Intercultural Contact Research Articles

Acculturation in a globalised world: implications for theory and educational policy and practice

PurposeThis article examines the existing body of knowledge on acculturation, identifies the gaps, discusses its potential consequences for theory and proposes a possible way forward for educational policy and practice in the globalised world.Design/methodology/approachThe body of knowledge on acculturation has developed tremendously during the last century. However, some scholars are critical of its impact on acculturating people, particularly in the societies of settlement. This paper adopted an integrative literature review approach to critique and synthesise the published text on acculturation and education in the era of globalisation.FindingsDespite phenomenal growth in acculturation research and theory, the dominant perspectives and research methodologies hardly help to respond to the emerging trends in intercultural contact and its associated issues in education. A culture learning approach to the study of acculturation can help address the existing gaps, extend the theory, draw contextualised conclusions and take appropriate steps in education to prepare younger generations for an interconnected and interdependent world.Research limitations/implicationsResearchers and practitioners in education may need to be sensitive to the sociopolitical realities in a given context and contextualise their educational endeavours in preparing younger generations for an ever-changing social world.Practical implicationsThis narrative review suggests that an intercultural learning approach to education in contemporary times may better facilitate acculturation processes amongst immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Educational systems in multicultural societies may need to undertake context-specific interventions for immigrant children and adolescents in helping them acculturate to the societies of their settlement.Social implicationsAn intercultural approach to education in general and social studies education, in particular, can help younger generations better respond to the emerging trends of acculturation in the multicultural societies of their residence.Originality/valueGiven that young people follow diverse trajectories of acculturation, irrespective of their status of immigration, researchers in cross-cultural studies may need to reflect on existing theories, approaches, frameworks and methodologies with greater sensitiveness to the ecological context, cultural distance hypothesis and the nature of intercultural contact for a deeper understanding of immigrants' acculturation in plural societies.

Diversity ideologies and flourishing: An Australian study comparing polyculturalism, multiculturalism, and colorblindness

In pluralistic societies such as Australia, an emerging diversity ideology of polyculturalism promotes sharing ideas and practices among people from diverse cultural traditions. What are the psychological associations of endorsing polyculturalism in contrast to multiculturalism and colorblindness, especially for an individual’s psychological well-being? We tested a path model to investigate if diversity ideologies are associated with flourishing through ethnocultural empathy, intercultural contact quality, and cultural identity clarity, using questionnaire responses of 255 Australians. The results supported our hypothesis that polyculturalism is associated with higher ethnocultural empathy and higher-quality intercultural contact and with higher flourishing through these pathways. Simultaneously, polyculturalism also associated with lower cultural identity clarity and indirectly with lower flourishing through this pathway. In contrast, the results did not support the link between these mediators and multiculturalism or colorblindness. Our findings indicate that polyculturalism has both positive and negative associations with eudaimonic well-being for those who endorse this ideology and suggest the increasing relevance of polyculturalism for Australians and the need for further research.

Who adopts the culture of ethnic minority groups? A personality perspective on majority-group members’ acculturation

Acculturation is commonly conceptualized as a two-way process in which all groups involved in intercultural contact change. Yet, very little is known about the acculturation orientations of majority-group members and the factors that differentiate those who adopt aspects of minority groups’ culture from those who reject them. In the present research, we for the first time aimed to answer this question from a personality perspective. A total of 301 White majority-group members living in the U.S. first completed a personality assessment and then indicated the extent to which they maintained their own culture and adopted the culture of ethnic minority groups. Our analytic approach combined top-down variable-centered and bottom-up person-centered analyses. In terms of variable-centered analyses, participants who adopted the culture of minority groups scored lower on conscientiousness and higher on openness. Moreover, adoption of minority-group cultures was positively associated with the personality facets sociability and inquisitiveness, and negatively with modesty and prudence. In terms of person-centered analyses, four acculturation clusters emerged, resembling strategies commonly observed among minority groups: marginalization, separation, integration and a diffuse strategy in which participants scored around the midpoint on own culture maintenance as well as minority culture adoption. Interestingly, especially this diffuse cluster differed from the other clusters on personality traits and facets, with participants tending to be more open than integrated and separated individuals, and less conscientious than separated individuals. The present report suggests that personality traits may help explain how majority-group members acculturate and highlights avenues for future research.

Naqshbandi Sufism in Southern Chile: A Case Study

The present article presents the motivations and perceptions of Chilean Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufis. The research sought a deeper understanding of the experience of these practices in contemporary Chile, studying a specific case and some of its effects on the social integration of the participants. Perceptions of the intercultural contact involved were recorded and analyzed, with phenomena such as prejudices and discrimination, considering the country’s mainly Christian context. The most important themes analyzed in the results were the centrality of the concept of “search” and the weight of the figure of the master as motivating factors

A Qualitative Exploration of Intercultural Contact between Domestic and International Undergraduate Students

ABSTRACT To assess the influence of quality of contact on attitudes towards intercultural communication while quantity remained constant, 21 domestic-international undergraduate student pairs engaged in four 30-minute semi-structured interaction tasks over the course of a semester. Following each interaction, the 42 participants wrote reflections. Using content analysis, these reflections were coded for major themes. Predominant themes common to both domestic and international students include: Thought-provoking, Learning, and Connection. The least predominant themes common to both domestic and international students include: Stereotype-confirm, No Personal Change, Own-reject, and Awkward. Examination of the most and least predominant themes indicate support for the contact hypothesis.

Межгрупповое доверие русских в поликультурных регионах России: роль ценностей и межкультурных контактов

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship of values and intercultural contacts with intergroup trust among the Russian ethnic minority in two multicultural regions of Russia — the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (RNO-A), the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR). Background. The study of out-group trust is important for multicultural societies. Out-trust contributes to the harmonization of intercultural relations, overcoming unstable social interactions and leads to important public benefits, including personal and social well-being. However, in Russia, trust was studied among the ethnic majority and in the context of acculturation problems. Study design. We conducted a socio-psychological survey. Data collection took place in towns and villages of North Ossetia-A and KBR, where the Russians live compactly. We used the “snowball” method. Respondents received blank questionnaires, completed them and returned them to the researcher. Participants. The sample included 593 Russian respondents. In RSO-A, the sample included 291 re¬spondents (29% of men, average age M=44,6); in KBR the sample included 302 respondents (36% of men, average age M=42,7). Measurements. We used Personal Values Questionnaire — Revised (Schwartz), the Yamagishi scale of trust, the scale of intercultural friendship contacts from the Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies project (MIRIPS). Results. The results showed that in RNO-A, Openness to change values, Conservation values were positively associated, and Self-Enhancement values were negatively related to out-group trust through intercultural contacts only. Intensive intercultural contacts of Russians also moderated the positive relationship between Openness to change values and out-group trust. In KBR, Self-Enhancement values had direct and indirect (through intercultural contacts) negative effects on out-group trust only. Intercultural contacts also moderated the negative relationship between Self-Enhancement values and out-group trust. Conclusions. In general, the results showed that the characteristics of the sociocultural context determine the significance of different values for out-group trust. In the situation of favorable intercultural relations and in “the close” religious context (RNO-A), if the Russians interact intensively with the dominant ethnic group representatives, then their values focused on the self-direction thought and action, openness to the world increase out-group trust. In “the distant” religious context in the situation of interethnic tension (KBR), if the Russians interact intensively with dominant ethnic groups representatives, then their values of achievement, power, “preserving their own face” reduce out-group trust.

Накануне восстания 1916 г.: итоги и проблемы колонизации российско-китайского приграничья

The publication introduces into scientific circulation the annual report of the head of the resettlement department in the Ust-Kamenogorsk and Zaysan districts of the Semipalatinsk region of the Steppe Territory, based on the data of the year 1915. The document was deposited in the collection of the Resettlement Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property (No. 391), stored in the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg). The survey report is supplemented by a concluding note by V.A. Sayenko, the head of the Migration department of the Ust-Kamenogorsk and Zaysan districts. It is concluded that the success of the settling of the border region is determined not so much by the number of immigrants as by the scale of their settlement and integration. It is noted that in the future the territories of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Zaysan districts would allow significantly increasing the scale of resettlement, and the “Russification” of border areas would create the necessary conditions for ensuring security at the borders of the Empire. The document serves as a vivid example of how a contemporary interprets the migration process, realizing Slavic resettlement as a manifestation of state policy on the colonization of the Asian outskirts. The report provides estimates of the size of the displaced population and the current results of the agrarian colonization of the Russian-Chinese borderlands. It contains scenarios for the accelerated modernization of both nomadic and resettlement societies and options for optimizing economic and intercultural contacts. The conclusion is made about the colonization potential of this territory, and recommendations for the implementation of colonization policy are provided in the context of Russia’s economic and military-political interests in a strategically important region.

Инклюзивные и эксклюзивные идентичности и контакты: роль ценностей и статуса этнической группы

Background. Identity and contacts are often studied from the perspective of inherent conflict potential for intergroup relations leading to prejudice and exclusion in societies which contain groups with different ethnic status. Nonetheless, there are certain identification and interaction mechanisms that can potentially mitigate or cancel these harmful effects. These comprise inclusive contacts and identities, in particular the positive inclusive identities, which allow to unite the representatives of different groups. It is important to find out what determines these identities and contacts. Schwartz’s theory of individual values has great potential for explaining the personality determinants of identities positivity and the intensity of contacts. Objective. The aim of the study was to examine the role of individual values and status of ethnic group in assessing the positivity of exclusive and inclusive identities, as well as in the intensity of exclusive and inclusive contacts among members of ethnic majority and minority groups. Design. The study was conducted on a sample of an ethnic minority (Russians living in the North Caucasus) and on a sample of an ethnic majority (Russians living in Moscow). The total sample size is = 499 respondents. The individual values were measured using a portrait value questionnaire – PVQ-R (Schwartz et al., 2012); positivity of ethnic identity, positivity of civic identity, positivity of regional identity, intercultural contacts, monocultural contacts were measured using the appropriate methods from the questionnaire of the MIRIPS project (Mutual intercultural relations in plural societies) (Berry, 2017). Results. The study found that (1) the values of Conservation underlie the positivity of exclusive ethnic and inclusive civic identities among members of the ethnic majority, (2) values of Openness to Change underlie exclusive monocultural contacts among ethnic minority and majority members, (3) values of Self-Enhancement underlie inclusive intercultural contacts among members of the ethnic minority. Conclusion. The results of this study revealed the motivational foundations of exclusive monocultural and inclusive intercultural friendship, which were based on the values of personal focus among the Russian ethnic minority and majority members. At the same time, the values of social focus turned out to underlie the positivity of the exclusive ethnic Russian and inclusive civic Russian identity among the ethnic Russian majority members. The research results have a wide potential for further theoretical and practical application in the field of intercultural relations and their harmonization.

The dynamic specificity of interlingual interference within the context of virtual space: towards the theoretical framework of the phenomenon (by the example of political discourse)

This paper deals with the problem of interference within the context of language convergence in virtual space. The study aims to analyze in detail the role of virtual space communication as a new favorable environment for interferential processes not just on the structural level, on the conceptual level too, since deviation from language norms as a serving instrument in terms of formation of the linguistic picture of the world results in changing the way one conceptualizes reality. The major research methods are contrastive analysis and conceptual analysis. The practical significance of the research is determined by the fact that its results can be used in the educational process, for example, when teaching various courses in intercultural communication, political psychology, sociology, cultural and contact linguistics, (foreign) language teaching, cross-cultural pragmatics, etc. The authors come to a conclusion that significant modifications on the conceptual level occur due to language contacts intensification and because of a stable interference pattern in speech and affect communicants’ behavior. This in turn leads to conceptual transformation in language and, as a result, in the way of thinking. The most significant manifestation of this phenomenon can be seen in the political life of the society.

VISUALIZING THE KNOWLEDGE DOMAIN OF INTERCULTURAL CONFLICT RESEARCH BETWEEN 2000 AND 2020: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Ponte Academic JournalApr 2021, Volume 77, Issue 4 VISUALIZING THE KNOWLEDGE DOMAIN OF INTERCULTURAL CONFLICT RESEARCH BETWEEN 2000 AND 2020: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSISAuthor(s): Weiping Wu ,Renzhong Peng, Jingshuang ChenJ. Ponte - Apr 2021 - Volume 77 - Issue 4 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2021.4.1 Abstract:With the acceleration and deepening of globalization, intercultural conflicts have become an inevitable problem in the increasing intercultural contacts. Therefore, this essay conducts a bibliometric study on intercultural conflict research by using CiteSpace software to analyzing 139 academic articles from the year 2000 to 2020 in four aspects: the distribution of publication outputs, major subject categories, highly cited authors, and research hotspots. The research ?ndings show that the overall trend of the number of published papers on intercultural conflict research is increasing and the major journal sources are International Journal of Intercultural Relations, International Journal of Conflict Management, Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, Human Relations, and Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. The top five highly publication subject categories are Psychology, Business & Economics, Management, Social Sciences-Other Topics, and Communication. The top five highly cited authors are Geert Hofstede, Kwok Leung, Michele Gelfand, Harry Triandis, and Christopher Earley. The top four research hotspots are conflict management, conflict avoidance, conflict resolution, and cultural-values conflict. These findings to the status and trends of intercultural conflict research provide an abundant and clear snapshot of this field; this might assist researchers and scholars to deepen the understanding of intercultural conflict and shed new light on future directions. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

The phenomenon of happiness in the Muslim tradition

The need for research in the field of the designated problems is determined by the changing circumstances of the life of modern society on a global scale. In recent years, interfaith interactions in the world have not inspired optimism on improving intercultural contacts (one can mention the rejection of the policy of multiculturalism in Western Europe, terrorist attacks in France and other places, conflicts in the Middle East, etc.). The modern world demonstrates a blatant misunderstanding of others by social communities and the increasing conflict nature of the social environment. Hence the importance of academic developments of a humanistic nature. The author’s goal is to show the general and specific understanding of the phenomenon of happiness in Muslim culture. The Muslim tradition sees the happiness of a Muslim in a deep faith in Allah and adherence to a behavioral model, the example of which is the Prophet Muhammad. It is in the observance of Sharia law that lies the foundation of stability in the life of the global ummah (Muslim community) itself, as well as its relations with the outside world. The work methods for this paper were, first of all, a content analysis of Muslim texts, a review of the historiography of the problem of understanding of happiness by Muslims, as well as direct contact with the Nizhny Novgorod Muslim Tatars during field studies expressed in in-depth interviews (1995–2000). The novelty of the work lies in the choice of the Muslim discourse of understanding happiness as the object of the author’s consideration. As a result of the study, the author comes to confirm the idea that knowledge about the worldview attitudes of other cultures can help relieve tension in human communications at different levels. The data stated above are a confirmation of the Qur’anic tradition of finding means for peaceful communication between different ethnicities, as well as the works of Muslim scholars aimed at establishing good neighbor relationships in strengthening intercultural communication.

СОЦІОКУЛЬТУРНА СКЛАДОВА СОЦІАЛІЗАЦІЇ ІНОЗЕМНИХ СТУДЕНТІВ

The analysis of the process of socialization of foreign students is carried out. The role of the socio-cultural component of socialization of foreign students is substantiated. The role of the socio-cultural aspect in the process of human socialization is highlighted. The analysis of the last sources and publications is carried out. It is noted that socialization is considered as a set of certain components: social adaptation involves the process of adaptation to changing conditions or requirements of society; education involves specially organized, controlled influences; individualization involves analysis and interaction with natural influences. The multifaceted definition of "status" is considered as a state of an individual in a certain social group, which has a number of components that determine the features of a set of status-role functions of each student. An important component of modern society - socio-cultural space. The peculiarities of the socio-cultural space are determined by the development of new technologies and means of communication. The main characteristics of the socio-cultural space of modern society as a new level of overcoming cultural barriers and cultural differences of intercultural contacts are described. The result of the socio-cultural component of socialization determines the presence of values and spiritual landmarks of society. The structure of the socio-cultural component of the socialization of a foreign student is represented: personality as a subject of interaction; society as a set of individuals interacting with socio-cultural relations and processes; culture as a set of values, values and norms possessed by individuals who are in interaction, and a set of carriers that objectify, socialize and reveal these values. The study of the socio-cultural component of socialization as a scientific phenomenon takes place at four levels: methodological, species, factor, status. It is concluded that the socio-cultural component of the socialization of foreign students depends on the characteristics of the educational and cultural environment of the institution of higher education, and on the cultural environment of society as a whole. These two factors are designed to provide favorable conditions for the active entry of a foreign student into a new society.

Home-Based Acculturation and Chinese Attitude Toward Intercultural Marriage: A Cross-Generational Comparison

This paper explores factors associated with intergenerational differences in home-based acculturation (HBA) and the attitude of Chinese college students and their parents toward intercultural marriage with a focus on China’s cultural context where parents have a strong influence on child’s decisions. In two related studies, we recruited a total of 749 Chinese college students and parents (387 in Study 1 and 362 in Study 2; all are living in China) to participate in the survey. The results indicate that (a) online intercultural contact is positively associated with HBA; (b) HBA is a strong predictor of attitude of intercultural marriages by Chinese parents and college students and the socioeconomic status has a divergent effect on the two groups; and (c) Chinese college students and parents differ in terms of their HBA and online intercultural contact. Findings from the research add knowledge to our understanding of the impact of globalization and digitalization on acculturation and Chinese residents’ perspectives on intercultural marriage.

Intercultural communication in the field of pilgrimage tourism: a sample of the syllabus

The article analyses the requirements for tourism professionals professional training, summarises the results of the pedagogical practice analysis and substantiates the significance and relevance of the course "Intercultural communication in the field of pilgrimage tourism." The author emphasises the necessity of the integrative approach application to professional training, in particular, to the compilation of syllabi of disciplines, carries out the analysis of the basic terms of the research. The researcher stresses the importance of the future specialist intercultural awareness for effective communicative interaction with the representatives of other cultural groups in order to conduct an intercultural interaction at the level of an individual or a group, apply knowledge about cultural characteristics in the communication process and more. The purpose of the course is described taking into account the requirements of the current tourist labour market. The researcher singles out religious and pilgrimage tourism as widespread today. In Ukraine, religious tourism is gaining considerable popularity among both domestic and foreign tourists. The growth in the number of tourists entails an increase in intercultural contacts during tourist trips. This, in turn, poses a new challenge to tourism educational institutions in terms of the specialists professional training quality in this field, taking into consideration their knowledge of one or more foreign languages. Further work on the subject of the research consists in the compilation of methodical recommendations for the purpose of teaching a course in foreign languages in the educational process of training specialists in the field of tourism.

A Study on Intercultural Contact Factors and Acculturation: a Survey of African Merchants in Guangzhou

This paper adopted a qualitative study of questionnaires to identity how selected intercultural contact factors are correlated with psychological and sociocultural adaptation.
 It is found that psychological and sociocultural adaptation situations of African merchants in Guangzhou are both moderately well;psychological adaptation of African merchants was proved to be correlated with 5 intercultural contact factors.; the sociocultural adaptation of African merchants was proved to be correlated with 5 intercultural contact factors;correlation analysis proved that outgroup social support has a stronger positive correlation with both psychological and sociocultural adaptation than ingroup social support, which is the main source of social support for African merchants;the overlapping and strength differences of correlations show that the two acculturation dimensions of African merchants are distinct and interrelated, thus verified the Colleen Ward's two-dimension acculturation model in the group of African merchants in Guangzhou.

Approaches to studying abroad in Brazil and their effects on language learning and intercultural contact

Even though student mobility is increasingly frequent, the predominant direction is mainly from countries considered peripheral to those that have more economic and political representation (Altbach, 2004; OECD, 2015). This study investigated the reasons why students go to Brazil, the composition of their social networks, and their implications for learning Portuguese as a foreign language. This research had a mixed methods longitudinal design, in which 98 participants completed two questionnaires (i.e. in August and November 2016). A thematic analysis of the reasons that participants presented for going to Brazil resulted in three general “approaches”: Actors, interested in idiosyncrasies of studying in Brazil; Observers, interested in having an experience abroad; and Riders, who had Brazil as a convenient choice. This classification not only predicted Portuguese language levels, but was related to participants’ home countries, supporting an articulation of SA in terms of core-periphery relations (Wallerstein, 2004).

REVISITING THE LATE BRONZE AGE STAROSILLIA DEPOSIT FROM THE CHERCASSY REGION

Thirty eight years ago the set of bronze tools found near the Starosillia village in Gorodyshche district of Cherkasy region has been published. This Late Bronze Age deposit remains one of the most known in the region. Three «celts», sleeve chisel and cast bracelet were preserved till the present time (fig. 1). These finds are kept in the Cherkasy Museum of local history.
 Starosillia deposit is important in terms of identification of main intercultural connections and contacts in the late 2nd mil. BC. The evidence, obtained over the last several dozen years, makes possible the new attribution of finds, their typology, area of spread and dating. Besides this, new publication of Starosillia deposit with drawing and photos of a high quality (it should be noted that the article of D. Telegin is lacking the drawing of one «celt») is required. This is why we need to turn back to the deposit.
 Two «celts» belong (fig. 3, 4) to the Dichevo type (Oinacu variant) according to V. Dergachev. Their origin is linked to Lower Danube center, from where these tools were spread in the North Pontic region, the area of Noua and Sabatynivka (later — early Bilozerka) cultures. Double-eyelet «celt» (fig. 2) belongs to Kardashynka type according to V. Dergachev. Such tools were used in late Sabatynivka and early Bilozerka time. In case of the analyzed region, such tools are referred to populations of Bilozerka culture, while the related molds were mainly found in the Lower Dnieper region. This is also the case of sleeve chisels (fig. 5) which are being similar to the find from Starosillia. Cast bracelet (fig. 6) from the deposit is typical for Sabatynivka and Bilozerka cultures, from which such bracelets could spread to the area of Bilogrudivka culture. Thus, the deposition of Starosillia deposit may be dated to the early Bilozerka time (HaA1), 12th century BC, when the Middle Dnieper region was inhabited by populations of Bilogrudivka culture.

ANTHROPOLOGY AND ARCHAEOGENETICS OF THE PREHISTORIC POPULATION OF UKRAINE: COORDINATION OF RESULTS

The process of the prehistoric population formation in the territory of Ukraine has become the object of archaeogenetic research in the context of studying the genomic history of Southeast Europe. The work was carried out in the framework of scientific cooperation with the genetic laboratories of Grand Valley State University (USA), Harvard Medical School (USA), Universities of Uppsala (Sweden) and Copenhagen (Denmark). The study of the ancient genome of the Ukrainian population has already yielded results for the Late Mesolithic and Neolithic groups of the Middle and Lower Dnieper, the population of the Trypillia culture of Volhynia (Verteba Cave), as well as for the carriers of Yamna (Pit Grave) Culture and some more late groups of the North Pontic Region (Nikitin, Potekhina et al. 2012; 2017; Potekhina et al. 2013; Krzewińska et al. 2018; Matheison et al. 2018; Potekhina 2016; 2018; 2019; Nikitin 2020). Analysis of mitochondrial DNA from Mariupol-type cemeteries showed the dominance of mitochondrial haplogroup U, which indicates a genetic links with the Mesolithic populations of Scandinavia and the forest belt of Eastern Europe. In some cases, mitochondrial haplogroups H and C have been identified here. The existence of the latter in the Dnieper basin is still difficult to explain, as it is characteristic of eastern Eurasian groups. Genetic studies of the population of the Trypillia culture were carried out on samples dated to 3900—3500 cal BC from the Verteba cave in Volhynia. The majority of its inhabitants were carriers of the Mt haplogroup H, which connects the people of Trypillia with the Anatolian and Balkan early farmers. This haplogroup was also characteristic of farming cultures of the Central European Neolithic, but its frequency in Verteba is twice as high. The Mt haplogroup U found in one resident of Verteba may indicate contacts with hunters of the steppe Dnieper Region. Genetic polymorphism is also analyzed in the bearers of the Yamna (Pit grave) Culture of the North Pontic Region, which opens a perspective in the context of the Indo-European studies. The research has shown that among the Late Neolithic populations of the proto-European anthropological type with the dominant Mt haplogroup U, and in the early Eneolithic populations of the region, carriers of haplogroup H of the Mediterranean anthropological type appear as a result of contacts with Trypillian groups, which gradually moved in the eastern direction. The same genetic lines in different proportions are preserved in the anthropologically heterogeneous North Pontic population of Yamna Culture. Expanding the analysis of genetic markers of ancient craniological complexes will facilitate the interpretation of the results of archaeogenetic research. Given the historical and anthropological context, they are promising for the study of intercultural contacts and migrations in the early history of the population of Ukraine.

Introduction. Gift and Tribute in Early Modern Diplomacy: Afro-Eurasian Perspectives

Abstract Gifts and tribute have become a mainstay of scholarship on early modern diplomacy, particularly in studies of intercultural contacts. While New Diplomatic History has shown that a much wider and more global range of actors participated in shaping diplomatic contacts than was traditionally assumed, we still remain some distance removed from a truly global account of the interactive development of diplomatic norms and practices. This introduction situates the contributions in the special issue on “Gifts and Tribute in Early Modern Diplomacy: Afro-Eurasian Perspectives” within a survey of recent literature. It suggests that future scholarship on early modern diplomacy ought to focus on the ways in which global entanglements affected the structures, norms, and practices of inter-polity relations on a global scale. To achieve such an integrated account, future research will need to draw on an expanded range of voices, languages, concepts, and sources, as well as more concerted scholarly collaborations.

The intercultural speaker across time: a study of Tunisian EFL textbooks

ABSTRACT This paper examines the extent to which the intercultural speaker is promoted through intercultural contacts in five Tunisian EFL textbooks produced in five different periods in the history of English language teaching in Tunisia. Using content analysis, the study evaluated the textbooks’ representation of intercultural contacts in texts and activities. The results revealed that intercultural contacts were limited in frequency and variety in both contents and activities, and that textbooks were mainly meant to teach language forms and language skills. Despite being designed in different periods and using different teaching methods, textbooks did not differ in their representation of contacts and their potential to develop the intercultural speaker’s competencies in learners. It is suggested that more importance should be given to intercultural contacts in the current textbook series to make them more responsive to learners’ increasing needs for intercultural communication skills.