Ethnic Customs Research Articles

Life Changes and Adaptation of Herdsmen Entering the City: A Case of Ethnic Customs Street in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China

Life Changes and Adaptation of Herdsmen Entering the City: A Case of Ethnic Customs Street in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China

Exploring the decision model for tourism symbiosis of ancient villages and towns based on tourist reviews: A case study of Huaihua City in China

AbstractTo ensure the sustainable development of regional tourism, it is essential to differentiate between adjacent tourist attractions in a state of homogeneous competition. This study proposes a decision model for the tourism symbiosis of ancient villages and towns (AVTs) using tourist reviews. Their co‐occurrence and individual characteristics were extracted through content analysis, and a probabilistic linguistic CODAS method with a newly defined distance was employed for sentiment analysis. Four clustered AVTs located in Huaihua City, China, were selected to validate the decision model. The results indicate that a long history and culture, ethnic customs, and a serene atmosphere comprise co‐occurrence characteristics, while material landscape, spiritual culture, emotional cognition, and tourism services comprise individual characteristics. The corresponding tourism symbiotic development schemes, including cultural construction, life experience, and pastoral entertainment, are proposed based on the advantages and potentials perceived by tourists. The decision model could contribute to sustainable development of rural areas.

Protection of Handicraft Skills from the Perspective of Folklore Studies

Handicraft skills and material culture are a research perspective of folklore and a major landscape of various ethnic customs in China. The long history, vast territory, and clever and wise Chinese people have formed a colorful and diverse folk handicraft technique. Under the diverse paths of design participation in handicraft innovation, handicrafts have undergone semantic, functional, and situational transformations in contemporary times, presenting an ecosystem of alienation and diversification. This article takes the ceramic craftsmanship of Yaozhou kiln as an example to explore how to improve the construction of national cultural soft power by protecting local traditional handicrafts.

The preservation of old forests in southwest China is closely linked to the presence of ethnic minorities

Sacred forests are increasingly disappearing due to increasing land pressure and a decline in cultural values. Protecting the remaining sacred forests plays a crucial role in preserving biodiversity. The existence of remaining old forests often related to local people and their culture, but this relationship has rarely been quantified at large regional scales. This study analyzes the relationship between old forest and ethnic minorities based on the location of the old forest at a high spatial resolution (2 m). We found a significantly positive correlation (p < 0.01) between the proportion of ethnic minority population and old forest patch number, area, aggregation, and maximum patch area. However, there was no correlation with the connectivity of the old forest (p = 0.14). We further show that both environmental and anthropogenic factors are important for the distribution of old forests. Hydrothermal conditions contribute to the growth of forests, and local ethnic customs and the corresponding ecological wisdom contributes to the preservation of old forest remnants (r = 0.12, p < 0.05). Our findings highlight the significance of social dimensions for the conservation of old forests. We encourage that forest management should consider the role of indigenous people and their cultural wisdom for a better conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems.

Cultural Heritage Deterioration in the Historical Town ‘Thimi’

The gradual or rapid deterioration of cultural heritage buildings can be a source of the loss of heritage assets over time. Cultural heritage encompasses tangible and intangible aspects of a society’s heritage, including historical buildings, archaeological sites, artworks, artifacts, traditions, customs, and ethnic customs. This research paper investigated the causes and effects of the deterioration of the heritage system from the Madhyapur Thimi in Nepal. A case study of tangible heritage (Thimi settlement) and intangible heritage (Bisket Jatra—community celebrations—and Ritual Guthi—a local group formed to conduct cultural activities) helped to achieve the objectives of this study. The existing unique cultures from the Madhyapur Thimi, including the built culture, Guthi, Bisket Jatra, and Ritual Guthi area support the sustainable development of heritage structures to some extent. The cultural heritage is now at risk due to institutional inadequacies, economic and social issues, resource depletion, and natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Policy should be modified, and heritage should be conserved and maintained well for future generations to own it as an identity and pride of the Thimi community.

Ethnic differentiation in the internal spatial configuration of vernacular dwellings in the multi-ethnic region in Xiangxi, China from the perspective of cultural diffusion

Understanding the cultural characteristics and evolution of traditional dwellings in the context of ethnic integration is of great significance for protecting the diversity of residential cultural heritage of ethnic minorities. This article compares the ethnic differences in the internal spatial configuration of vernacular dwellings in Xiangxi region, China, a typical multi-ethnic area where “line-shaped” dwellings are prevalent among the Miao, Dong, Yao, Tujia, and Han groups. This study found that the spatial sequence, ritual axis, importance of fireplace, spatial hierarchy, and privacy of bedrooms of each ethnic group's dwellings present a trend towards Han’s dwelling culture in the order of "Western Miao, Southern Dong, Northern Dong, Yao, Eastern Miao, Tujia". Based on the analysis of the lifestyles, ethnic customs, and historical development processes of ethnic minorities, this study identifies that the main reasons for the formation of the aforementioned sequence lie in the differences in the historical diffusion patterns and paths of Han culture in Xiangxi. This article analyses the ethnicity of minority residential culture in Xiangxi and its spatial configuration formation process, revealing the relationship between the spatial effect of Han cultural diffusion pattern and the spatial difference pattern of each ethnic group's vernacular dwelling space configuration, and expanding the connotation of "cultural genotypes" in multi-ethnic areas.

Хранительница нематериального культурного наследия: о роли бабушки в передаче этнического языка и культуры (на материале социолингвистических обследований в чувашской и марийской диаспорах Московского региона)

An essential mechanism for transmitting ethnic language within families involves the transfer from older to younger generations, with grandmothers playing a prominent role in this process. The paper presents the findings of the field research conducted within the Chuvash and Mari internal diasporas of the Moscow region. The study subjects were the first-generation natives of the diaspora urban environment and the second-generation representatives. The findings indicate that intergenerational language transmission is notably weak, mainly because Russian is omnipresent in urban environments and minority languages are marginalized due to prevailing linguistic ideologies. Although being recognized as state languages along with Russian in the relevant administrative-territorial entities, Chuvash and Mari languages do not have this status in the internal diaspora, becoming minority languages. Nevertheless, according to the research results, ethnic language is one of the key markers of ethnic identity necessary for preserving ethnic group boundaries. In the majority of cases, the task of preserving the ethnic language is assigned to grandmothers, the eldest women in the family, who reside in the rural area of their small native land. This model follows the long-existing practice of city dwellers sending their children to the countryside in summer for the latter to learn an ethnic language in the natural environment by communicating with their grandmother. Besides teaching the ethnic language, the grandmother also imparts knowledge about ethnic customs and traditions, such as ethnic cuisine, songs, and elements of folk and religious culture, making her a valuable keeper of intangible cultural heritage.

Enriching the Charm of Folk Songs with Multi part Forms: A Practical Exploration of the Creation of Multi part Chorus of Qiang Folk Songs

The Qiang ethnic group is a long-standing ethnic group in China, and its historical changes, religious beliefs, customs, and customs have great research value. Qiang folk songs are a vivid display of their ethnic customs and living customs. Qiang folk songs have a rich flavor and diverse forms, including love songs, labor songs, mountain songs, wine songs, and other types. Folk song choir is an important way to inherit and promote Qiang folk songs. This article introduces the types of Qiang folk songs and creates a multi part choir to enrich the charm of folk songs with multi tone sound, in order to enable more music enthusiasts to understand Qiang folk songs and culture.

Research on the Design of Children's pop-up book Integrating Mongolian Stories

Pop-up book, a child, not only tells stories in a vivid and creative way, but also stimulates children's interest in exploration and reads in a game way through pop-up book's unique layout design and changes in the three-dimensional structure of paper. Mongolian folk children's stories, with their unique ethnic customs and artistic characteristics, have become an important medium for the inheritance of national culture, which brings important influences to children such as cultural enlightenment, personality foundation, moral enlightenment and life experience, and is also an important resource for children's language learning. Mongolian folk children's stories can also make children feel the particularity of national language, which is conducive to stimulating children's interest in learning national language and grasping the direction and ways of learning national language. This paper discusses the design of children's pop-up book with Mongolian stories. Moreover, this paper will also put forward some new design ideas to increase the interaction between children's three-dimensional books and children. Through these reforms and innovative designs, children's three-dimensional books can have better communication functions with children on the basis of traditional books, and can bring better reading experience to children readers.

Inequality in Health Care and the Experiences of Women From the Irish Traveller Community

ObjectiveTo explore the health care experiences of women from the Irish Traveller community, which is an indigenous ethnic minority group in Ireland and Great Britain. DesignA descriptive qualitative methodology underpinned by naturalistic inquiry was adopted. SettingHalting sites where the participating Traveller women permanently reside. ParticipantsThe sample consisted of 24 women from the Traveller community in Ireland. Intervention/MeasurementData were collected via two focus group interviews using semi-structured interviews. Inductive content analysis was used to analyze the data. ResultsThree overarching themes emerged: Conceptualizing What It Means to Be in Receipt of Health Care; Respecting Ethnic Customs Around Death and Dying; and Strategies for Enhancing Cultural Competence. Women from the Traveller community experienced many challenges when requiring health care services. Some recalled a health care environment that lacked compassion and was discriminatory toward them. A lack of dignity and privacy afforded to women during the “passing” of a loved one was an important finding in this study. ConclusionStrategies to improve Traveller women’s access to and engagement with health services are urgently required. These include cultural awareness training for health care providers and visual aids for Travellers accessing health services.

The role of marketing agility and risk propensity in resilience and survival of eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs in Denmark

PurposeWhile extant research has increasingly examined minority entrepreneurs, less attention has been paid to Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs and the role that marketing agility and risk propensity play in their resilience and survival in Nordic countries. This paper aims to highlight the importance of these factors for Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs in the developed Nordic economy of Denmark.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts the dynamic capabilities view as a theoretical framework and uses a qualitative research approach with interviews as the main data collection method. The empirical sample comprises 12 entrepreneurs originating from Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, who operate in Denmark.FindingsThe findings show that contrary to prior studies that have highlighted a reliance among the migrant entrepreneurial community on ethnic networks as their dominant target market, Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs located in Denmark, in contrast, focused on attracting Danish consumers as their target market audience. Leveraging multiple networks was therefore found to be critical to the survival of these immigrant ventures. Additionally, the entrepreneurs' marketing agility, underpinned by their optimistic approach, growth ambitions and passion for entrepreneurship, was found to play a pivotal role in their survival. Finally, despite the stable institutional environment in Denmark and the ease of doing business (both of which are influential factors in shaping the risk propensity and risk perception of entrepreneurs), the authors found immigrant entrepreneurs' risk propensity to be rather low, which was contrary to the expectations.Originality/valueThe current paper is one of the first studies that explicitly analyzes the roles of marketing agility and risk propensity in the resilience and survival of the ventures of relatively skilled immigrant entrepreneurs from Eastern Europe in a developed Nordic economy (Denmark). The paper's findings also challenge the notion associated with immigrant entrepreneurial ventures being primarily focused on ethnic customers or enclaves. The paper also specifies the peculiarities of marketing agility in immigrant entrepreneurial contexts and solidifies the importance of diverse networks in immigrant business survival and development.

Economically Important Medicinal Plants in Traditional Polyherbal Formulations Prepared by Local Physicians of Rural Travancore

In Ayurveda, polyherbal preparations appear to be an unavoidable medicinal approach. Many polyherbal medicines are prepared by local medical practitioners from rural regions of Thiruvananthapuram district, who follow their ethnic customs. The current study was an investigation of their medical system in order to determine the types of plants and plant parts that are used as main components in medicinal compositions. In this study, fifty plants from 34 distinct families were found to be used in the preparation of various Ayurvedic medicines. Solanaceae, Fabaceae, Zingiberaceae, and Piperaceae were the most important among the 34 families studied in terms of the number of herbal medications produced. The most prevalent constituent in 66 percent of currently investigated formulations is Zingiber officinale, followed by Piper longum and Aegle marmelos. The root was found to be the most commonly used plant portion, and harvesting the entire plant could lead to the natural depletion of supply materials. Many of the plants are also becoming threatened. This leads to drug adulteration, necessitating the development of procedures for detecting contaminated products.

Bending, Breaking and Adhering to Rules of Contemporary Jewish Practice in Finland

This article draws on an ongoing research project that seeks to document ethnographically everyday Jewish life in Finland today. Based on the framework of vernacular religion, it approaches religion “as it is lived” (Primiano 1995) and analyses the many expressions and experiences of rules in day-to-day Jewish life as part of complex interactions between individuals, institutions, and religious motivations. Historical data, institutional structures and cultural context are put in dialogue with individual narratives and nuances, described as “self-motivated” ways of “doing” religion.&#x0D; In this article, we seek to investigate what a vernacular Jewish approach to making, bending, and breaking rules amounts to in a community where increasing diversity and deep-reaching secularity contest and reshape traditional boundaries of belonging. What rules are accepted, adopted and appropriated as necessary or meaningful for being and doing Jewish? Our analysis traces how static values and conceptions of “Jewishness” give way to more flexible subjective positions as our interviewees struggle to find religiously and culturally significant models from the past that can be subjectively appropriated today. Both everyday quandaries and existential questions influence their ways of crafting vernacular religious positions. Focusing on formal and personal rituals related particularly to family life and foodways, the article shows how rules are revisited and refashioned as the traditional boundaries between sacred and secular, gendered practices and ethnic customs, are transgressed and subjective combinations are developed.&#x0D; Keywords: vernacular Judaism; Jews in Finland; ethnography; religion and rule; kashrut; Jewish family life; Jewish rituals

Imagination Symbolization and Reality: The Interpretations of Pema Tseden on the “Three Theories” of Balloon

With the depiction of ethnic customs and the further cultivation of ethnic culture, the films of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang have formed a unique cultural system and cultural influence. The film Balloon, directed by Pema Tseden, has made multidimensional presentations and interpretations to the three orders theory of Lacan, that is the “the real order” from the original id, “the imaginary order” from the self-mirror and the “symbolic order” from the socio-linguistic and cultural system. It can be said that the Three Orders Theory enables the film Balloon directed by Pema Tseden to show the local culture of Xinjiang to the audience from an internal perspective of subjectivity and self-expression.

Prospects for the development of the concept of tourism in the context of Healthy China: A case study of Yunnan

Under the influence of the Healthy China strategy, health tourism has become the main trend of tourism market development. The market development prospect is broad, and people pay more attention to relaxing pressure and relieving physical and mental fatigue in the process of tourism. Health tourism is a kind of tourism products based on ecological environment, which pay attention to leisure and health. It is beneficial to the physical health of tourists, and can provide psychological counseling and health services for tourists. It is a new growth point of tourism economy in the modern social background. Yunnan Province has rich tourism resources, mild climate in the four seasons, unique ethnic customs and culture, forest, lake, mountain, which provides important support and help for the development of local health tourism industry. Based on this, this paper analyzes the concept of health tourism, discusses the types of health tourism resources in Yunnan province, and puts forward the development prospect of Yunnan tourism industry under the background of healthy China, in order to promote the development of health tourism in Yunnan province.

Chinese Plants in the Persian Agricultural Manual &amp;lt;italic&amp;gt;Ā&amp;lt;underline&amp;gt;s&amp;lt;/underline&amp;gt;ār va Aḥyāʾ&amp;lt;/italic&amp;gt;, and a Discussion of Rashīd al-Dīn&amp;rsquo;s Chinese Knowledge and Agricultural Practice

<p indent="0mm">The <italic>Ā<underline>s</underline>ār va Aḥyāʾ</italic> is a manual of agricultural production written in the early fourteenth century by the famous Iranian vizier and scholar Rashīd al-Dīn. Only chapter 6 to chapter 13 of the original work survive, dealing with agriculture and horticulture, and nearly a third of the pages of which are devoted to introducing Chinese plants and related knowledge. In addition to introducing botanical knowledge, the book also covered information on all the aspects of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), including the taxation system, monetary system, military system, economy and trade, manufacturing techniques, ethnic customs, food culture, and other fields, providing important materials for research on the dissemination of species, exchange of technologies, communication of ethnic groups, and integration of cultures between China and the world during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Rashīd al-Dīn, the book’s author, took advantage of his identities as a statesman and a businessman to collect rich information about plants all over the world. Motivated by his specific interest in Chinese culture, he included a huge amount of Chinese information in the book. Meanwhile, records in the <italic>Ā<underline>s</underline>ār va Aḥyāʾ</italic> reflect the author’s practice of researching, planting, and cultivating plants, making the book not only a compilation of agricultural knowledge, but also a report that recorded the author’s agricultural practice.

On the Visual Symbols of Dian Bronze Animal Decoration

Among the animal patterns on the bronzes of the Dian Kingdom, the cow and the snake are the most common and &#x0D; representative visual symbols. They have strong visual tension, expressiveness and artistic appeal, showing the unique artistic &#x0D; aesthetics and ideas of the ancients of Dian Kingdom, and They all have specific meanings and contexts. This article mainly &#x0D; explores the decorative symbols of animal decorations in Yunnan bronzes, and uses “ox” and “snakes” as the main objects to &#x0D; analyze semantics and context.Methods:This article first elaborates on the types and decorations of ancient Dian bronzes, and then &#x0D; elaborates on the characteristics and symbolic meanings of cow and snake patterns by listing some representative Dian bronzes; &#x0D; finally, it is in-depth with the semantics and context of visual symbols. Analysis. Result:The types of animal images on the bronze &#x0D; ware of Yunnan culture are rich and diverse, and each animal has different shapes and forms, and has its own symbolic meaning and &#x0D; function. This also reveals the relationship between man and nature from the side, reflecting the ancient people of Yunnan’s sacrifices &#x0D; and sacrifices. The social and economic conditions such as hunting and breeding record the trivial life of the ancients. The animal &#x0D; decoration art of the Dian Kingdom has a very strong ethnic customs and regional characteristics. It depicts the intense scenes of &#x0D; animal daily life and fighting in detail. The animal’s shape, demeanor and own characteristics are all vividly shaped, with a strong &#x0D; artistic atmosphere and visual tension. To a large extent reflects the aesthetic concept and ideological pursuit of the ancients of Dian &#x0D; Kingdom. Conclusion:The two visual symbols of the cow pattern and the snake pattern are the records of the people of the ancient &#x0D; Dian kingdom on nature and life, and they also carry the ancient people’s feelings for nature. They reflect the religious beliefs and &#x0D; ideas of the ancient Dian civilization and have local characteristics and customs. , It is the spiritual sustenance of the ancient Dian &#x0D; people to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

The Hare Krishnas in Bali: Localized Religion and New Religious Movement

As the Balinese sought official religious acceptance in Indonesia, they formalized their ethnic customs and transformed them into a universal religion with an Abrahamic model called “Agama Hindu Dharma”. In aligning itself with Hinduism, the Balinese had to restructure their internalized indigenous faith and share it with Hindus beyond the island, including with others in the archipelago and the religious hearth of India. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as The Hare Krishna Movement, is a Hindu-based New Religious Movement. With their active presence in Bali, they provided an informative and devotional perspective for inquisitive Hindus. Preferring their local expression of Hinduism instead, ISKCON books and teachings were banned in 1984 for disrupting public order during the repressive era of President Suharto. The political reformation of 1998 allowed for the recognition of ISKCON, but the exclusivism of Hare Krishna members threatened many orthodox Balinese Hindus. This opposition culminated in 2020, resulting in a decree restricting all non-Balinese Hindu sects from practicing in the Hindu-majority province. This paper documents the formalization of the indigenous Balinese theology and its recent interaction with a multinational New Religious Movement.

Ховгсǝǝр нутгин ǝркиг цеерлх көдлгǝнǝ үүлдлиг тоочхнь (= Антиалкогольные меры, принятые в Хобуксаре)

Introduction. The paper examines the alcohol prohibition enforcement implemented by the local government and religious leader among Torghuts in Hoboksar-Mongol Autonomous county of Xinjiang (PRC). The work focuses on the introduced measures and their subsequent practical effect on the community. It is noteworthy that contemporary Torghuts of Hoboksar are distinguished by an alcohol taboo which is the research object herein. The spiritual leader Shalvan Gegeen was a prominent Buddhist scholar and teacher of Xinjiang Mongols. The authority of the spiritual leader in conjunction with the local legislative power and Torghut Mongolian ethnic customs have functioned simultaneously for the alcohol prohibition movement. Goals. The article aims to review how the local spiritual leader, legislative power and conventional customs may ignite non-political enforcements, such as alcohol prohibition. Results. It seems possible to stops some pernicious social habits by the spiritual, social and legislative (‘triangle’) joint efforts. But in terms of the study, the spiritual influence seems overwhelming than the others since it provides people with coupled motivation as compared to a one-sided political enforcement. So, the community is currently observing a non-drinking rule during public and festive events, special attention is paid to healthy life propaganda.

Московские марийцы: этническая культура в условиях внутренней диаспоры

The article deals with the problem of maintaining and preserving Mari ethnic culture in the conditions of an internal diaspora. The purpose of the article is to identify the conditions for maintaining and to determine the prospects for preserving Moscow Maris’ ethnic culture in Moscow’s multicultural urban space. Methods. In 2019–2021, the author of the article conducted a sociolinguistic survey in the Mari diaspora of the Moscow region; the selective sample includes 106 respondents (100 respondents belong to the first generation of the Mari diaspora, six to the second). One of the aspects of the survey was to study markers of ethnic identity in two generations of the diaspora. Results. The results, obtained in the interviews, reveal that Mari culture (knowledge and observance of Mari traditions and customs) is one of the key markers of ethnic identity in the first generation (coming only third after the small homeland and the Mari language markers). Respondents in the second generation demonstrate remnant knowledge of ethnic cultural practices due to a weak intergenerational transmission of the Mari language. The author concludes that in order to preserve ethnic traditions and customs in the diaspora, it is extremely important to maintain an ethnic language; at the same time, as the world practice of revitalizing minority languages shows, ethnic culture can be viewed as a source of initiation into an ethnic language, and later become a channel for its maintenance.