Sociocultural Diversity Research Articles

Strategies in overcoming racial and socio-cultural differences in the learning environment of post-graduate medical specialty training in South Africa.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Study problem The training of postgraduate medical students in the multi-racial landscape of South Africa has faced challenges given the need for relationships in personal mentoring and learning through legitimate participation in the community of practice (CoP), as part of cognitive apprenticeship training. A high failure rate in the exit examination had stimulated interest into understanding the nature of the learning environment. Aim and objectives The study explored conceptions of former students in a medical specialty program regarding the nature of racial and socio-cultural diversities in their learning environment, influences on learning, and how they responded to them. Methodology A qualitative enquiry using in-depth interviews with semi-structured open-ended questions and thematic analysis with a social constructionist approach of epistemology used for data analysis and interpretation. Findings Students conceived race, language, departmental culture and social identity as barriers in their learning. The lack of structured formative training with feedback, evaluation, personal mentoring, and supervision also emerged. Through resilience, adaptability, and maturity qualified students overcame these difficulties. Conclusion Current and future students may benefit by developing resilience when dealing with racial and socio-cultural differences, and findings support the inclusion of cultural competence and a multi-lens approach in medical specialty curricula.

What makes for compelling science? Evidential diversity in the evaluation of scientific arguments

Abstract Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, many members of the public remain skeptical about anthropogenic global warming. Hence, we examined how the presentation of factual scientific evidence affects lay evaluations of scientific claims. Taking inspiration from cognitive research on inductive reasoning, two studies examined the impact of evidential diversity on acceptance of claims in the domains of climate change and public health. Participants were presented with scientific claims based on competing evidence options and were asked to choose the best and worst form of evidence for each claim. The diversity of the available evidence was manipulated across three dimensions; geographical (evidence from two geographically near or far nations), socio-cultural (evidence from two culturally similar or dissimilar nations), and temporal (evidence drawn from two different periods or the same period). In both studies, diverse evidence on the geographical and socio-cultural dimension increased perceived support for scientific claims, but the relative impact of these dimensions differed between domains; geographical diversity had a larger effect on claims about climate change; socio-cultural diversity had a larger effect on claims about health. On the temporal dimension, recent non-diverse evidence (i.e. from the same recent period) increased perceived support for scientific claims more than diverse evidence. These results may have important implications for the communication of complex scientific evidence to a lay audience.

Evaluación Inclusiva e Intercultural: Una mirada a la educación en el pueblo Waorani

Resumen: Esta investigación hace un recorrido del anclaje de la inclusión y la interculturalidad en el ámbito de la educación general básica en el Ecuador, revisando los principales documentos que sustentan las políticas y las directrices y a partir de esta revisión se llega a la reflexión de la realidad observada en el Centro Comunitario de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe, ubicado en el Parque Nacional Yasuní, que da atención a escolares de la nacionalidad waorani, con el propósito de revelar el conocimiento fragmentado que se mantiene sobre las temáticas en cuestión.
 El artículo pretende dilucidar si la aplicación de instrumentos formulados para medir destrezas, habilidades, competencias necesarias en el
 desempeño escolar, requieren ser contextualizados, tomando en cuenta la diversidad sociocultural y el principio de interculturalidad planteado en la Constitución del 2008.
 Esta reflexión convoca a observar los resultados que se obtienen de la aplicación de las pruebas CUMANIN y AE-P, baterías estandarizadas y con alta confiabilidad, construidas desde contextos que no toman en cuenta las realidades socioculturales.
 Los resultados de las pruebas aplicadas no reflejan las habilidades o destrezas man ifestadas por los niños Waorani.
 De allí la convocatoria a que cualquier tipo de evaluación deberá ser previamente adaptada considerando los contextos socioculturales, para hablar de inclusión y respeto a la diversidad.

Representación de la diversidad sociocultural en la publicidad audiovisual: materiales para un tratamiento inclusivo

Nuestro objetivo es analizar el tratamiento que le otorga la publicidad audiovisual a la diversidad sociocultural, centrándonos particularmente en los rasgos fenotípicos. Proponemos también algunas líneas de actuación orientadas hacia las buenas prácticas dinamizadoras de la interculturalidad inclusiva, previniendo la reproducción de supuestos racistas o xenófobos. Metodología: hemos basado nuestro análisis en: (a) una muestra general de 834 anuncios publicitarios emitidos en franja de prime time en diversas televisiones del Estado español, (b) entrevistas en profundidad a 38 especialistas, (c) el trabajo conjunto con diversas asociaciones profesionales y organismos institucionales y (d) un estudio de recepción con 249 estudiantes universitarios. Resultados: concluimos que la diversidad fenotípica en la publicidad está infrarrepresentada con respecto a la realidad social de referencia y que las buenas prácticas inclusivas deben pasar por incorporar la diversidad multicultural en la publicidad televisiva. Subrayamos la importancia de hacerlo desde perspectivas dinamizadoras interculturales que muestren discursos con interconexiones interpersonales e intergrupales, en diferentes contextos y situaciones.

Internationalizing Nussbaum’s model of cosmopolitan democratic education

Nussbaum’s moral cosmopolitanism informs her capability-based theory of justice, which she uses in order to develop a distinctive model of cosmopolitan democratic education. I characterize Nussbaum’s educational model as a ‘statist model,’ however, because it regards cosmopolitan democratic education as necessary for realizing democratic arrangements at the domestic level. The socio-cultural diversity of virtually every nation, Nussbaum argues, renders it mandatory to educate citizens in a cosmopolitan fashion. Citizens must develop empathy and sympathy towards all co-citizens of their domestic polities and cope effectively with socio-cultural diversity. I criticize Nussbaum’s statist model, because it neglects that due to the ways in which international institutions already constrain national decision-making, citizens will not fully enjoy the human freedom of co-determining the political choices that affect their lives unless international affairs are further democratized. Therefore I suggest extending Nussbaum’s statist model and outline an ‘internationalist model’ of cosmopolitan democratic education.

La formación intercultural de los futuros maestros mexicanos de secundaria

La provisión de oportunidades para el aprendizaje intercultural a través del contacto con “lo extranjero” es fundamental para el bienestar cultural, social y económico de los países multiculturales. El contexto mexicano es de particular interés tanto por su extraordinaria diversidad sociocultural como por sus niveles epidémicos de analfabetismo intercultural. Con base en una encuesta realizada a 189 estudiantes de la Escuela Normal Superior de México, el presente artículo explora (i) la importancia percibida del contacto con “lo extranjero” como parte de la formación magisterial, (ii) el interés existente por la participación en algún programa de intercambio internacional y (iii) el nivel de experiencias concretas con “lo extranjero”. A partir de una serie de estadísticas descriptivas –que demuestran las percepciones, intereses y experiencias de los futuros maestros de secundaria– se manifiesta la importancia de un mayor compromiso institucional y gubernamental con la formación intercultural del magisterio normalista.

Thumbs Up: The effective use of music in health and well-being education for Australian Aboriginal youth in remote communities

Abstract The academic literature on Australian Indigenous health and well-being suggests an overwhelming need for education to alleviate ‘lifestyle’ diseases and social dysfunction. Yet, the socio-cultural diversity of Australian Aboriginal communities provides a challenging landscape for efficacious and long-lasting support processes. The ‘Uncle Jimmy Thumbs Up!’ (UJTU) programme is facing these issues from an innovative perspective. ‘Thumbs up’, addresses health and well-being in remote Aboriginal communities from the ground up by engaging in music education programmes with the youth of the community, which subsequently filters through to the broader community. Based on an analysis of the effectiveness of a ‘Thumbs Up’ case study, this article will present preliminary recommendations for working with Australian Indigenous youth and their broader communities through facilitated musical activities. Informal learning frameworks, which incorporate music-making shared between educators and community members, are shown to be a constructive means of engaging the youth and empowering them in the management of their health and well-being.

The challenge of providing primary healthcare care to indigenous peoples in BrazilEl desafío de brindar atención primaria de salud a los pueblos indígenas en Brasil

RESUMONo Brasil, o direito à saúde pleiteado pelos povos indígenas dialoga com diferentes marcos regulatórios, incluindo a Declaração de Alma-Ata, a qual propõe e valoriza a atenção primária à saúde (APS) como promotora de maior acesso e forma de minimizar as desigualdades em saúde. No âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), o subsistema de atenção à saúde indígena (SASI) e a Política de Atenção à Saúde dos Povos Indígenas (PNASPI) foram criados como estratégia para garantir o acesso à saúde aos povos indígenas. A PNASPI prevê atenção diferenciada às populações indígenas com base na diversidade sociocultural e nas particularidades epidemiológicas e logísticas desses povos e focando no desenvolvimento da APS com garantia de integralidade da assistência. O presente artigo traz reflexões acerca da implementação da PNASPI, destacando os avanços e desafios apresentados durante esse percurso. Apesar dos crescentes recursos financeiros disponibilizados para implementar o subsistema de saúde indígena, as ações têm apresentado poucos resultados nos indicadores de saúde, que refletem desigualdades historicamente descritas entre esses povos e os demais segmentos. A participação social ainda se mantém frágil, e suas discussões refletem a insatisfação dos usuários. A descontinuidade do cuidado somada à carência e alta rotatividade de profissionais, assim como a necessidade de estabelecer diálogos interculturais que promovam a articulação com saberes tradicionais, são fatores que desafiam a efetividade da PNASPI. O cuidado ainda é centrado em práticas paliativas e emergenciais, geralmente baseado na remoção de pacientes, gerando altos custos. A superação desses desafios depende do fortalecimento da APS e de seu reconhecimento enquanto importante marco regulador do modelo organizacional da PNASPI.

University Teachers: Coping with Sociocultural Diversity. A Study about Critical Incidents between Hegemonic and Subaltern Cultures

This article aims to identify and characterise the critical incidents (CI) that occur most frequently at university level in highly diverse sociocultural contexts. Intercultural relations will be analysed within the framework of hegemony and resistance between Western culture, which is inherent to university settings, and the non-Western mixed traits present in the student body. The relationship between different CIs will be examined, as will be the various issues associated with them according to teachers’ perceptions. For this qualitative study, 23 teachers from two Bolivian universities were interviewed. The teachers reported 9 types of CIs linked to sociocultural diversity. The results indicate that CIs are usually the outcome of cultural clashes between the institutional and teachers’ culture and the students’ culture, with the three most frequent CIs related to the use of the vehicular language, expression and communication; different thinking processes and the relationship between students. As a result, we propose a typology and a scheme for classification and interpretation of CIs linked to cultural diversity with the objective of advancing university teacher training.

Processo de Avaliação: Elaboração do Programa Educativo Individual

A educação inclusiva recomenda o acesso a uma educação de qualidade para todos, que permita a apropriação do conhecimento e o desenvolvimento de competências, orientando os indivíduos de acordo com respostas adaptadas às exigências sociais. A escola pública é o garante de respostas de qualidade à diversidade sociocultural, física ou mental do individuo. O objetivo deste estudo vai ao encontro do que é sugerido pelas diretivas nacionais e internacionais para uma escola inclusiva, e pretende analisar qual o processo de avaliação que as equipas multidisciplinares elegem para o desenho do Programa Educativo Individual (PEI). A recolha dos dados será realizada através de questionários e entrevistas a equipas multidisciplinares de educação especial, de 3 agrupamentos escolares. Os resultados preliminares apontam para que apesar de todos terem por base a legislação, cada agrupamento organiza-se de forma própria, não existindo uma uniformização nos processos.

Fight against discrimination or promotion of diversity in employment? A public policy in the Brussels-Capital Region (1997-2012)

At the end of the 1990s, the Brussels-Capital Region launched actions to fight against employment discrimination with respect to people of foreign origin. In a social and historical perspective, using oral and documentary sources, this article presents the context in which this public policy emerged, the experimental actions in the first years, and its transformation in the mid 2000s. At the same time that it was consolidated (inclusion of new measures in the regional law, establishment of a Brussels unit of consultants in the area of diversity), this policy was also given a new objective: the promotion of diversity. While the fight against discrimination and the promotion of diversity are often presented as the "two sides of the same coin", these two objectives may also diverge or oppose each other. A review of the history of this Brussels policy, its evolution and impact, therefore allows the current responses to two major challenges for the urban area to be questioned: the inequality of access to employment and the recognition of sociocultural diversity.

The use of modality markers to perform hegemony politeness in using Balinese language: a case study on Awig-awig

This research was aimed at expressing motivation to use modality markers in text of traditional village regulation (awig-awig). The data was obtained from some major regulations in five regencies and city in Bali province. Sampling was done based on area considering dialectical and sociocultural diversity. Based on theory of pragmatics, it could be concluded that the use of Balinese language modality in text of traditional village regulation was not merely demanded by syntax and grammatical semantics. It can be proven with deletion technic. Up on the modality deletion, it did not change the prime meaning of text, but the sentences were still grammatical instead. The use of modality was motivated with pragmatic needs, i.e. performing hegemony politeness in accordance with the sense of modality as interpersonal rhetoric.

The Concept of Human Unity and Islamic Inclusive Education: A Study of KH. Imam Zarkasyi’s Thought in Social Change

This study aims to identify and to analyze KH. Imam Zarkasyi’s paradigm model of thinking in increasing the value of inclusive Islamic education based on human unity value through historical-philosophical approach. The result is that the paradigm model of Tawhid Worldview constitutes rationality value to liberate science bigotry among tribes, ethnic, cultural or religious understanding. Rationality value to build scientific epistemology in Islamic education inclusive curriculum content can be implemented through the integration of social sciences culture of sources of Islamic teachings, the philosophy of Pancasila and socio-cultural diversity of learners locally, nationally and internationally. On the other hand, rationality value will change the learning approach and method, and civilizing values of inclusive education through religious communal environment. The paradigm model can balance value function and mental changes and inclusive personality of local, national and international Muslim generation.

Socio-Cultural Diversity, Economy and Sustainable Development in Hebbale Village of Kodagu District, Karnataka

Socio-Cultural Diversity, Economy and Sustainable Development in Hebbale Village of Kodagu District, Karnataka

The Alt Stage and the Po-mo Page: Canadian Spaces for an Anglo-Portuguese Dramaturgy

In this article, Jordão documents the 1991 staging and 2013 publication of her bilingual play Funeral in White. Examining the performance and literary texts, she considers why and how Portuguese and English are used in the play: the conditions that create a space for bilingual theatre and drama in Toronto, the disciplinary requirements of employing two languages on stage and page, and the formal alterations enacted when transitioning from one medium to another. The linguistic dramaturgy of such a project raises several questions. What linguistic conventions will make a Portuguese-English play performable for a cast of English-Canadian actors from a diversity of backgrounds—some who speak Portuguese, others Italian and/or French, and some only English? How will the play be comprehensible to spectators that may be monolingual in English or Portuguese? And, upon publication, will it be accessible to readers who may not master both languages but may have a basic knowledge of Romance languages other than Portugese? Jordão adopts an auto-ethnographic perspective based on her practice to document the playwriting, production, and publication of Funeral in White, and to argue that the sociocultural diversity of theatre makers and spectators is vital to the creation of bilingual theatre.

La materialidad de los jardines de infantes como productora de experiencias: usos de la diversidad y relaciones de desigualdad

This article presents preliminary results of socio-anthropological research that took place in Early Education schools of the City of Buenos Aires. It focuses on the uses of sociocultural diversity and unequal relationships and their articulation with the materiality of everyday life conditions of the institutions in which fieldwork took place. It includes the analytical description of a social situation —the visit of an officer of the Ministry of Education to one of these Initial Schools in which research was carried on. This descriptions show the ways in which the different institutional subjects —teachers, parents, school directors, the staff member— refer to and produce the spaces in which their practices take place, and simultaneously, struggle for their places and put under strain their diverse and unequal relationships. Afterwards, taking into account the Initial Education schools of a whole Educational District of the City, we analyze the features of the “educational offer” for Initial Schooling, the incorporation of devices as cell phones to everyday educational work of the kindergartens, as an aide to the teacher’s work, and the beginnings of the online school enrolment. These issues permit us to highlight the recent history of Argentina´s Initial Level teaching. The article accounts that materiality, as the ethnographic descriptions evidence, permits to understand how, nowadays, relations of diversity and inequality come together.

Metaphors of womanhood in the literary works of contemporary Indian writers

Abstract This study examines the notion of womanhood in the literary works of contemporary Indian authors by analyzing conceptual metaphors of womanhood. More specifically, the data collected in this study are metaphorical expressions (MEs) from nine fictional works set in India’s three main ethnically and linguistically diverse regions occupied by three linguistic groups, namely, the Indo-Aryan, the Dravidian, and the Tibeto-Burmese. The identification of MEs follows the Metaphor Identification Procedure VU University Amsterdam (MIPVU; Steen et al. 2010a). The analysis focuses on cross-cultural variation in conceptual metaphor, applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT; Lakoff & Johnson 1980) and the cognitive dimension of socio-cultural diversity proposed by Kövecses (2008). Through the analysis of conceptual metaphor, the paper provides insights into the current social context regarding the status and roles of women in India.

Socio-cultural diversity and public preferences for coral reef management options in Indonesia

Conflicting views and perceptions of how to define and resolve the issues at hand are at the heart of longstanding debates in natural resource management. As a result, a better understanding of public perceptions is vital. The study of public perception of marine conservation and management has seen an increase in recent decades. However, little research has been undertaken of the social-cultural constructs or ‘cultural biases’ underpinning peoples' perceptions. This paper aims to uncover people's cultural biases, and to investigate the plurality of their perceptions, using the case of coral reef protection. It does so with the help of the Cultural Theory pioneered by anthropologist Dame Mary Douglas. Results from a sample of 375 individuals in three different locations in Sulawesi, Indonesia, are presented that confirm Douglas' Cultural Theory. This paper concludes with the suggestion that polyrational solutions, i.e., policy solutions that emerge from creatively combining and accommodating the different ways in which people perceive and organize social-environmental interaction, are necessary in achieving a sustainable policy outcome.

Doing Field Work with Indigenous People in Brazilian Prisons

In this article I intend to, first, make a brief overview of indigenous prisoners in Brazil, highlighting its invisibility by lack of accurate official records. Secondly, I want to address two indigenous perspectives on prisons; one from a people who, influenced by the Brazilian legal system, began to adopt prisons within Indigenous Lands as a sanction and punishment alternative to its members, and another from a people who reject the arrests considering them extremely cruel and contrary to their notions of human rights. Finally, I will point some conclusions reached by the anthropological work on the need to discuss public policies for Brazilian prisons that pay attention to the indigenous socio-cultural diversity.

Extreme weather, complex spaces and diverse rural places: An intra-community scale analysis of responses to storm events in rural Scotland, UK

The impacts that increasing rural demographic and socio-cultural diversity has had upon the responses of rural community members to weather-related hazard events has remained relatively understudied within the Disaster Risk Reduction scholarship. Drawing upon interview evidence obtained from a study of three rural communities in Scotland, UK, the article explores how variation in length of residence amongst community members affects abilities to cope during periods of extreme weather, with long-term residence being associated with more positive outcomes than more recent in-migration. The article suggests that differences in responses between long-term residents and more recent in-migrants results from a complex array of differences in exposure to previous storm events, differences in occupational backgrounds that result in differences in ways of relating to the land, and differences in social relationship preferences and expectations. The article makes the claim that policies and practices of Disaster Risk Reduction, including the Scottish Community Resilience initiatives, need to focus more on the intra-community scale in rural settings in order to better protect residents from the risks that extreme weather poses to human well-being. In their present form, Scottish Community Resilience initiatives are likely to be limited in their ability to improve the storm-coping abilities of residents because their implementation at the whole-community scale reflects outdated assumptions about the character of rural communities and ignores the impacts of several decades of demographic change. The findings also raise questions about how the knowledge that enables successful adaptation to environmental hazard events can be effectively mobilised within increasingly complex and diverse societies.