Cultural Ideas Research Articles

The physical education curriculum in alternative provision schools in England: A Gramscian critique

AbstractCurriculum is at the heart of education. It has been said that a broad and balanced physical education curriculum can contribute to young people developing socially, cognitively, affectively, and physically. As such, in this article, we draw on Antonio Gramsci's ideas of culture, power, and ideology to explore the physical education curriculum in alternative provision schools in England. We did this by generating qualitative data using semi‐structured interviews with 13 physical education practitioners working in 13 different alternative provision schools. Interviews were audio recorded, and audio recordings were transcribed verbatim, before being subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. The themes generated through these analytical processes were (1) Physical education curriculum should be tailored to the needs and preferences of pupils; (2) The National Curriculum, national qualifications, assessment arrangements and Ofsted inspection expectations influence curriculum decisions; and (3) Group sizes influence the physical education curriculum. We end this article by encouraging physical education and/or curriculum scholars to learn more about alternative provision settings because, at present, there is a dearth of research‐informed knowledge about them despite them becoming a much more prominent feature of the education landscape in England.

RESEARCH ON THE KEY CONSTITUENT COMPOSITION OF ART WORKS - CONTEMPORARY TREND

From the perspective of art research and culture, this article analyzes the key significance of the composition of composition in contemporary art works, and carefully explores the innovation trends shown in form, functions and aesthetics in contemporary art situation. Through the in -depth interpretation of various contemporary art phenomena and works, it reveals how composition breaks through the traditional model with the influence of science and technology, the influence of social and cultural ideas, and the guidance of audience needs. Understand the essence of contemporary art creation and grasp its development direction to provide strong support.

Sub-Saharan Africa and the World: History of Connections

Today, the attention of the public, businessmen, politicians, scientists is increasingly attracted to Africa, including Tropical (Sub-Saharan) Africa. However, these areas have never been isolated and always occupied a special place in the global economic and cultural ties. This paper, based on the research of a wide range of written sources of ancient, classical, and medieval periods, is devoted to the historical analysis of the relations of the peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa with the outside world. The work highlights the depth and long history of economic, cultural, and trade contacts going back several thousand years. It explores the directions of trade routes that facilitated the spread of goods, cultural ideas, and technologies, as well as the types of goods that were of particular value to participants in international trade. The author describes in detail such phenomena as the slave trade and the book trade, the money, and the exchange values that were circulating on the continent. It is known that African traders entered into transactions with merchants from China, India, the Roman Empire, Byzantium, and European countries, were involved in world trade, and had a good command of the market trends. Africa became part of the world economy many centuries ago, and this fact is evidenced by written and material sources from different parts of the world. Nevertheless, this area of African studies remains understudied, creating lacunas in understanding the pre-colonial history of the region. This article is, in a way, an appeal to contemporary Africanists to pay more attention to the study of Africa’s pre-colonial history, without knowledge of which it is often difficult to explain some current conflicts and contribute to their resolution.

Crowdfunding care in Kenya

ABSTRACT Crowdfunding to support personal and medical needs has risen in popularity in recent years. Many sociologists are critical of needy individuals’ turn to online fundraising, seeing it as a response to deficits in health care and social protection, and arguing that it may widen social inequalities. Most of these studies have taken place in the United States, China, and Great Britain. This paper explores crowdfunding in sub-Saharan Africa, offering us an opportunity to rethink the context and value of crowdfunding and its relationship to family and friend networks, philanthropy, and charity. It also examines how online crowdfunding relates to cultural ideas about dependency and care. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork at the Nairobi crowdfunding platform M-Changa conducted from 2016 to 2021, I describe how social entrepreneurs, women, and NGO representatives raise money for philanthropic initiatives, medical and education costs, family rituals, and COVID-19 relief. The paper reveals the diverse financial relationships, identities and goals emerging on the platform. Reflecting on this diversity of caring finance, this paper then explores the ambiguous commercial, social, and political potentials of crowdfunding as peer-based digital finance in the Global South.

Критериальные условия дискурса о рецепции Аристотеля в русской культуре

The paper examines approaches to the reception of Aristotle's ideas in Russian culture, from the era of Old Russian Culture to the present day. Special attention is paid to the problem of the “Russian Aristotle” – the perception of the philosopher's legacy in the context of transformations of European intellectual culture. The study emphasizes the difference in approaches to understanding Aristotle's legacy in Western and Eastern cultural traditions. The question is raised about the influence of paradigm shifts on the perception of the philosopher, starting with the Enlightenment. It is shown that in the Russian tradition of the early 20th century, in publicism and some scientific works was formed an idea of the Aristotle's reception inconsistency in Russian culture in comparison with “Aristotelian scholasticism”. Such an assessment seems culturally biased and declarative. In order to move away from declarative statements about the reception of Aristotle, the author clarifies the content of the concept of “reception” and introduces reception criteria (Rezeptionsgeschichte-block (R) и Wirkungsgeschichte-block (W)) that allow scaling the idea of reception, ranking the degree of appropriation, adaptation of received samples, assessing the degree and form of borrowing ideas, as well as the level of transformation of culture due to the effect of the received sample. The article analyzes the monographs of V. M. Lurye and D. Bradshaw as an example of research focused on the W-block of reception, i.e. on assessing the effect and result of reception. These samples, built on the methodology of the history of ideas and the history of concepts, emphasize the originality of the adaptation of Aristotelian key concepts (hypostasis, nature, energy) in the Orthodox tradition, are considered as an alternative to the “scholastic Aristotle” and give reason to think of Aristotelianism as an internal form and code of Orthodox culture and Russian civilization. The article raises an important question about the need to rethink the role of Aristotle in Russian culture, which allows us to deepen our understanding of the cultural foundations of philosophy and assess the significance of those ideas for contemporary times.

English Language Style in the Works of Japanese-British Author Kazuo Ishiguro: A Study Using "Klara and the Sun" as an Example

Kazuo Ishiguro, as a British novelist of Japanese descent, possesses a dual cultural background, reflecting the contradictions between ethnicity and internationalization, as well as cross-cultural characteristics in his works. His distinct narrative features and unique English writing techniques have made him stand out in the global literary arena. In today's globalized world, this paper aims to explore how he touches the empathy of other nations and spreads his cultural ideas through his works. Using his representative work "Klara and the Sun" as an example, this paper analyzes its implied meanings and narrative of memories, and discusses the human-machine community and the human fate community, revealing the deep connotations and significance of his works.

On Comfort(s)

Although physical comfort is a self-evidently important goal in interior design projects, whose definition is usually assumed to be obvious and straightforward (a measurable outcome of the interaction of material and anatomical variables), in practice comfort has proven itself one of the most mysterious of human spatial possibilities. Comfort has radically shifted its meanings across historical epochs and across cultures. Rather than a simple and quantifiable spatial reality, comfort should be understood as a malleable social ideology – comfort as the unstable consequence of cultural ideas about bodies, including ideas about gender, class, decorum, custom, and race, overlaid onto shifting technological, material, economic, social and ideological circumstances. Understood this way, physical comfort can be reanimated as a pliable design variable – as it has shifted previously, so it can be reshaped today. The goal of this visual essay, crafted as seven open-ended drawings framed by short introductory observations, is to pry comfort loose from simplistic understandings and invite new investigations into its mysteries and future possibilities.

Oral traditions as a fount of ethnomathematical knowledge: A bibliometric analysis of contemporary research trends

This study mapped the contemporary research landscape surrounding “oral traditions as a fount of ethnomathematics knowledge” through a bibliometric analysis employed as a methodological procedure. The main problem addressed in this study is the lack of a comprehensive consideration of evolving research trends and intellectual structure within ethnomathematics, i.e., the role of oral traditions as a source of knowledge. Oral traditions, defined as the cultural knowledge, art, ideas, and practices transmitted verbally across generations, offer a rich repository of ethnomathematical insights. 713 publications were identified from the Dimensions database between 2014 and 2024. This bibliometric analysis focused on identifying key research themes, authors, publishers, keywords, or key terms distributions within the corpus of extracted publications, as well as temporal trends in publication activity and citation patterns. The findings revealed a growing interest in the field, focusing on (a) educational context, (b) cultural studies, and (c) the intersection of mathematics and language. The analysis also identified key research themes, such as (a) the role of language and culture in shaping mathematical thought, (b) the development of ethnomathematical practices, and (c) the pedagogical implications of incorporating ethnomathematics into formal education. Additionally, 11 influential scholars who are driving the field forward were identified. According to the term distribution analysis, of the 6,092 terms, 316 met the threshold (minimum number of occurrences of the term: 6). For each 316 terms, a relevance score has been calculated. Based on this score, the most relevant terms have been selected. The VOSviewer’s default setting (60% of the most relevant terms) resulted in selecting 190 terms. Based on the given criteria, there is a result of 5 distinctive clusters related to the query that emerged. This study provides theoretical insights into the conceptual foundations of ethnomathematics derived from oral traditions and empirical evidence for informing future research directions and pedagogical practices in mathematics education.

CREATING VISUAL IDENTITY IN FILM FESTIVAL DESIGNS

Throughout history, people have come together to organize various celebrations and festivals. Festivals are events that carry a universal significance, fostering a sense of unity and shared emotions. In particular, film festivals, whose importance has grown significantly in recent times, serve as a reflection of cultural values, societal lifestyles, emotions, and ideas. These events, characterized by rich content and diversity, and with artistic expression at the forefront, highlight the significance of the work done in the field. In this context, a strong and effective visual identity is essential in the creation of the festival’s identity. Cultural codes, symbols, visuals, color, typography, form, and shape play a critical role in constructing the festival’s character. This study, employing qualitative research methods, examines the corporate identity designs of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival and the 43rd Istanbul Film Festival, emphasizing the importance of creating a visual identity for film festivals. These analyses are conducted through a semiotic approach. A literature review was also conducted, and the selected film festival designs were descriptively analyzed in terms of design elements such as color, typography, visual impact, coherence, and form-content harmony. The aim of this study is to identify the descriptive challenges faced in the visual identity creation process and propose solutions to address these issues. Given the limited number of academic studies in the field, this research is expected to contribute to the existing literature.

Neuronormativity, naturalism and the neurotypical gaze: the equating of neurotypicality and quality in actor training

Neuroinclusion in performer training is an emerging area of research, with work being published on the needs of particular neurominority groups and on general neuroinclusive practice. Similarly, discussions on inclusive performer training have advanced rapidly in recent years; including those around decolonisation and interculturalism in actor training. This paper explores some of the findings of my doctoral research, in which I conducted interviews with autistic participants currently studying in drama schools. One key finding from this research concerns the effect of neuronormativity on the autistic student-actor, whose socio-emotional reality may look different to that of their non-autistic peers. This is particularly present in naturalistic and Stanislavskian techniques which have focuses on ‘realistic’, ‘truthful’ or ‘authentic’ performances, but also permeates more broadly into ideas of what ‘good acting’ looks like. In this paper, I place autistic students’ descriptions of their training in conversation with others’ work about inclusion within actor training to draw parallels between neuronormativity and other normative power structures. I frame these findings with ideas of the ‘Neurotypical Gaze’ (McDermott 2022) to articulate how ‘legibility’ of emotional expression operates within actor training. I draw on ideas of autistic culture and practical explorations to propose how practice can be improved.

Proposal of a catalogue of criteria for the identification and classification of metaphorical collocations

Abstract This article focuses on metaphorical collocations, a special subtype of lexical collocations in which the cohesion between the constituents is based on a lexicalised metaphor (see Reder 2006; Volungevičienė 2008; Konecny 2010a, 2010b, 2023). The word combinations in question can develop from originally free sequences into recurrent patterns appearing in several semantically related collocations if they occur repeatedly in similar contexts (see Stojić and Košuta 2020, 2021). A case in point is the German collocation die Zeit verfliegt and its equivalents in Croatian, English and Italian: vrijeme leti (‘time flies’), time flies (by), and il tempo vola (via) (‘time flies (away)’), which convey a rapid movement and the feeling of time rushing by. The various patterns often also reflect cultural concepts and experiences; for example, a pattern that conceptualises time as a resource could be anchored in a cultural idea that regards time as something valuable. Metaphorical collocations thus frequently reflect superordinate conceptual metaphors that are located at a cognitive level and common to more than one language community. Nevertheless, the concrete language-specific manifestations may vary, and in many cases show only partial equivalence. Unlike idioms, where metaphor has long been recognised as a fundamental semantic process (see, e.g., Casadei 1996: passim; Dobrovol’skij and Piirainen 2009: 19–29), collocations have not been thoroughly examined in this regard. It is therefore necessary to gain a more detailed insight into the semantic-cognitive processes underlying the creation of lexical combinations to draw conclusions regarding their relevance for the emergence of collocational sequences. This requires an analysis of extensive authentic language material, which will allow for the development of a catalogue of criteria that facilitates the identification and classification of these specific linguistic phenomena. This paper focuses on uncovering such processes based on a study carried out using SketchEngine in web corpora of German, Croatian, English, and Italian with the aim of creating a clear framework for the identification of metaphorical collocations by elaborating criteria that can serve as guidelines and by attempting a classification into subtypes. The proposed criteria and typology can contribute to the systematic investigation of metaphorical collocations and should also open up perspectives for future work in this field.

The dilemma between innovation and authenticity in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage: Community agency in preserving Suzhou pingtan

In safeguarding an intangible cultural heritage (ICH), the community is often considered passive and only part of the policy implementation system. While acknowledging the lack of a connection with contemporary audiences in many examples of ICH, such as pingtan (评弹), authenticity-seeking is still a widely accepted goal in safeguarding ICH. But from an authenticity-seeking perspective, attempts to create innovative pingtan are often the target of criticism. This article observes that amid the competing narratives of pursuing authenticity and embracing innovative experimentation, preservation of and innovation in pingtan have developed to disentangle pingtan from a unified conceptualization. Conflicts about preservation and innovation are the enabling forces that allow diverse cultural ideas to be communicated, leading to interactions and experimentation that defy easy definition. Analysis of the contradictions behind an insistence on an authentic form of pingtan suggests that authenticity-seeking is more about cultural anxieties over the changing identity of a city, with pingtan as a tool for such negotiations. This article calls for a more nuanced understanding of community agency in safeguarding ICH. Innovative practices to safeguard ICH may also challenge the concept of community, resulting in fluid, developmental, and mutually sustaining interactions.

On the question of the main cultural philosophical idea of A. I. Solzhenitsyn's epic «The Red Wheel»

The article examines the main cultural and philosophical idea of the work as a phenomenon that translates in a concentrated form the main line of thought of the writer, as well as the philosophical and cultural essence that the writer laid down and implemented in the corresponding work. The subject of the study is the epic of A.I. Solzhenitsyn "The Red Wheel", the purpose of the study is to construct the main cultural philosophical idea of the work in question. The author focuses on the theoretical and applied significance of the search for cultural and philosophical ideas embedded in "iconic" literary and artistic works. This kind of search not only contributes to the enrichment of the "knowledge" potential of the theory and history of culture, but also can become the basis for the formation of state cultural policy, for example, in the field of education, patriotic education, interethnic communication. At the same time, the search for cultural and philosophical ideas should be based on modern methodological approaches and take into account the context of current socio-cultural realities. The research used general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, generalization, induction and deduction, logical and historical approaches), as well as methods traditionally used in cultural philosophical research: cultural analysis and the method of cultural philosophical tradition. In the article, the author states that the ten–volume epic "The Red Wheel" is the main literary work of A. I. Solzhenitsyn, which accumulated the rest of his works to an appropriate extent and is dedicated to the Russian revolution and the fate of Russia in a difficult period of its history. In this work, the writer addressed the "eternal" social problems through the prism of history, culture and philosophy.

What Literary Universals Are and What Culture Is Not: The Example of Descriptive Ethics

ABSTRACT Most of us would like to think that our ideas and commitments develop in a purely “objective” manner, as if they were the product of simple chains of evidence and inference. But that would be wrong. Our intellectual lives are more contingent and personal than that. In keeping with the biographical background of our intellectual engagements and commitments, the following article begins with a sort of memoir treating some key features of the author’s theoretical and scholarly development. This leads to a discussion of one prominent concern that has been a recurrent focus of Hogan’s research and writing—literary universals, especially story universals. Isolating and explaining universals is a project that is mostly ignored by literary theorists today. Insofar as it is not ignored, it is widely misunderstood. This article attempts to correct some of this misunderstanding. Rather than anything universal, humanists today are particularly enthusiastic about the idea of culture, despite its vagueness and (at best) limited explanatory value. As knowledge about culture is widely seen as undermining the study of universals, the article then turns to some criticisms of culturalism. It concludes by treating the example of how story universals bear on and illuminate the descriptive study of ethics.

The Cultural Problems about the Adaptation of Manggarai Students in Malang City

This research is motivated by the cultural complexity between Manggarai students and Java students in Malang city, Indonesia. There are misunderstandings due to the meeting of two different cultures. The research purpose is to find out the adaptation problems of Manggarai students in Malang city. The research method is qualitative with an ethnographic approach, namely emic. The data collection techniques are observation, interview and documentation. The analysis technique uses interpretation with a cultural paradigm. The results showed that the cultural problem of adaptation in the ethnographic point of view is the difficulty of adapting between students from Manggarai (migrants) and students from Java (host culture). The main reason for the difficulty in adapting starts from the language, the situation of feeling like a foreigner so that they feel culture shock with the new culture. Consequences of adaptation problems: limited communication between the two parties, the problem of occurring situations that are not familiar and easily offended due to misunderstanding and suspicion in the use of language. Ethnographic analysis helps adaptation problems through cultural trajectories from the immigrant side by being humble to learn conversations in everyday Javanese. The trajectory is carried out communally with initiatives from regional organizations (Lembor Malang Big Family Association or IKBLM) to build meeting points and familiarity with Javanese students. Research recommendations, different cultures can be crossed with cultural ideas and actions to accept differences starting from migrants and facilitated by decision-making parties.

The Dissemination and Expression of Female Thought in Korean Pop Culture

The transmission and expression of women’s ideas in Korean popular culture is a global phenomenon that has attracted a wide audience, including teenagers. The different channels through which these ideas are disseminated, such as music, music videos, and social media platforms, aim to understand the influence of the Korean Wave in shaping gender equality and female empowerment. Using a mixed methodology, including content analysis and comments collections, the study revealed the significant impact of Korean pop culture on young people’s self-identity and values. Examples include the different influences and inspirations that different teenagers receive as a result of this culture and the reaction after watching the music video of a K-pop girls’ group. The study concludes that the representation of women’s ideas in Korean popular culture not only challenges traditional notions of gender but also promotes a more egalitarian perspective of thought, helping teenagers to set up the correct social feminine values, and contributing to the continuous development of women’s autonomy and identity.

Gastronomic Identities: The Role of Food in Cultural Belonging

Literary works provide cultural values, ideas, and attitudes in order to shed light on the habits and beliefs of numerous cultures. A multitude of heterogeneous cultures coexist worldwide, each encompassing a plethora of viewpoints and convictions. Authors often acquaint readers with diverse cultures in addition to expressing their own perspective. Literary works convey cultural values through the author's expression. Food has garnered interest from diverse fields, particularly economics, literature, human rights, ethics, sociology, anthropology, and others. Multiple studies have been undertaken to explore the importance of food for the human race. Food is employed in literary works as a means to examine and explore cultural disparities. Anita Desai's novel, Fasting Feasting, is replete with metaphorical allusions to food and consumption. The novel's title suggests the concept of consumption, exploring how characters interact with food to reveal disparities in who feasts and starves. This paper focuses on the analysis of narrative that revolve around culinary elements, such as metaphors, symbols, and representations, and their connections to identity and culture.

The legal politics of Islamic bioethics: drunk driving and the reconfiguration of privacy in the modern Gulf

ABSTRACT Science and technology have been long-standing dimensions of the political legitimation of monarchic, shaikhly and imperial rule in the modern Gulf. Scientific development has been supported by attendant sociotechnical imaginaries, but these imaginaries have not been without fissures or contradictions. In the modern Gulf sheikhdoms, sociotechnical imaginaries were fashioned at the intersection of local, regional, and imperial processes. A range of actors participated in these contestations, drawing on shifting cultural ideas about human frailty and progress, continuing social and economic exchanges across the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Ocean, and varying experiences of imperial constraint and possibility. This article examines how Islamic legal actors in Qatar shaped sociotechnical contestations in the course of the twentieth century. Focusing on medical technology and the problem of drunk driving in the 1960s, I show how Islamic procedural law became connected to new regimes of expertise and modern forms of power inextricably tied to the Qatari nation-state. I suggest that the Islamic legal concepts mobilized by the ulama, which initially served to protect a space of Muslim privacy against technological anonymity and the regulatory ambitions of the modern state, became increasingly unintelligible as the expansive logics of state bureaucracy were adopted and naturalized.

PERSPEKTIF PENDIDIKAN HUMANISTIK PADA “PATA DELA” ORANG BAJAWA DI FLORES BAGIAN TENGAH

Both culture and education have an impact on one another; on the one hand, the cultural background shapes the educational system, and on the other, education helps spread cultural norms and values. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the humanistic educational ideas put out by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers relate to the ideals found in pata dela, an intangible cultural heritage of the Bajawa people. The researcher's experience as a Bajawa community member served as the basis for data gathering in this qualitative study, which was validated by literary sources. This study's primary focus is oral transmission of pata dela, and it analyzes this by relating its values to the notion of humanistic education. The results of the study show that Maslow's theory of basic needs and self-actualization are pertinent to the ideals found in pata dela. In keeping with the ideas put out by Rogers, pata dela also highlights the value of empathy and healthy social relationships. As a result, pata dela can be an important teaching tool that combines cultural and contemporary educational ideas. This study highlights how pata dela values can support the growth of culture-based education and enhance humanistic education theory.

<i>Rhyta </i>and <i>kernoi </i>from the Domasław cemetery

Unique ceremonial vessels such as rhyta, kernoi and pseudokernoi were discovered in a cemetery from the Early Iron Age in Domasław (Poland). The appearance of such vessels proves that the societies of the Hallstatt culture adopted cultural ideas, feasting and drinking practises and offerings from the Mediterranean world. GC-MS analyses were carried out on five vessels and compared with pottery from the Domasław cemetery (74 samples) and the nearby settlement of Milejowice (46 samples). The investigations show that the examined vessels probably contained ceremonial drinks and liquids used for offerings and libations during funeral ceremonies.