides, translators would face the dilemma of satirical incongruity and their moral statues would inevitably differ. Thence, five satirical texts with their translations randomly opted from the political site www. The week.com show debates political satire in English with its four renditions in Arabic. Socio- Pragmatic means for unraveling satirical mysteries are objectively culled. It is hypothesized that satire in political language comes with the intent of criticizing and ridiculing the political situation with the aim of getting reform. Bringing forth translational mechanisms for the renditions of covert intents based on cultural and communal grounds are attempted. In conclusion, most of the political satires are hostilely put forward against rather than reforming the political figures and the political situation. Most of the satirical expressions found no accurate renditions in the other language due to their discrepancy and the absence of contextual condition, paralinguistic cues and intonational patterns.

The Practice of Worshipping Goddesses in Tal Barahi and Bindhyabasini Temples: Implications for Promoting Dignity of Women

The Pokhara valley, with so many Hindu temples of goddesses, offers an unexplored relationship between the stories documented about the goddesses, their worship and women’s dignity. This paper explores two of these monuments namely Tal Barahi and Bindhyabasini with an aim to find out their latent religious existence and socio-cultural implications. Through an ethnographic inquiry and narrative analysis, it excavates the links between the stories documented, the worship practice, and the symbolic meaning that exists behind them. Along with the narratives afloat on mythical, narrative, and local cultural grounds of these religious abodes, this study focuses on the message to acknowledge, accept, and respect women, which the practice of goddess worship exudes. The paper concludes that the goddess worship is a custom that commenced as a form of veneration to their attributes of human welfare, it advocates free will and agency for women, thus bearing the possibility to be adapted as a religious tool to promote women's dignity.

Forecasting Human Rights Legacies: On Practices and Principles

AbstractAmong the many human rights and corruption concerns surrounding the Qatar 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, two ultimately rose to the fore: labor and LGBTQ+ rights. A careful look at Qatar’s response to these issues reveals a sharp and provocative contrast. Though the World Cup organizers and the Qatari Government generally resisted Western criticism of its LGBTQ+ laws and practices, both bodies adopted systemic labor reforms. To the extent these reforms remain in place several years after the event, they can be said to constitute a human rights legacy. This Article explores one angle from which to understand this contrast. It distinguishes between principles, which are deeply rooted in a country’s political, cultural, or religious belief system, and practices, which find their support in convenience, profit, and the self-interest of entrenched powers but which lack a deeper cultural, philosophical, or religious grounding. It further argues that sexual morality is best understood in the context of Qatari law and culture as a principle, while the labor abuses are mere practices. This distinction helps explain the disparate levels of reform and legacy: to the extent human rights violations are rooted in principles, the likelihood of reform and therefore of legacy is relatively low; where these violations are rooted merely in practices, the likelihood may be substantially higher. This distinction can also help to predict how future host countries/cities will respond to the human rights standards that megasport governing bodies increasingly enforce.

‘Those Ridiculous Monks’

Abstract During the Qing Dynasty (1636–1911), Chosŏn Korean tributary envoys regularly sent to Beijing normally stopped for a few days en route in Mukden (Shenyang), the Qing’s secondary capital and the largest city in Manchuria. There they visited one of the local attractions, royal Tibetan Buddhist temples, particularly the Shishengsi, the largest monastery in the city. What drew the envoys to the royal temples? How did they interact with the Mongol lamas? What was their first impression of Tibetan Buddhism – a religion at once familiar and foreign to them? Using extensive records left by the Korean envoys (Yŏnhaengnok), this paper examines the under-studied historical encounter between Korean literati and Tibetan Buddhism. Although not always consistent, the understanding and misunderstanding that the Koreans had with the religion, I argue, reflects their rather complex political and cultural attitudes towards the Qing – a regime that, in the eyes of the Koreans, simultaneously represented China and non-China. The Manchu capital, Mukden, which was closely linked with both Beijing and the Inner Asian frontiers, provided a meeting ground for different ethnic groups, cultures and values in the late Imperial period. The episode demonstrates an initial interaction between East Asia and Inner Asia. Furthermore, by examining how information about Qing Inner Asian politics was filtered and (mis)understood by Koreans, the paper challenges the popular myth that more information naturally leads to comprehensive knowledge.

The Educator Standing on Chinese Cultural Ground: A Case Study of Chinese Basic Education Pedagogical Research

Purpose Chinese Educators, referred to as Jiaoyujia (教育家) in Chinese, are esteemed individuals dedicated to education with extensive expertise in theory and practice. Despite their influential pedagogical research, they have received limited scholarly attention. This study aimed to fill the gap by focusing on Jilin Li's (李吉林) contextualized teaching research informed by Chinese educational traditions. Design/Approach/Methods A case study format was adopted, and data were thematically analyzed using NVivo 12. In light of Kuan-Hsing Chen’s “Asia as method” idea, the analysis drew particular attention to the Asian resources employed in the pedagogical studies of interest. Findings Focusing on how Educators utilize diverse educational traditions, this paper presents three functions of Chinese educational traditions applicable to Li's case. The chosen case study demonstrates that elements of Chinese educational traditions still actively inform Educators working in a modern Western-style education system. This paper analyzes how Li combined Chinese and foreign traditions and reveals an element of subjectivity with its own strengths and deficiencies. Originality/Value This study is the first to present and analyze the phenomenon of Chinese educational traditions informing pedagogical studies conducted by Chinese Educators, an influential group that scholars usually overlook in modern China.

Unexceptional neoliberalism and the future of work: constrained enterprise and worker subjectivities in the gig economy of India

The discourse and policy of ‘entrepreneurial development’ has been critical to the spread of platform-based gig work in India. Digital platforms introducing gig work for location-based services, are perceived as vital in providing opportunities for dignified work marking a break from informality and are accompanied by the state’s push towards cultivating neoliberal subjectivities of ‘self-reliance’. We examine how a discourse of entrepreneurial development and the ‘enterprising self’ underpins the structural conditions of location-based gig work, through an examination of conditions of work in the ride hailing, food delivery and beauty/spa sector, in the Delhi National Capital Region. Although gig work has been defined as fertile ground for enterprise culture to take root, we find that neoliberal subjectivities within it have not thrived. An enterprising spirit can only survive through a subversion of the platform rather than by working on it. Our findings also suggest that gig workers’ drive to earn more, and for autonomy is underpinned by social considerations, including that of survival and mobility for the self and families. Gig work, then, is not a radical break from informality, instead workers experience social and economic insecurity common to informal workforces, which is now reproduced through digital technology and the ‘unexceptional’ change of neoliberalism.

Fish in Burial Practice of the Sargat Culture Population of the Early Iron Age of the Baraba Forest-Steppe (According to the Materials of the Mound No. 51 of the Ust-Tartas Burial Ground)

Purpose. The Sargat culture fish remains are still given very little attention. The purpose of this work is to present materials that testify to the use of fish in the burial practice of the Sargat population of Baraba.Finds (artefacts). In the field season of 2022, the Toguchin team of the IAET SB RAS explored the mound no. 51 of the Ust-Tartas burial ground of the Sargat culture. Among the various artifacts found on the mound territory there were objects containing animal bones, and objects containing fish remains, as well as objects containing both animal bones and fish remains.Methods. Preparation of the osteological collection of fish remains was carried out in 2022–2023 using a cameral processing method. The collection contains mainly scales, bones of the visceral part of the skeleton of the head, bones of the skull. Fragments of the axial skeleton (vertebrae, Weberian apparatus, urostyle) and pharyngeal teeth appear in a smaller number. In the pocess of the collection formation, it was found that the best preservation of samples is ensured by materials that have not been preliminary washed and cleaned: the bone structures are less brittle. Therefore, fragments of the fish skeleton were separated from the soil in the laboratory.Results. For the most part, accumulations of fish remains are represented by large specimens of older age groups (from 7+ years, mostly 10+ and more). The identified species composition of fish in samples of the Early Iron Age includes representatives of the family Cyprinidae (ide Leuciscus idus, goldfish Carassius gibelio) and family Percidae (perch Perca fluviatilis). In addition to the listed species, remains of the family Acipenseridae (sterlet Acipenser ruthenus) and the family Cyprinidae (golden crucian carp C. Carassius) were noted in the earlier objects. Object 10 stands out: it is a butt containing not only tools and animal bones, but also fish remains. For the first time, the fact of fish use in the funeral rite of the Sargatians was revealed. The fish remains in the mound testify that the population of the Sargat culture who created this site practiced fishing along with their main occupation – cattle breeding.Conclusion. Materials of the mound no. 51 of the Ust-Tartas burial ground, containing fish remains, are an example of the local population adaptation to the natural environment. The Tai tract was a natural oasis, which not only provided a forage base for livestock but also ensured an easy catch of fish. Human adaptation to the natural conditions in the Baraba region was quite successful, as evidenced by the fact that fish was a part of the funeral rite along with products of animal origin. It was often included in butts in some objects, which correlates with sacred actions.

Determination of the Bow Winding Material’s Nature from the Burial Ground of the Scythian Time Saryg-Bulun (Central Tuva)

The results of studying the bow-winding material from mound 2, burial 5, at the Saryg-Bulun burial ground (Central Tuva, Russia) of the Aldy-Bel culture dated to the end of the 7th–beginning of the 6th centuries BC are presented. According to the first publication and the assumptions of archaeologists, the winding could be of animal origin; however, in recent years, this argument has been challenged due to similar finds of plant origin. Studies using infrared (IR) spectroscopy and chromatography show that the winding material for the arms of the ancient bow was fish skin.

THE ARTIST AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY: THE FEATURES OF PETRO LEVCHENKO’S ARTISTIC STYLE

The article is dedicated to the little-studied creative work of the Ukrainian artist Petro Levchenko, and namely, to the identification of historical and cultural grounds for the quality changes in the stylistic features of his artistic manner, beginning from earlier stages of his formation, to the period of his mature mastery. The present study explored and analyzed the main artistic courses and styles of the period (end of 19th – beginning of 20th centuries), when the artist’s views on the aims and tasks of painting art underwent certain transformation, and it directly influenced the evolution of the master’s artistic search, his artistic “handwriting”. In this work certain parallels were made between the personality traits and human fate of the artist (based on the many memoires of Petro Levchenko’s life path) and his acceptance of the latest trends in the artistic life of the age contemporary to him, valid conclusions are made regarding the connection of his personal qualities and creative preferences with susceptibility to new trends in art and the new philosophy of impressionism. The article explores all the genre richness of Petro Levchenko’s heritage – the landscapes, the plein air etudes, the interior paintings. The analysis of technical, compositional, coloristic characteristics of Petro Levchenko’s creations, which were the most distinctive for understanding the evolution of the artist’s style, allowed to demonstrably confirm the conclusions made in the article. As a result of the research, which was conducted in this article, the unique style characteristics of Petro Levchenko’s art were discovered, as well as his innovative accomplishments in painting, which, in the aggregate, have the traits of an artistic phenomenon in the culture of Ukraine. The author of the article emphasizes the importance of the perspective of studying Petro Levchenko’s works, as it is a phenomenon which belongs to the Ukrainian artistic heritage as well as to the world one, and demonstrates the connection and interpenetration of Ukrainian and worldwide tendencies in the artistic culture.