Scholars Of Culture Research Articles

Stewarding Contextual Integrity in Data Services for Indigenous Scholarship

ABSTRACTThe CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance provide essential guideposts for the stewardship of Indigenous data. To put CARE into practice in libraries and repositories, resources are needed to support implementation and integration into current research data services (RDS). Based on analysis of case studies with scholars of Indigenous language and culture, this paper articulates specific Indigenous research and data practices to guide metadata work and other areas of responsibility in RDS. The cases surface the richness of relationships and the significance of accountability in the research process—demonstrating the “relational accountability” inherent in Indigenous research methods. Robust representation of relationality is essential to retaining integrity of context in metadata for Indigenous research data. We consider the practical implications of documenting relational context with current descriptive metadata approaches and challenges in achieving CARE adherent metadata, which we argue is the backbone for broader application of CARE for Indigenous RDS.

Poetic ‘Hypertext’, Evocative ‘Figure-in-Landscape’, and the Reading of Illustrated Plays in the Late Ming

Abstract Scholars of late Ming print culture have noted a ‘scenic’ shift in book illustrations of the late Wanli period. But how did the ‘scenic’ style vary across different genres of books, and what impact did such variations have on reading? This article examines a series of drama illustrations attributed to the Hangzhou publisher Rongyu tang (RYT), and explores the RYT’s subtle reconfigurations of the relationships between figures, landscapes, and poetic captions to produce new experiences of reading plays. I argue that the RYT developed its own repertoire of ‘figures-in-landscape’ that, while intersecting with visual motifs in a wide range of paintings and prints, distinguish themselves through the fine-tuning of the relative size of figure to landscape and the integrating of poetic ‘hypertexts’. Through close examination of three figure types – traveler, fisherman, and female performer – in landscape, I show that the images gave rise to a poetically recollective, visually evocative, and culturally contextualized mode of reading that appealed to varying levels of knowledge and interests. They afforded readers the flexibility to immerse themselves in the atmosphere or emotions of select scenes, to reflect on the overarching themes of the plays, or to take an imaginative flight out of drama to appreciate the images’ broader poetic and visual associations.

Charting the Future of K-Pop: Navigating Globalization, Technological Innovations, and Cultural Dynamics in the Next Five Years

This research explores the future trends of K-pop by analyzing the genre's trajectory in the context of globalization, technological innovations, cultural dynamics, and sustainability. The study provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing K-pop's global expansion and the implications for various stakeholders, including music industry professionals, cultural analysts, and scholars of global pop culture. Through a descriptive and analytical research design, utilizing secondary data from existing literature, online resources, and industry reports, the study identifies key themes such as cultural hybridization, technological advancements, fan engagement, and ethical practices. The findings reveal that K-pop's success is driven by its ability to blend diverse cultural elements, leverage digital platforms and VR/AR technologies, foster participatory fan culture, and adopt sustainable practices. These insights offer theoretical, managerial, and practical implications for the future of the K-pop industry, highlighting the need for an integrative approach to understanding its global impact and sustainability.

Militarization and popular culture in the shadow of war: the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest

Abstract What is the political role of cultural mega-events in the context of ongoing war? The article examines the interaction between cultural mega-events and militarization processes in the shadow of war. It addresses two main gaps: the lack of attention to the politics of such events during war, and the specific understanding of militarization usually adopted by popular culture scholars. It examines the development of material and symbolic forms of militarization, and addresses the impact of the commercial logic behind mega-events on the intensification and normalization of militarized practices. Empirically, the article focuses on the different militarization processes that developed in and through the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It examines how these play out in Ukraine (through the militarization of the band Kalush Orchestra and the militarization of the Ukrainian song ‘Stefania’), within the Eurovision contest itself and across Europe (through its participation in the competition). In doing so it also contributes to the broader debate about the changing security identity of Europe, and the development of a new militarized liberal European identity. Using data from social media, the article also highlights the role of such platforms in militarization processes.

The return of long-lost Sumero-Akkadian heritage and modern disorders: rediscovering Gilgamesh, Victorian tension, and aftermath

Much has been said about the paradigms that generated and complexed the Victorian and post-Victorian tension, but surprisingly enough no sufficient attention was given to the role of the rediscovery of the Epic of Gilgamesh in this process. This paper first follows the actual origin, process, and importance of the rediscovery and reception of Gilgamesh since the second half of the nineteenth century. Second, the paper argues that Gilgamesh controversy has been central to the great multifaceted tension that defined the Victorian and post-Victorian periods. Finally, the paper attempts to answer the questions of why Gilgamesh has been deemed as a subject of great interest and importance for the modern literary and cultural scholars and general public and what aspects of themselves and their culture they recognized in the ancient Mesopotamian epic and its hero. Such discussions help increasing contemporary awareness of the more famous and more notable than all of cuneiform literatures, the Gilgamesh Epic, and lead therefore to raising awareness of the high richness of Ancient Near Eastern heritage and the crucial significance of preserving Sumer’s and Babylon’s legacy for future generations.

Black girl joy in the media: an intergenerational perspective

ABSTRACT As Black women critical cultural scholars, we reflect on our motivations for engaging with media. Our intentions are different but our passions are the same as we recognize the value and necessity of the media and the need for positive representation. Toward that end, we use intersectionality as a lens to draw particular attention to the affirming depictions in television that celebrate Black womanhood and bring us Black girl joy from an intergenerational perspective. We have each chosen the shows The First Wives Club (2019–present) and Harlem (2021–) to illustrate these points and the continued significance of Black sisterhood. We celebrate the past, present, and future Black women storytellers who choose their cultural, financial, and social capital to amplify our voices in ways that others cannot and will not. Through this work, we remain hopeful and excited about the stories that are yet to come as they hold a reservoir of Black joy and hope in which we will forever indulge.

The prevalence and portrayal of Asian Americans in advertising: a comparative content analysis over three decades

Few studies have examined the prevalence and portrayal of Asian Americans in advertising; and those that have done so are outdated. To address this gap in the literature, the present study first examines the prevalence and portrayal of Asian Americans in advertising produced by the top 25 advertisers in the United States from 2010 to 2019; and then compares these findings to previous studies examining the portrayal of Asian Americans in advertising from the past three decades. Factors analyzed from a longitudinal perspective include (1) frequency of representation, (2) ad setting, (3) product category, and (4) role prominence. To build on these findings, the present study also analyzed how Asian Americans were portrayed in terms of their integration with actors and models of other races. Insights from this study contribute to knowledge about the prevalence and portrayal of Asian Americans in modern advertising as compared to the previous three decades and pose important questions about the potential societal impact of such portrayals. Findings also offer useful practical implications for advertisers seeking to leverage the buying power of the important and growing Asian American audience and suggest important areas of future research for cultural scholars, diversity advocates, and policymakers.

Enterprise culture, neoliberalization, and cable television at the last-mile: A case-study of local cable operators in Mumbai

This paper centers last-mile distribution networks of cable television as a prism to analyze the political-economic, socio-spatial, and subjective transformations brought about by neoliberal reforms in India. I provide an on-ground perspective of enterprise culture and entrepreneurial citizenship based on an ethnography of Mumbai-based last-mile distributors of cable television also called cablewallahs. In the wake of their disempowerment in the television distribution value-chain, cablewallahs represent themselves as entrepreneurs at the core of India’s digital economy. I combine insights from enterprise culture scholarship, television studies and anthropologies of masculinity, to shed light on this enactment in the paper. I demonstrate that cablewallahs configure their citizenship as ‘entrepreneurial’ by aspiring to middle-class valorised notions of respectability and civic duty and sustaining their last-mile networks through intimate knowledge of clientele, networks of male conviviality and vernacular solidarities. I argue that in Mumbai, entrepreneurial citizenship emerges as a useful gendered subjective disposition for navigating socio-economic marginalization and subjective-material changes in neighbourhood identity brought about by neoliberalization.

Impact of a Structured Roadmap, Individual Accountability and Support, and Outcome Measurement on the Culture of Scholarship in a Residency Program.

Despite scholarly activity being an accreditation requirement for residency programs by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) since 2006, many family medicine programs have struggled to meet this requirement. A myriad of approaches and curricula have been proposed to enhance the scholarly output of residency programs. To determine the impact of a multimodal curricular intervention consisting of clear expectations, structured roadmap, availability of resources, and standardized accountability on the scholarly activity of residents. This is a quasi-experimental study with a retrospective data collection. The scholarly activities of residents completing training in the pre-intervention (2009-2012) and post-intervention period (2013-2017) were compared. Chi-square, Fisher's exact, Mann Whitney U, and Kruskal Wallis H tests were utilized to detect differences between the pre- and post-intervention groups. Multivariable Poisson regression models were used to detect independent predictors of per-resident scholarly activity. The institutional review board determined that the study was exempt from full review. A total of 67 residents, 20 (30%) pre-intervention and 47 (70%) post-intervention, were included in the analysis. The number of total scholarly activities per resident increased significantly in the post-intervention period after adjusting for confounding factors (1.9 vs 6.4). The number of scholarly activities per resident also showed an increasing trend over time (P = .04). Moreover, traditional scholarship, including published manuscripts (0.35 vs 2.43) and national-level presentations (0.35 vs 1.27) also increased in the post-intervention period. Implementing this comprehensive curriculum increased the scholarly output of residents and helped enrich the scholarship culture in the residency program.

Diasporic Identity in Contemporary Sinophone Literature: The Role of Language and Cultural Elements.

Amidst the contemporary diasporic landscape in Sinophone literature, this research critically examines the nexus of language, culture, and identity. The study aims to analyze literary pieces composed in Sinophone languages across diverse diasporic communities and uncover the impact of language and cultural elements on the articulation and comprehension of diasporic identity. This paper used the following. comparative and typological research, an in-depth analysis of three Sinophonic texts, and contextual analysis. The subject of the study was three texts: The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan), Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie), and The Woman Warrior (Maxine Hong Kingston). The results showed that In The Joy Luck Club, language and cultural facets unveil the characters' dual identity struggles due to living abroad, exemplified through code-switching's psychological tension. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress utilizes language and cultural details to underscore the significance of preserving heritage within the diaspora, with literary allusions amplifying this endeavor. In The Woman Warrior, language and cultural elements reflect the heroine's inner conflict as she navigates her dual cultural allegiance. This scholarly revelation deepens comprehension of how these aspects influence identity formation in the diaspora. These findings broaden the understanding of Sinophone diasporic literature, spotlighting shared trends in identity portrayal through language and culture. The research has theoretical value for literary, cultural, and anthropological studies and practical significance, potentially informing educational initiatives on diasporic literature and cultural diversity. This study's outcomes hold relevance for students, researchers, and cultural scholars exploring the role of language and culture in diasporic identity expression.

Building and Sustaining a Research Culture

Plenty of research tells us that culture is the most essential ingredient in a healthy organization, yet there are many colleagues who wonder whether research has a healthy place in their campus cultures. The reflections here—originally offered during a discussion at the CCCU’s International Forum in 2022—offer some suggestions for nurturing the place of research on campus. Throughout, an assumption is made that students will be the beneficiaries of a robust scholarly culture. They will live in a community where a spirit of inquiry enriches teaching and a longing for knowledge and understanding enhances faith and service. Additionally, a case is made for research as a vital part of a Christian academic community—a perspective many colleagues share, even amid the tensions over how to pursue it.

“This is a strange country” – along the Sicilian paths of Polish travelers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries

Since the romantic jurney novelist devoted to Italy, having an tremendous interest from literary historians and cultural scholars side, already have untold studies number, therefore this text concerns Polish travel prose from the later period: the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the next. The monographic approach to the topic would significantly exceed the size of the article, so I limited the analysis to three selected texts: Sicily. Sketches from a Journey (1896) by Michał Lityński, Letters from Sicily by Stanisław Bełza (1900), Zofia Sokołowska On the Ends of Italy (1901). An image of an island full of contrasts emerges from them – delightful with the sun of the south, exotic vegetation, attracting connoisseurs of art, lovers of ancient ruins, but whose times of glory are irrevocably gone.

The shop at ‘the head of the Town-Dock, at the Corner of Wing’s Lane’: commercial space in Colonial Boston, 1758–1769

ABSTRACT Nearly thirty years ago, Richard Bushman argued that ‘somewhere in their makeup, even small shops bore the seeds of mighty changes.’ In the three decades since Bushman’s claim, historians and material culture scholars have demonstrated that Anglo-American colonists were thoroughly enmeshed in the so-called ‘consumer revolution’ and the importance of consumer spaces to that process. However, because few colonial shops survive, the ‘makeup’ of eighteenth-century retail spaces – their layout and design, and the influence of these on consumer practices – has not been fully understood, particularly for pre-Revolutionary Boston. Weaving together textual fragments and surviving material objects, this article re-materializes and re-populates the shop where the middling merchant-shopkeeper Samuel Abbot worked between 1758 and 1769 and contextualizes it in reference to both colonial and metropolitan British spaces. Taking a micro-history approach, this article contributes to the literature on the physical spaces in which goods changed hands in colonial North America by adding Boston to studies of colonial retail spaces.

Academia’s Royal Orphan

The term “critical thinking” is barely a century old; and it is controversial, fraught with ambiguity, and often treated as an academic orphan, condemned to the margins of scholarly culture. Despite its “royal” ancestry, as the embodiment of rationality inherited from Ancient Greece, it has come to represent an isolated and sectarian field of inquiry. But philosophers would be wise to take due credit for their offspring rather than shun or disavow critical thinking; and other scholars should recognize it as their shared legacy from philosophy, and the embodiment of intellectual rigor.

Report on the scientific conference Transformations

As the world today faces various contingencies connected with the results of the global pandemic, multiple economic challenges, military conflicts, and a major environmental crisis, the University Ignatianum in Krakow has offered a new academic platform to exchange opinions and ideas regarding the transformation occurring in the contemporary world. In this spirit, the Organising Committee (dr Sylwia Janina Wojciechowska; dr Agnieszka Cierpich-Kozieł; and dr Aleksandra Kamińska), with the assistance of the Advisory Board (dr hab. Anna Bugajska, prof. AIK; dr hab. Krystyna Zabawa, prof. AIK; dr hab. Gerard Kilroy, prof. AIK; dr hab. Grażyna Maria Teresa Branny; dr Dominika Ruszkiewicz; dr Marek Liszka), as the staff members of the Institute of Modern Languages UIK, had the pleasure to introduce a new series of international conferences to be held cyclically at the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow. The Transformations Conferences will provide a discussion platform for literary and culture scholars as well as linguists specialising in the field of Anglophone studies, with each edition centred around a different topic.

Trauma Responses in Social Choreography: Accessing Agency and Opportunities for Healing through Mindful Embodiment

This article responds to the questions: how does trauma that is long-held in the body affect social choreography? And how can awareness of this intersection guide us towards individual and collective healing practices? Embodied trauma responses, commonly referred to as fight, flight, freeze, and dissociation, initially function as potentially lifesaving responses to external threats but all too often become engrained in how people move through the world and relate to one another. When these patterns of engagement become habituated, they affect the improvisational scores inherent to social choreography. Exploring trauma responses through the lens of social choreography invites increased awareness of how these patterns of behavior affect our relationships and communities. Through this awareness, the possibility of agency is increased. This essay continues the work of somatic and cultural scholars Resmaa Menakem, Staci K. Haines, and Zhiwa Woodbury, among others, whose research points to multiple continuums between how trauma is individually embodied and cultural dynamics we are experiencing globally. Drawing on the somatic work of Peter Levine and Bessel Van der Kolk, whose theories have revolutionized trauma healing, this essay offers accessible pathways to trauma sensitivity that readers can experiment with to consciously refine their own roles in social choreographies ranging from interpersonal to cultural interactions.

Experimental Translation: Techniques, Forms, Metalanguages

The aim of the article is to introduce a new series of studies on theoretical, methodological, analytical, and interpretive issues concerning “translation anomalies”. Functioning as a medium of artistic innovation and creative cognition, experimental literary translation can be compared to a laboratory, both for translators as well as literary and cultural scholars. It enables us to highlight the fundamental problems of artistic creation, the theory of literature, the theory of artistic translation and the theory of intercultural communication. On the one hand, experiments in translation confirm the necessity of using interdisciplinary research instruments; on the other hand, they show translation as a fundamental metaphor that describes the innovative and dynamic nature of technology.

Cultural Diplomacy’s Hidden Potential: Exploring Goals through Indonesian’s Scholarship Program

Cultural diplomacy is a practice that many countries have long implemented. Although it has existed for a long time, the concept of cultural diplomacy is still developing; that is, experts in this field continue to contribute to the improvement of the development of the concept. This study intends to add four objectives of cultural diplomacy based on testimonials of 52 Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship alumni in a book entitled 15 Years Indonesian Art and Culture Scholarship. Based on the responses of 52 Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship (IACS) alumni, we received and coded 292 citations and produced 10 themes related to cultural diplomacy in the IACS. Out of the 10 themes, we further set 10 cultural diplomacy goals, out of which 6 are aligned with the goals for cultural diplomacy set by an expert. However, we found four new interesting objectives that can benefit the country if used to their full potential. It is incredible to know that pure arts and cultural activities can produce various feelings that indicate the possibility of soft power.

The Cultural Role of Civil Societies and the National Parliament in the Domestic Enforcement of International Laws on Corruption in Tanzania

Social structures composed of active and responsible actors can be essential in curbing corruption. However, studies focusing on culture and corruption, especially in Africa, are scant. This article has focused on the role of culture in influencing anti-corruption efforts and enforcing international law on corruption in Tanzania. Using ethnography, the paper responds to two questions: What is the cultural role of civil societies and the media in influencing the domestic enforcement of international law? Furthermore, what is the cultural role of the Tanzanian legislature in influencing the domestic enforcement of international law? A cultural study can only be conducted after some time. It calls for a longitudinal study that considers a local context. In this regard, a case study research design has been used. The technique can explore issues over a long period and examine context-specific issues. Overall, the study's findings highlight the development of a unique culture among civil societies, which prompts the Parliament to create and formalize anti-corruption measures. The paper adds to international law, corruption, and culture scholarship

On-site Learning in Museums: Re-conceptualizations and Re-directions for Museum Education in the Post-pandemic Digital Age

As the digital age introduces an increasing amount of media technologies to traditional museum settings, a wealth of literature has found that these technologies are exerting prominent effects on museum visitor experiences. Such technical shifts in essence imply a growing part of communication activities, metaphors of media culture, and implications for technology-empowered learning based on museum institutions. New emphasis is being placed on state-of-the-art definitions of museum-technology, museum-learner, and museum-society relationships, appealing for re-conceptualizations of Museum, Museum Communication, and Museum Education, and therefore inviting communication and media culture scholars to join this discourse. Reviewing upon on-site learning issues discussed in previous museum research, this paper addresses the theoretical needs for present on-site educational practices in museums with re-conceptualizations of several important and operationalizable terms and proposes an interdisciplinary, learner-centred agenda for future museum education research and practices that are facing challenges and potential opportunities from e-learning and digital culture.