Cultural History Research Articles

Multicultural Islamic Religious Education Learning to Build Religious Harmony

This research analyzes the Multicultural Islamic Religious Education Learning (MIREL) at SMKN 1 Poso in building religious harmony as a conflict resolution. Conflict socio-religious become a critical problem regarding diversity in schools and society. Meanwhile, Islamic religious education provided in schools does not prioritize a multicultural perspective, which includes the practices of different religions and other cultures. This study uses qualitative field research with a case study approach and data analysis, according to Miles and Huberman. Results show that this school carries out the MIREL formally-textual and informally-textual. Learning formally-textual is held through three stages. At the beginning stage, teachers contextualize the values of example and self-control through exemplary stories from the prophets. In the main stage, the teachers integrate the values of tolerance, harmony, democracy, unity, concern, and justice by presenting material that includes faith, morals, jurisprudence, and the history of Islamic culture. Teachers instill multicultural values of cooperation and responsibility in the closing stage by assigning group tasks. The school holds informally textual learning through the Religious Saturday program collaboration in cross-cultural, socio-religious, and humanitarian activities. This research has implications for strengthening the MIREL in schools to build sustainable religious harmony among students and society in the post-conflict area.

Honour, Harmony and the King of Outspokenness. The Use of Stage Plays and Festive Culture in Fifteenth-Century Flemish Coastal Communities

ABSTRACT The history of fifteenth-century theatre in the Low Countries has long been studied primarily as the history of culture, literature and theatre. It has now attracted the attention of social historians and anthropologists and is being studied as an urban history of corporations, fraternities and chambers of rhetoric. That creative and art-loving activities in the Low Countries also frequently occurred in the fifteenth-century coastal communities, which largely comprised fishermen and sailors,, usually escapes the attention of historians. I argue these communities integrated drama into a survival strategy motivated by the spatial, economic and sociocultural context in which they were living.

The Effectiveness of the Discovery Learning Model on the Quality of Islamic Cultural History Learning

Learning the history of Islamic culture can train students to think chronologically and foster nationalism in planning the future based on past experiences. This research aims to test the effectiveness of the discovery learning model in improving the quality of Islamic Cultural History (SKI) learning and determine learning models that can produce quality SKI learning. The research uses a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental method, involving an experimental class that applies the discovery learning model and a control class that uses the conventional lecture method. Data sources were taken from the pretest and post-test in both classes. The research was conducted at Madrasah Aliyah Ibadul Ghofur with a sample of class 10 MIA 1 students as the experimental class and class 10 MIA 2 as the control class. The research showed that the discovery learning model effectively improved the quality of SKI learning, with the average post-test score for the experimental class (86.91) being higher than the control class (72.50). The N-gain score measurement shows that the experimental class is in the practical category (70.49), while the control class is ineffective category (35.10). This research concludes that the discovery learning model has also been proven to increase student activity and motivation in learning compared to conventional methods. In conclusion, there is a significant difference in the quality of SKI learning between the control and experimental classes, where the discovery learning method is more effective in improving the quality of learning.

Resource nationalism: the intersection of politics and economics

Resource nationalism has a complex economic, political, and cultural history and reality. The evolution of the supply and demand structure of the global mineral metal market influences it. It is closely linked to the “economic-political” system within resource-rich countries. We analyze the ‘economic-political’ logic of resource nationalist behavior using the two-tier game theory. We examine 261 cases of resource nationalism since 1990 and test the theoretical hypotheses using quantitative techniques. The results show that rising mineral prices are the main trigger for contemporary resource nationalism. However, ideology, institutional quality, social climate, and economic dependence within resource countries play a non-negligible role. Resource wealth dependence in host countries makes it difficult for policymakers to escape national resource interventions. We argue that (1) The global economic trading system imbalance is the root of resource nationalism. (2) Resource nationalism is an endeavor by resource-rich countries to seek entitlements from mineral resource endowments. (3) Resource nationalism is not a zero-sum competition in the national economic trading system. In the face of the potential risks posed by resource nationalism to the global supply of minerals, the relevant interest groups should have sufficient strategic reserves to cope with the possible game of interests.

‘The Biggest Aspidistra in the World’

During the period known as the ‘Phoney War,’ the comedic song ‘The Biggest Aspidistra in the World’ became a significant cultural reference point in the UK, along with its singer, the renowned Gracie Fields. This was a notable achievement given the shifting public tastes within the country during a period of widespread uncertainty and transformation. However, despite the song’s wartime popularity, it has received little scholarly attention. This paper traces the rise and fall of ‘The Biggest Aspidistra’ in the UK during the Phoney War, exploring its impact through an analysis of the national symbols in its lyrics, its comedic delivery by Fields, and its collaborative musical approach. By bridging musicology and cultural history, this paper clarifies the importance of comprehensive song analysis to Second World War studies and underscores the role of humour in bolstering wartime morale.

Recognition of Street Landscape Patterns in Kunming City Based on Intelligent Decision Algorithm and Regional Cultural Expression

The integration of intelligent decision-making algorithms with urban cultural expression is becoming a hot topic in both academic and practical fields for exploring urban street landscapes. Exploring the application strategies of intelligent decision-making algorithms and regional cultural expression in street landscape pattern recognition and innovative design is a key step. The single layout of urban street construction, cultural deficiency, ecological imbalance, and low resident participation seriously constrain the overall quality improvement of the city. To address this dilemma, this study delved into Kunming City and selected the ten “most beautiful streets”, such as Dianchi Road, for research. By using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, a comprehensive evaluation system covering multiple dimensions, such as the street layout, plant landscape, and historical culture, was constructed to analyze the street landscape of Kunming. The research results indicate that the top four roads in terms of weight evaluation scores are Cuihu Ring Road, Jiaochang Middle Road, Qingnian Road, and Beijing Road, with values of 0.2076, 0.1531, 0.1274, and 0.1173. The weight reveals that each street has its unique landscape factors, such as the profound cultural heritage of Cuihu Ring Road and the beautiful plant landscape of Jiaochang Middle Road. Further analysis also reveals the close relationship between various factors in the evaluation model, emphasizing the importance of supplementing material and cultural elements in street landscape design. The significance of this study goes beyond a single analysis of the street landscape in Kunming City. Drawing a regional street landscape pattern map sets an example for other cities to build distinctive, eco-friendly, culturally rich, and highly humanized street spaces, providing reference and inspiration. More importantly, this study promotes the application and development of intelligent decision-making algorithms in the field of urban landscapes. Future research will further optimize algorithms to improve their adaptability and accuracy in complex environments.

Exploring the Temporal, Spatial and Characteristic Trends and Key Influencing Factors of Tianjin’s Industrial Heritage

Tianjin is currently in the phase of urban stock renewal, yet its industrial heritage encounters significant challenges, including constrained spatial development, a misalignment between industrial progress and the reuse of industrial heritage, and an understated cultural representation. This study utilized geospatial analysis methods, including kernel density analysis, standard deviation ellipse analysis, and gravity migration model analysis, to elucidate the distribution characteristics of Tianjin’s industrial heritage across temporal, spatial, and typological dimensions. Moreover, a geographic detector was employed to assess the impact of various factors on the development of Tianjin’s industrial heritage, ultimately elucidating the correlations between existing challenges and objective patterns. The conclusion of this paper presents three strategic approaches for the renewal of industrial heritage, emphasizing historical culture, environmental space, and sustainable development. These strategies are designed to provide a solid research foundation for protecting and revitalizing Tianjin’s industrial heritage resources.

Accepting the decay of plastic artifacts in museums: pasts and futures surfacing in a life preserver from sunken MS Estonia

ABSTRACT This is a case study of a deformed life preserver originating from the ferryboat MS Estonia that sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994. In this post qualitatively positioned research article, I argue that transformed plastic is an active agent of both the decision-making and interpretation of a museum object made of plastic. This article contributes in a new way to the discussion of how museums of cultural history could manage deteriorating plastic objects. So far, a scientific materialist approach, guided by research in conservation science, has emphasised the need for special conditions to safeguard rapidly deteriorating plastic artefacts for future generations. However, the agency of deteriorating plastic does not only call for conserving the plastic material ‘forever’, but it also requires letting go of the ideal of minimising the further degradation of plastic.

Surveying the Types of Tables in Ancient Greek Texts

Abstract We may take tables for granted. However, due to a variety of factors, tables were a rarity in the history of ancient Greek culture, used only limitedly in very special contexts and generally in a non-systematic way, except in astronomy. In this paper I present the main types of tables that can be found in ancient Greek texts: non-ruled columnar lists (accounts and other types of informal tables), ruled columnar lists (mostly astronomical tables), and symmetric tables (mainly Pythagorean displays of numbers).

Sociocultural and Historical Perspectives on Diversity in Spain

The image of Spain in the 21st century is defined by the coexistence of the descendants of different peoples who have arrived in the region over the past centuries and decades. Since prehistoric times, the history of the Iberian Peninsula has been marked by interactions between the groups that settled there; sometimes these relationships have involved a certain type of subordination and domination (for example, conqueror versus conquered), and at other times they have been characterised by the peaceful or conflictual coexistence of different societies. Thus, immigration, coexistence and assimilation have always been fundamental to the social and cultural life of Spain. To this day, cultural historians and philosophers have not been able to agree on whether the diversity of society has been an advantage or a disadvantage for the development of Spain. In this article, I will examine the approaches to this social and cultural diversity in different historical periods and the basic arguments used by scholars and scientists to support their beliefs. In analysing the issue, we look at prominent works and authors in Spanish cultural history, searching for and comparing possible arguments. We try to answer the question to what extent the search for homogeneity or diversity has been part of the Spanish self-definition in a given historical period.

Examining the “unearthly archives”: Spiritualism, Psychical Research, and Psychometric Material Culture in the US and Britain

Abstract This article examines the intersection of material culture and the occult by exploring the practice of psychometry, drawing parallels between this esoteric mode of object interpretation and more conventional approaches. Coined by physician Joseph Rodes Buchanan in the 1840s, psychometry—meaning “soul or mind measurement”—is the ability of “sensitive” individuals, often women, to read an object’s electrical vibration and glean information about its history, as well as that of its owner, living or deceased. Adopted by spiritualists and psychical researchers in the United States and Britain, psychometry mediated between humans and objects, and humans and their own mortality, in the decades spanning the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing on material culture studies, consumer studies, and histories of spiritualism and psychical research, I contextualize and compare firsthand accounts of psychometric readings with more traditional approaches to object-based inquiry to contend that psychometry is a mode of affective design historical practice, a speculative design history that relies on senses other than vision, and knowledge more intuitive than rational.

Digital Transformation for Cultural Sustainability: The Bolshoi Theatre Experience

This paper studies the Bolshoi Theatre's digital transformation in cultural sustainability, focusing on innovation management and technology utilization, explores the critical need for cultural institutions to overcome hurdles and capitalize on opportunities provided by modern technologies, investigates the Bolshoi Theatres strategic ways of managing its digital transformation while preserving and improving its cultural history, its historical relevance and its digital projects, to reveal managerial obstacles, opportunities, and deep influences on both internal techniques and audience reviews. Key findings highlight the transformative significance of innovation management in changing market involvement via virtual performances, virtual reality reviews, and augmented reality programs. The study also emphasizes the need for knowing usage, as indicated by creating a centralized digital archive and combining device learning algorithms for customized target market interactions. This research contributes insights into managing cultural institutions in the digital age, with broader implications for strategic use of digital technology in cultural management.

Man Creates Culture, Culture Creates Man: The Reciprocal Relationship Between Humanity and Culture in the Life and Thought of Saint John Paul II

The life and thought of Karol Wojtyła/John Paul II embody and elaborate the reciprocal relationship between humanity and culture. As historian and custodian of faith and culture, John Paul II provided a conceptual understanding of the mutually formative influences of person and community. Polish faith and culture were the cradle and crucible that formed Wojtyła. In return, Wojtyła bestowed a legacy of liberty to Polish faith and culture. As prophet and pastor of faith and culture, John Paul II continues to challenge humanity to faithful personal formation and interpersonal transmission of this heritage for the sake of future generations.

Tools for the Portuguese contemporary art market

In the past two decades, the art market has seen significant growth, with scholars and academics across the globe showing newfound interest in its potential as an interdisciplinary field. This has led to a prolific number of publications, particularly through the lens of globalization. However, a dearth of studies from regions outside the main axes remains, despite the potential for such studies to challenge globalization. This article investigates the primary art market of Portugal, located in southwestern Europe, which borrows ideas from the Global South due to similarities with regions from outside Europe and North America. We apply this concept to the features from a country, namely Portugal that is considered semi-peripheral and marginalized within dominant narratives. We emphasize the permanent tension between the local actuation and the global aspirations of the players in this market. Using literature published on the subject, reports, and interviews, we systematize the mechanisms of activation of the primary market; the launch of art fairs; the emergence of contemporary art galleries, museums, and collectors; and the discourse surrounding the recognition of the global art scene. Despite being a small-scale, semi-peripheral market, a willingness exists to internationalize. Furthermore, in addition to its rich cultural history and substantial investments, mainly from the private sector, the market has attracted international audiences from the artistic milieu and thereby contributed to the heterogeneity observed in the Global South.

Football and Black Identity: Lifestyle Construction in A Voz da Raça in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1933

In 1930s São Paulo, Brazil, amid shifting social conditions, the black population, bolstered by movements like the Frente Negra Brasileira (Brazilian Black Front), sought social integration. Central to their efforts was the newspaper A Voz da Raça, which promoted sports events, particularly football, where black clubs gained visibility. However, racial and social segregation persisted in many clubs due to eugenics and hygiene ideologies. This study examines how A Voz da Raça portrayed lifestyle through football. Drawing on Cultural History and Bourdieu’s concept of ‘field’, it analyzes power dynamics in football and its representations. The newspaper emphasized morality, physicality, and patriotism, aligning with hygienist ideals to foster disciplined, organized lifestyles and a sense of national belonging among black individuals.

A Mixed Methods Study of Ethnic Identity and Mental Health Recovery Processes in Minoritized Young Adults.

Ethnic identity development is associated with positive mental health in young adults from ethnic minority groups. How a sense of belonging and attachment to one's ethnic culture is related to personal mental health recovery remains unexplained. This study examines the experiences of ethnic minority young adults in the U.S. to understand the aspects of culture and identity development that are relevant to their recovery processes. Young adults who were living with chronic mental disorders were recruited from four rehabilitation programs. Interviews produced quantitative and qualitative data. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used to integrate the qualitative findings from a sub-group of young adults (n = 44) with the results from the quantitative study. Directed content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data, and the integrated data were analyzed in joint displays. The prominent themes characterizing ethnic identity development in personal recovery were (a) cultural history, traditions, and values; (b) mental illness stigma within the ethnic community; and (c) bias and discrimination in mental health services. Young adults with high ethnic identity development reported having more support from family, but they also described experiences with stigma and racism. The integrated results suggest that ethnic identity development promotes mental health recovery in minoritized young adults through social support and improved well-being and resilience. Experiences of intersectional stigma and structural racism associated with ethnic identity can interfere with self-determination and access to care among minoritized Hispanic/Latine, Black, and multiracial young adults in the U.S.

The Role of Cultural Heritage in The Development of Tourism and Some Cultural Industries in Vietnam

Many nations now view the cultural industry as a significant role in the country's cultural life and as a vital economic sector supporting sustainable development. Vietnam has an affluent cultural history with diverse cultural identities and is valuable in every way. The development of various cultural industries benefits greatly from the resources provided by cultural heritages. In order to elucidate the significance of cultural heritage in the growth of particular cultural industries, such as music, film, and cultural tourism, we employ synthetic analysis techniques and field research in this article. According to the research findings, cultural heritages are becoming important resources for the growth of cultural tourism, giving travellers motivation to travel, learn, and carry out research. Cultural heritage also provides resources and inspiration for music and film production, meeting the public's needs for cultural entertainment. The article makes inferences about the value of cultural heritage; development constraints, and potential solutions for preserving and enriching cultural heritage within the cultural industry. It also provides ways to improve human resources in the fields of music, film, and cultural tourism.

Вклад Н.И. Воробьева в районирование этнографических групп чувашей (по данным этнографии)

N.I. Vorobyev made a great contribution to the comparative study of the history of settlement and traditional culture of the ethnographic groups of the Chuvash, their interethnic interaction with the contacted ethnoses. He identified three ethnographic complexes based on the features, both those that had archaic signs and newly formed ones. Regarding the history of the formation of ethnographic groups, the researcher argued that the population of the north-east of the Chuvash Volga region perceived more southern Turkic influences in their everyday life, began to differ in language and way of life from the north-western population, although they retained commonality with it in the main elements of language, culture and lifestyle. His conclusion that the main ethnographic groups of the Chuvash, as he considered the upper Viryal and lower Anatri, were finally formed during the 15th century in the northern regions of Chuvashia as a result of the rapprochement of the indigenous population of these areas with newcomers from the south, cannot be considered justified. The work of ethnographic expeditions in the Chuvash regions in the late 1940s and early 1950s, she showed that the archaic complex was most characteristic of the costume of the middle-aged Chuvash Anat enchi, although N.I. Vorobyev considered them an average or mixed ethnographic group. In general, he represented that group as part of the Anatri, who changed their way of life under the influence of borrowing from the Tatars. The author’s team, under the guidance of the scholar, developed in detail the classification of the Chuvash into groups and subgroups based on folk costume. N.I. Vorobyev for the first time identified three subgroups as part of anatri. The border zone between Anatri and anat yenchi, which was not clearly defined by its predecessors, in particular G.I. Komissarov, N.I. Vorobyev, was also not resolved. The riding costume was formed as a result of interaction with the mountain Mari people, although many features that unite it primarily with the anat Enchi costume were not replaced in it. The authors emphasise that the striking external differences that were recorded in the riding Chuvash northwestern subgroups and grassroots chuvashki hirti. They did not violate the common cultural community of the Chuvash people. It should be noted that the task of a more detailed substantiation of cultural and linguistic areas at the level of subgroups within the ethnographic groups of the Chuvash, divided into four subgroups in the upper zone and three in the middle and lower ones, unresolved by the expeditions of the late 1940s – early 1950s, remains relevant.

Eighteenth-Century Ukraine: New Perspectives on Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History, by Zenon Kohut, Volodymyr Sklokin, and Frank E. Sysyn, with Larisa Bilous, eds.

Eighteenth-Century Ukraine: New Perspectives on Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History, by Zenon Kohut, Volodymyr Sklokin, and Frank E. Sysyn, with Larisa Bilous, eds.

Exploring the Adaptive Conservation and Development of Chongqing's Historic Buildings

Historical and cultural heritage is an essential part of human civilisation. Nowadays, in the progress of a society that emphasises sustainable development, the simultaneous modernisation and preservation of historical and cultural heritage has become a criterion for the degree of urban advancement. However, in China's large-scale urban renewal and renovation, many old urban structures and historical relics are being submerged by the pace of modernisation. Therefore, we need to strengthen the awareness of protection, while exploring deeply under the conditions of market economy to respond to the historical preservation issues in the development of ancient towns in a flexible and effective way. In tourism development, new ancient towns with traditional market style can be reconstructed to integrate them with modern life. This not only promotes the development of urban characteristics, but also injects new vitality into traditional culture and enriches the historical connotation of the city. However, some worrying situations of historical and cultural preservation have also emerged. For example, some people regard historical culture as a cash cow and blindly carry out temporary imitation of antique commodity blocks, leading to the chaos of cultural landscape; some people carry out one-sided and isolated protection, which makes the historical buildings incompatible with the modern life and so on. Therefore, there is an urgent need for domestic academics to explore effective methods for the conservation and utilisation of historic buildings, so as to ensure that the conservation and development of historic buildings can embark on a healthy path.