Ethnic Cultural Backgrounds Research Articles

From Avoidance to Competence? How the Identity Project Inspires Teachers to Engage with Ethnicity and Culture with Their Students

ABSTRACT Multicultural education highlights the need to promote students’ diverse identities, recognizing their ethnic-cultural backgrounds as resources in their teaching. However, most teachers perceive they lack competence and learning material to this end. Research suggests the Identity Project may be an appropriate tool to resolve some of these challenges. We explore both teachers’ and students’ narratives about teaching issues of ethnicity and culture in multicultural classrooms centering on potential changes from before to after teachers delivered the IP. We conducted one focus group interview with seven teachers before they were trained and implemented the IP in their classrooms, and individual interviews with them after they had completed the intervention. Data from three focus groups with 16 students from the same schools, and individual interviews with 16 other students that received the intervention are included to add perspective to the teachers’ narratives. A reflexive thematic analysis resulted in four themes: From avoidance to embracing the diversity topics, from not addressing to affirming student identities, teachers pushing for inclusion (or exclusion), using cultural background as a learning/teaching tool. Our findings imply that the IP can be a tool for multicultural education that enhances teachers’ competence in supporting students’ identity development.

Understanding The Social Drivers of Liveability in Osogbo, Nigeria

The study investigated the elements that affect the liveability of Osogbo, the Osun metropolis. Liveability entails safe, socially cohesive, inclusive and environmental sustainable urban space. Previous studies on liveability have failed to consider the fact that social factors can have significant influence on liveability. Therefore, this paper examined the influence of social factors on liveability of Osogbo, Nigeria. Purposive specimens were employed to determine and test one hundred and nine (109) residents spanning the two urban government areas in the metropolis. A questionnaire with a sample framework was introduced to obtain statistics from tested residents. Relative Importance Index (RII), 8 x 8 correlation matrix, and factor analysis were used to configure the data that were gathered. There were eight (8) main components found to be altering the liveability of the city. In varied order of significance by the RII, they are Improvishment, crime, ethnicity, norms and values, social, interactions, culture, disability, and religion. The correlation matrix indicated that all other positive relationships were found between the variables except for ethnicity and crime which correlated negatively with one another. The suitability of the variables loaded for the analysis was verified by Bartlett's Test of Sphericity with a p-value of 0.001 and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sample suitability (KMO) value of 0.647. A conclusion is reached that poverty alleviation efforts with deliberate policies of inclusion by the government and massive public awareness programme to sensitize the residents on the need to consider their neighbours irrespective of their race or tribe, ethnic origin, religious leaning, social status, and cultural background as brothers this will significantly help in addressing social challenges of liveability within the metropolitan area.

Between civic virtue and vice: Self-censorship of political views on social media among Norwegian young adults

Abstract While small groups leverage disproportionate visibility online, oftentimes resorting to hostile language, the use of social media for political expression by the majority of Norwegian users has been theorised in terms of lurking, inhibition, and self-restraint. Drawing from qualitative in-depth interviews with young adults of different political orientations and ethnic-cultural backgrounds in Oslo, Norway, I take an abductivehermeneutic approach to analyse their rationale for self-censorship. The findings reveal shared frustrations and risks that explain the prevalence of lurking yet point to different coping mechanisms and expression strategies adopted by the respondents. While progressives tend to internalise their reactions by withdrawing and avoiding confrontations, conservatives more often appeal to self-censorship on the presumption of actual censorship. Different styles of media use call into question divergent ideals of democratic theory, setting self-expressive rationality at odds with deliberative norms of citizenship. I argue that this can help explain increasing perceived political polarisation and disconnection tendencies.

The Role of Social Studies Teachers in Strengthening Pluralist Attitudes in Post-Covid-19 Students in Indonesia

In this study it was carried out due to the reduced feeling of mutual respect and tolerance by fellow students peers who have different religious and ethnic cultural backgrounds as a result of distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. So than therefore, the role of social science teachers is needed to strengthen students’ pluralism attitudes. This research aims to identify and describe the role of social science teachers in strengthening pluralism students, what elements support and what is the role of the social science teacher, and what elements hinder implementation that matter. The research was conducted at State Junior High School 3 Blitar. The method used in this study is the method qualitative descriptive with data collection techniques using in-depth interviews and observation. Result of This research shows that the role of the social science teacher has been quite good in educating and motivating students to strengthen attitude of pluralism among students. There are several things that social science teachers do to form a mutual attitude respect and tolerance among students. This is also supported by several factors including the school environment conducive so that students can directly learn how to behave pluralism. But besides that there is factors inhibiting social science teachers in strengthening pluralism attitudes, including limited study hours due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as changes to returning to school after Covid-19 and this has restricted activities in schools.

Overdose mortality rates for opioids and stimulant drugs are substantially higher in men than in women: state-level analysis.

Drug overdoses from opioids and stimulants are a major cause of mortality in the United States. It is unclear if there are stable sex differences in overdose mortality for these drugs across states, whether these differ across the lifespan, and if so, whether they can be accounted for by different levels of drug misuse. This was a state-level analysis of epidemiological data on overdose mortality, across 10-year age bins (age range: 15-74), using the CDC WONDER platform for decedents in the United States in 2020-1. The outcome measure was rate of overdose death (per 100,000) for: synthetic opioids (e.g., fentanyl), heroin, psychostimulants with potential for misuse (e.g., methamphetamine), and cocaine. Multiple linear regressions controlled for ethnic-cultural background, household net worth, and sex-specific rate of misuse (from NSDUH, 2018-9). For all these drug categories, males had greater overall overdose mortality than females, after controlling for rates of drug misuse. The mean male/female sex ratio of mortality rate was relatively stable across jurisdictions: synthetic opioids (2.5 [95% CI, 2.4-7]), heroin, (2.9 [95% CI, 2.7-3.1], psychostimulants (2.4 [95% CI, 2.3-5]), and cocaine (2.8 [95% CI, 2.6-9]). With data stratified in 10-year age bins, the sex difference generally survived adjustment (especially in the 25-64 age range). Results indicate that males are significantly more vulnerable than females to overdose deaths caused by opioid and stimulant drugs, taking into account differing state-level environmental conditions and drug misuse levels. These results call for research into diverse biological, behavioral, and social factors that underlie sex differences in human vulnerability to drug overdose.

Work values and cultural background: a comparative analysis of work values of Chinese and British engineers in the UK.

In literature of work-related values and attitudes, it is often argued that different work attitudes could be attributed to different ethnic origins and cultural backgrounds. This perspective article argues that we should avoid a deterministic argument of cultural essentialism and explore how ethnic differences in work values were formed in specifical socioeconomic and cultural contexts. To support this argument, this research conducted in-depth interviews to explore the mechanisms underlying the formation of British and Chinese immigrant engineers' work values in three dimensions: intrinsic-extrinsic, masculine-feminine, uncertainty avoidance-entrepreneurial risk. The main finding in this paper is that the different social and cultural milieus where both ethnic groups grew up to a large extent contributed to their different work habitus, which further resulted in their different work values. To conclude, this paper contributes to the literature by rejecting the cultural essentialism, which links individual work attitudes with their ethnic/cultural backgrounds in a "deterministic" way.

Exploring the Professional Identity Formation of Racial/Ethnic Minoritized Physician Assistants.

The purpose of this article is to (1) describe how professional identity intersects with physician assistants' (PAs') and PA students' racial and ethnic identities and cultural backgrounds; (2) examine how sociohistorical contexts shape professional identity in racial/ethnic minoritized PAs and PA students; and (3) identify the role of PA program administrators and faculty to address the needs of racial/ethnic minoritized PAs and PA students. This study draws on elements of constructivist grounded theory to investigate the professional identity formation (PIF) experiences of 45 PA students and alumni from 3 institutions. Participants were recruited using a snowball method and identified as 23 Black/African American, 12 Hispanic/Latino, 6 mixed race, and 4 Native American/Indigenous. Interview data were analyzed using sociocultural theory as an analytic framework. The results suggest that participants felt that their racial/ethnic identity was an important part of their identity, yet many indicated they experienced frequent micro- and macroaggressions from fellow students, faculty, lecturers, administrators, preceptors, patients, and supervisors. Additionally, they indicated that they need more support from their programs than what is currently provided. The results of this study suggest that social experiences before, during, and after PA training strongly influence PIF development in racial/ethnic minoritized PAs. Administrators and professional PA organizations should evaluate methods to support those individuals who identify as a racial/ethnic minority throughout their careers.

Participation in extracurricular leisure activities among primary school pupils: Effects of ethnic-cultural background, gender and school diversity

Participation in sports and other leisure activities can be an effective tool to enhance feelings of societal belongingness and inclusion among minority group members. Through a survey administered to 8,444 pupils, the present study compared minority pupils’ (Middle Eastern and Eastern European youth) and majority pupils’ involvement in a broad array of sport activities, other (non-sports) extracurricular leisure activities, and youth organizations. Corroborating previous research, our study revealed lower participation rates for minority (compared to majority) pupils for all categories of leisure activities under study. For sport activities, this gap was particularly pronounced for female (compared to male) pupils. Furthermore, school diversity had an invariable negative effect on participation rates in all activity categories. A noteworthy finding was that the difference in participation between majority and ethnic-cultural minority groups were sports dependent. We also obtained definite differences in participation rates between the Middle Eastern and Eastern European groups.

МІЖКУЛЬТУРНА КОМУНІКАЦІЯ В ЕСЕЇСТИЦІ ВАСИЛЯ МАХНА

The article deals with the phenomenon of intercultural communication in the essays of Ukrainian writer Vasyl Makhno, ways of its expression and textual representation in the author`s works with help of imagological method. During last decades the problem of intercultural communication has become relevant in literary scientific thought in connection with the phenomenon of globalization, in particular in the context of imagological studies focused on the opposition of «own» and «other». The scientific research analyzes the functioning of the intercultural communication models in the writer's textual representation, highlights the main ones, investigates the ways of interaction between representatives of different ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds during the exchange of messages. The article also focuses on the study of the multicultural space of the borderland in the Vasyl Makhno's essays, where the boundaries between «own» and «other» are blurred and intercultural communication is more pronounced and concentrated. It has been proved that in the conditions of polyphony of different ethnic groups, the process of communication, in addition to integration into each other's culture, can also be destructive, as evidenced by wars and the extermination of one nation to another. The article also examines the writer's communication as a representative of the Ukrainian ethnotype with heteroimages and cultures of «others», where the exchange of messages has a rather subjective authorial perception. The investigation also clarified the issues of intertextual intercultural communication, the emergence of stereotypes and their destruction due to the interaction of different ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds. In addition, the research focuses on the author's perception of the world through the problem of intercultural communication.

The internet’s role in promoting civic engagement in China and Singapore: A Confucian view

Abstract This paper discusses the Internet’s role in promoting civic engagement in Asian countries. China and Singapore were selected because they have similar ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds. This paper concludes that the Internet has a limited role in promoting civic engagement due to Internet censorship and people’s political attitudes, which are deeply rooted for Confucian cultural reasons. Moreover the Internet censorship does not bother people in China and Singapore. The argument presented in this paper differs from previous studies that focused only on the Internet censorship system and ignored the cultural and socio-historical dimensions. The paper argues that the cultural and socio-historical dimensions should be considered when studying censorship.

Intercultural communication in healthcare: a duel or a duet?

DUE TO WORLDWIDE MIGRATION, physicians in Europe and North America commonly encounter more patients from different ethnic origins and cultural backgrounds than did their predecessors; and this has had important implications for healthcare, not only in presenting physicians with a variety of formerly ‘exotic’ medical symptoms and diseases, but also presenting them with differences in the way patients view their needs and the expectations they bring to the clinical encounter (Kleinman et al., 1978). While the prevailing attitude of Western medicine has shifted over the last thirty years to a mostly patient-centred model, focused on shared decision-making (Cegala et al., 2000; Cecil & Killeen, 1997; Edwards et al., 2003), one may wonder how this model fits with the attitudes of patients coming from culturally different backgrounds (Kleinman, 1980; Pachter, 1994; Harmsen, 2003).

Differences in attitudes toward terrorists: Type of terrorist act, terrorist ethnicity, and observer gender and cultural background

To explore the interrelationship between terrorist acts, terrorist ethnicity, and observer gender and cultural background in Israel, we recruited 211 participants aged 19–75 years. The majority were male (63%). As for the ethnic and religious cultural background, 40% were Jewish, 40% Druze, and 20% Muslim. The participants answered questions about their demographic characteristics, read three scenarios of terrorist acts, addressed attitudes toward terrorists, and suggested the length of imprisonment. We manipulated the type of act (shooting and killing/burning religious institutions/throwing stones at cars) and terrorist ethnicity (Arab/ Jewish). The results indicate significant main effects of the manipulated variables regarding attitudes toward terrorists. Also, Muslim Arab participants expressed more negative attitudes in cases of Jewish terrorists than Arab terrorists, whereas Jewish participants expressed more negative attitudes toward Arab terrorists than Jewish terrorists. Druze participants did not differentiate between Arab and Jewish terrorists. Furthermore, in cases of Arab perpetrators, Jewish participants suggested imprisonment terms 2.4 times longer than in cases of Jewish perpetrators. The discussion addresses the findings in the context of social identity theory and dual social identification. Regarding practical implications, the findings imply the need for education and training on ethnic bias among policymakers and practitioners.

The Importance of Perceived Procedural Justice Among Defendants With a Non-Western Background Involved in Dutch Criminal Cases.

This study aims to put perceived procedural justice to a critical test in the context of Dutch criminal court hearings. To that end, we surveyed 198 criminal defendants to examine whether their perceptions of procedural fairness were significantly associated with trust in judges and intentions to protest against judicial rulings, among other variables. We also examine the possibility that sometimes unfair procedures may have nice aspects, because they offer opportunities to attribute negative outcomes to external causes. Previous studies conducted in different settings support this line of reasoning by showing that associations between perceived procedural justice and other variables are sometimes attenuated or even reversed, particularly when people feel strongly evaluated. The current study takes these insights into the novel context of Dutch criminal court hearings by focusing on defendants with a non-Western ethnic-cultural background. Some of these defendants may feel negatively evaluated by society, which can manifest as a high level of perceived discrimination. Thus, we examine whether the associations between perceived procedural justice and important other variables may be attenuated or reversed depending on respondents’ perceptions of everyday discrimination and their outcome judgments. Our results revealed significant associations between perceived procedural justice on the one hand and trust in judges and protest intentions on the other hand, which remained intact regardless of perceptions of everyday discrimination and outcome judgments. Hence, even in this real-life courtroom context, procedural justice was a relevant concern. Taken together, our findings support the importance of perceived procedural justice, even when it is put to a critical test.

Educating Global Citizenship in a Changing World via After-school Music Program in Korea

Purpose: Centered on the framework of global citizenship education (GCED), an after-school music program was developed for middle school students in Korea. The program aims to introduce multicultural topics to improve intercultural understanding and promote multicultural sensitivity for community relations development in response to rapid demographics changes in Korea. A total of 143 students have participated in the twenty-nine-week (29) pilot program. The program included orchestra and ensemble performances, learning ethnic songs and cultural backgrounds, and related educational activities. Research method: Methodological triangulation was used to evaluate the significance of the program. Program surveys, formative and summative evaluations, and interviews were used as the assessment instruments to measure the program outcome. Results: A music program based on the framework of GCED provided a good platform for gaining knowledge on teaching civic and multicultural education. The program displayed a measurable gain in students’ positive attitudes towards community relations.

Researching intercultural competence in language learners: Gaps between theory and methodology

Traditional approaches to intercultural competence (IC) in language learning have been criticised for reproducing cultural differentialism, a theoretical perspective which emphasises that people are different due to essential distinctions between their ethnic or national cultural background. While differentialist views have been recognised as problematic in the theory of IC, it remains to be examined whether and how cultural differentialism is reflected in the methodological tools used in empirical research in the field. To shed light on this issue, the article analyses five questionnaires studying IC or related concepts: the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (van der Zee & van Oudenhoven, 2001), the Intercultural Development Inventory (Hammer et al., 2003), the Intercultural Communicative Competence Instrument (Arasaratnam, 2009), the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (Portalla & Chen, 2010) and the UNGSPR?…K Questionnaire (Haukås et al., 2021b). The analysis reveals that cultural differentialism persists at the level of methodology. However, the extent to which questionnaires reproduce it varies according to how notions of culture, identity and differences are reflected in the questionnaire statements. The concluding section discusses the possible implications of using methodological tools that reproduce cultural differentialism. It also provides some recommendations that can help researchers avoid this problematic approach in an empirical study.

Cyberbullying in Adolescents from Ecuador and Spain: Prevalence and Differences in Gender, School Year and Ethnic-Cultural Background

The aim of this study is to discover the prevalence of cyberbullying among adolescents from Ecuador and Spain, and identify any differences by gender, school year, and ethnic-cultural background. A culturally-diverse group of 33,303 adolescents took part in the study (Ecuador = 10,918; Spain = 22,385). Our results show that in Ecuador, one in four, and in Spain, one in five teenagers were involved in cyberbullying. In both countries, teenagers in the higher school years were more commonly involved. Significant differences in gender and role of involvement were detected in both countries. In Ecuador, no differences were noted between the different ethnic-cultural groups as regards to the roles of involvement in cyberbullying. However, in Spain, these differences do exist. In this paper, these findings are discussed, and proposals for how to prevent cyberbullying are given.

Blood Myths and Ethnic-Cultural Background as Impediments in Patient Blood Management Education.

A significant percentage of red blood cell transfusions (RBCTs) are the result of overuse. The implementation of patient blood management (PBM) is challenging. We examined whether blood-linked myths and ethnic-cultural background factors are impediments to PBM education and implementation. Data about the influence of blood myths and diverse ethnic-cultural communities were collected from physicians in our medical center via an anonymous questionnaire which contained questions about myths as well as knowledge of blood transfusion. No statistical differences were found between ethnic and cultural groups regarding blood myths and cultural background influence, although the Jewish participants were less influenced by myths than their Arab colleagues. The influence of blood myths concerning the decision to transfuse exists in both studied ethnic groups. With regard to the association between knowledge and myths influence, we found that the greater the knowledge of the participant, the lower was the myths influence. In a significant proportion of our physician cohort, blood myths and cultural-ethnic status influenced their approach toward RBCT and can be considered an impediment in PBM education. A high knowledge level is associated with less myths influence. The myths and cultural-ethnic background may play a role in PBM education.

Variaciones en los hábitos de estudio en función del género y origen étnico-cultural del alumnado y su relación con el rendimiento escolar

La relación entre los hábitos de estudio y el rendimiento escolar ha sido ampliamente analizada por la investigación educativa. Concretamente, en este trabajo pretendemos profundizar en este campo, y a partir de las variables género y origen étnico-cultural del alumnado, evaluar y comparar los hábitos de estudio de los diferentes subgrupos, y analizar su relación con el rendimiento. Nuestros resultados nos permiten afirmar que la variable género es más discriminante que el origen, alcanzando las mujeres puntuaciones significativamente más altas en la escala de hábitos de estudio. De hecho, no hemos encontrado diferencias significativas en función del origen. Respecto del rendimiento académico, se han mostrado mejores puntuaciones para los no repetidores de curso. Finalmente, los datos fueron sometidos a un modelo de regresión logística que ofreció resultados significativos que confirman que los hábitos de estudio son buenos predictores, en un 76% de los casos, de la no repetición de curso.

Dress Fashion Politics of Ghanaian Presidential Inauguration Ceremonies from 1960 to 2017

Presidential inaugurations are statutory in Ghana, but what a president wears during his inauguration are non-statutory, yet, it is a salient visual communicative apparatus that pulls the strings of patriotism, nationalism and fosters a sense of belongingness. In an attempt to throw light on the dress fashion politics of president-elects, the study examined their chronological inaugural dress fashion choice from 1960 to 2017 in order to establish the trend of dress cultural identity they have portrayed during their respective inauguration ceremonies. Using census sampling technique, the sample consisted of all democratically elected Presidents from the first to the fourth Republic. The instrumentation used were motion pictures, archival records and images of the president-elects during their respective inaugural ceremonies. Motion pictures and images gathered were subjected to semiological analysis. The study revealed that seven of the eight president-elects selected their inaugural ceremony dress fashion from the repertoire of Ghanaian fashion classics to signal their Ghanaian dress cultural identity. Their dress fashion, fabric weaves, pattern symbolisms and construal of colours used were sourced from the cultural knowledges of multi-ethnic nationalistic ideological experience and mindset with the aim of fostering unity, nationalism, and display of their Ghanaian identity. Though their ethnic cultural backgrounds and geographical locations partially influenced their dress fashion choice for their inaugural ceremonies, the nationalistic purview and psychologisation of the inauguration atmosphere took precedence, hence the blend in terms of fashion classics and fabric used. The study recommended that parliament must consider making presidential dress fashion choice statutory due to its cultural, social, political and economic factors for the development of textiles and fashion in Ghana.

An Overview of the Role of Traditional Institutions in Nigeria

he British officials in Nigeria mounted and imposed rules and laws through the traditional rulers who only served as mediators between the people and the British officials. Though, the cultures and traditions of the Nigerian citizens were cherished and reserved by the British government in order to accept and welcome them by the citizens of the country. However, this system worked out well because of the support of the traditional rulers who claimed that since their cultures and traditions were not interfered with, they have no problem with the British authorities (Teslim, 2019).
 Before traditional rulers are attached with some important functions among which are contributing to development administration, linkage or "brokering" between grassroots and capital, extension of national identity through the conferral of traditional titles, low-level conflict resolution and judicial gate-keeping, ombudsmanship and institutional safety- valve for overloaded and sub-apportioned bureaucracies. In addition to the above roles, traditional rulers are meant to create educated chieftaincies meaningfully improves the success of traditional rulers (Miles, 1993). Furthermore, traditional rulers serve as another institute of conflict resolution in any nation where the state legal system is weakening to fully provide the judicial requirements of the country (Zeleke, 2011).
 A study by Isaac (2018) disclosed that in the olden days, traditional institutions are the administrative organizations in Nigeria. These establishments are entrenched in the history, cultures, and the traditions of several ethnic groups and cultural background. He further explained that traditional institutions plays an important role in the managerial process before, during, and after colonial rules, these institutions have contributed to the history of the nation. The role of traditional organizations was important and highly respected during these periods.