Cultural Studies Research Articles

Conceptual Approach to Understanding the Social Aspects of the Educational Potential of the Islamic Studies

The relevance of the research theme, lies in its importance for the effective formation of a harmoniously developed personality and society, as well as maintaining the cultural, social and economic prosperity of the modern society. The purpose of this article is to study the social aspects of the educational potential within the framework of Islamic studies, as well as to reveal the conceptual approach to its understanding. The publication materials are the information from scientific and practical disciplines, highlighting the implementation of social aspects of the educational potential of the Islamic studies in its natural environment and in a foreign context, as well as monographic works on the topic and sources that are a fixation of research observations in the field of modernization of the educational and social systems of the society life. The following concepts are the result of its study: fixing the problem under study as a composite and inseparable and a large-scale system; determination of its leading categories; establishing the relationship between its components; the authors’ interpretation of this topic as a panoramic phenomenon interconnected with many other spheres of society. The practical significance of the work was revealed in its novelty, relevance and demand among representatives of the leading areas of scientific thought and activity such as history and sociology; ethics and religious studies; cultural studies and economics; pedagogy and psychology. The prospect of the problem under consideration lies in the need to observe, fix and study its reflection and relevance in the life of modern society, as well as in the importance of expanding and enriching the boundaries of “Islamic studies” as a scientific direction that promotes awareness of the role of spiritual principle in the formation of personality, as well as in saving the ethnic groups for their prosperity and progress.

The Things of Order: Affect, Material Culture, Dispositif

Abstract: Commenting on Frantz Fanon's account of the material culture created by European colonizers in the aftermath of invasion, Achille Mbembe notes that the colony is fundamentally a state of war, a contest of forces, in which "sensory life"—the continuum of bodies, objects, and landscapes—is a battlefield. "From this point of view," he writes, "colonial domination requires an enormous investment in affect and ceremony and a significant emotional expenditure." This essay argues for a reappraisal of the work of Michel Foucault as a theory of material culture. Linking Foucault's work on power to studies of material culture, it reviews Foucault's late concept of the dispositif , which specifies the ways power is projected by objects like the scaffold and the panopticon. The article then puts Foucault's approach to material culture in conversation with two strands of contemporary critical thought—New Materialism and affect theory—to show how a full-fledged analytics of power–matter–affect might emerge. What Foucault calls the "analytics of power" supports the critical study of affect and ceremony—the streams of force that constitute subjectivity above, beneath, or outside of language. By way of example, this article explores how this emergent framework can provide new resources for moving beyond liberal approaches to the problem of Confederate monuments. Although Foucault is often read as a theorist preoccupied with discourse, a reconsideration of the dispositif shows that Foucault's analytics of power enhances our understanding of the role of material culture in guiding political affects.

Detection methods for Legionella pneumophila in diverse environmental conditions: A comparative study of FISH, seminested PCR and conventional culture

Detection methods for Legionella pneumophila in diverse environmental conditions: A comparative study of FISH, seminested PCR and conventional culture

Design approaches for 3D cell culture and 3D bioprinting platforms.

The natural habitat of most cells consists of complex and disordered 3D microenvironments with spatiotemporally dynamic material properties. However, prevalent methods of in vitro culture study cells under poorly biomimetic 2D confinement or homogeneous conditions that often neglect critical topographical cues and mechanical stimuli. It has also become increasingly apparent that cells in a 3D conformation exhibit dramatically altered morphological and phenotypical states. In response, efforts toward designing biomaterial platforms for 3D cell culture have taken centerstage over the past few decades. Herein, we present a broad overview of biomaterials for 3D cell culture and 3D bioprinting, spanning both monolithic and granular systems. We first critically evaluate conventional monolithic hydrogel networks, with an emphasis on specific experimental requirements. Building on this, we document the recent emergence of microgel-based 3D growth media as a promising biomaterial platform enabling interrogation of cells within porous and granular scaffolds. We also explore how jammed microgel systems have been leveraged to spatially design and manipulate cellular structures using 3D bioprinting. The advent of these techniques heralds an unprecedented ability to experimentally model complex physiological niches, with important implications for tissue bioengineering and biomedical applications.

Unveiling Cultural Heritage: Exploring the Perceived Online Destination Image of China’s Cultural Heritage Destination and Narrative Strategy in Travel Vlogs

ABSTRACT From the perspective of cultural heritage tourism, this study aimed to explore the narrative strategy utilized in travel vlogs and the perceived online destination image of Meishan City through travel vlogs. Grounded in an interpretivism paradigm, data was collected from WeChat Channels, and a five-element narrative analysis method was adopted to analyze six travel vlogs. The findings revealed that travel vlogs display the online destination image of Meishan City as an authentic cultural heritage destination. The study further identified a three-stage narrative strategy utilized in travel vlogs that effectively integrates intangible and tangible cultural heritage destination elements, including narrative enrichment, narrative ascendant, and narrative resonance. It further enhances the online destination image and highlights the significance of Chinese cultural heritage. This work provides valuable theoretical and practical implications for cultural heritage destination studies and marketing practice.

“Decolonization” As a Metaphor, Not a Movement, in Communication Studies: A Critical Thematic Meta-Analysis of the Discipline

ABSTRACT In this essay, we theorize how terms like “decolonization” and “decoloniality” have entered into the vernacular of the discipline of Communication Studies and remained largely as metaphors. We connect to a conversation among scholars in Indigenous Studies, Cultural Studies, and others who have turned attention to “decolonial” critiques in academic environments, and how they remain detached from their activist origins. We begin with a discussion of metaphor and the cultural and political implications for adopting and misattributing a term like decolonization. Moreover, this study develops a critical method to make sense of the rapid and vast uptake of the term decolonization as a harmful metaphor in the discipline’s most widely read journals. Our critical thematic meta-analysis is driven by a quantifying tool – we turn our research lens to the body of literature written by the collective of scholars in the discipline who refer to or rely on decolonization in their research to reveal the way in which the term is connoted over the last decade. Our analysis reveals “decolonization” is often used as a liberal abstract concept divorced from material contexts. We critique this reductionism, noting how decolonization becomes a buzzword for institutional change without genuine engagement with anti-colonial movements. We end by inviting scholars to reconsider the study of colonization and those materially resisting it with new energies and orientations.

Photographic Frames in the Westgate Mall Terror Attack Coverage

Literary studies have evolved over the past few decades to include popular culture fields as text. Proponents of this inclusion argue that songs, memes, tweets, local dialects, and slogans say as much about people and cultures as traditional texts – perhaps even more. The opinion is that, by over-relying on traditional text for literary fodder, scholars shut themselves off from current and relevant information about the rapidly evolving literary and cultural landscape. The disregard for popular culture also turns away a younger audience that seems to prefer a more informal approach to art and literature. Thus, the reading of popular cultures as text is forcing the literary field to re-evaluate the fundamental principles that define its work. Literary scholars have to rethink their traditional ideals of writing, reading, and teaching texts. Yet, there remains a reluctance to accept such informal forms of communication as memes and tweets as legitimate literature. Popular culture is not well regarded in literary studies and some stakeholders fear its classification as text could dilute the impact of the field. This paper investigates this trepidation by analyzing how reading popular culture fields as text impacts the identity of text in literary studies. Based on selected tenets of Literary and Cultural Studies (LCS) Research, particularly cultural literacy, this paper examines the legitimacy of different popular culture formats to determine if they hold enough value to warrant literary analysis. The author argues that many forms of popular culture deserve a closer look, especially through a literary lens, because they reveal the cultures, beliefs, and practices of their audience. He suggests that the incorporation of popular culture into literary studies offers many opportunities for growth and discovery but only if implemented diligently. Finally, this paper investigates why the literary field is reluctant to read popular cultures as text and how scholars can navigate this inclusion to create a more cohesive definition of text.

Dunhuang Intangible Arts in the Perspective of Pedagogy and Cultural Studies: Innovative Practices of Intercultural Education and Construction of Cultural Identity

The purpose of this article is to discuss the innovative practice of Dunhuang intangible cultural heritage arts in the field of intercultural education and its role in the construction of cultural identity. Firstly, the article emphasizes the status of Dunhuang intangible cultural heritage art as an important carrier of Chinese traditional culture and a bridge of international cultural exchange, and in the context of globalization, focuses on how Dunhuang intangible cultural heritage art can promote the innovation of the education system and play a key role in global intercultural dialogue; secondly, based on the pedagogical point of view, it elaborates in detail on the way of integrating Dunhuang intangible cultural heritage art into the modern education system as well as the specific application and transformation in order to Then, from the perspective of cultural studies, it explores the role of Dunhuang NFA in the process of globalisation and its impact on individual and collective cultural identities, and reveals its contribution to the maintenance of cultural diversity, the promotion of cross-cultural exchanges and understanding, the strengthening of the local cultural identity, and the shaping of China's global cultural image; lastly, it extracts the practical experience and successful elements of cross-cultural education of Dunhuang NFA through the empirical analysis of the successful cases. Finally, through empirical analyses of successful cases, the practical experience and successful elements of intercultural education of Dunhuang non-heritage art are extracted, and it is concluded that combining Dunhuang non-heritage art with pedagogy and cultural research is of great significance in enriching the connotation of modern education, promoting the construction of cultural identity, and fostering the prosperity and development of global cultural diversity.

Urinary Tract Infections in a Single Hospital in Central Portugal, a 5-Year Analysis

Urinary tract infections are defined as the presence of microorganisms in any part of the urinary system, with the exception of the distal urethra. A majority of them are uncomplicated infections that are resolved on an outpatient basis, with empirical therapy. The objectives of this work were to study the sociodemographic characteristics of patients, analyze associated strains and examine the response of the main microorganisms to antibiotics. A retrospective observational study of all positive urine cultures between 2018 and 2022 was carried out at an institution (8340 samples). Sociodemographic data were also collected. In total, 61.3% were women, with an average age of 63.4 years, and 43.2% were from the Emergency Department. A total of 13.5% were fitted, 56% of whom were women. Also, 95.9% were not taking any antibiotics, and among the individuals who were taking antibiotics, 50% were injected. Escherichia coli (53.5%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.8%) are identified as the most prevalent strains. In the time periods analyzed, Escherichia coli decreased its resistance to 11 antibiotics and increased to 5 antibiotics, while Klebsiella pneumoniae decreased to 7 and increased to 7, with emphasis on the presence of 3 antibiotics with a resistance rate of 100% to all Klebsiella pneumoniae strains identified in 2022.

A Cultural Analytic Study of Facial Imagery in Time Magazine, 1923–2014

We extracted and categorized images of human faces from a digitized Time magazine archive of issues published from 1923 to 2014. The data revealed several large-scale trends that are consistent with the historical context of the magazine. We found that faces are more likely to be smiling in the context of advertisements compared to other contexts, that women are more likely to be smiling than men in all contexts, and that women’s faces are more likely to be found in advertisements than men’s faces. We observed trends in the presence of racialized faces: African American faces increased more or less linearly, reaching approximately proportional representation at the turn of the twenty-first century, while the appearance of faces categorized as Asian peaked in 1970. We interpret these trends through a theoretical framework that connects them to larger events in American history.   Nous avons extrait et catégorisé des images de visages humains à partir des archives numérisées du magazine Time, dont les numéros ont été publiés entre 1923 et 2014. Les données ont révélé plusieurs tendances à grande échelle qui sont cohérentes avec le contexte historique du magazine. Nous avons constaté que les visages sont plus susceptibles d'être souriants dans le contexte des publicités que dans d'autres contextes, que les femmes sont plus susceptibles d'être souriantes que les hommes dans tous les contextes, et que les visages de femmes sont plus susceptibles d'être trouvés dans les publicités que les visages d'hommes. Nous avons observé des tendances dans la présence de visages racialisés : Les visages afro-américains ont augmenté plus ou moins linéairement, atteignant une représentation approximativement proportionnelle au tournant du XXIe siècle, tandis que l'apparition de visages catégorisés comme asiatiques a atteint son maximum en 1970. Nous interprétons ces tendances à l'aide d'un cadre théorique qui les relie à des événements plus importants de l'histoire américaine.

North Korean Culture and Society in the Works of Blaine Harden, Hyeonseo Lee and Yeonmi Park

The prominent goal of this paper is to examine North Korean culture and society in the select works of Blaine Harden’s Escape from Camp 14, Hyeonseo Lee’s The Girl with Seven Names, and Yeonmi Park’s In Order to Live. The research explores how these works highlight the challenges of escaping tyranny and assimilating into a new culture while offering information on the evolution of culture and identities through cultural study. The personal accounts of North Korean defectors offer priceless insights into life under a repressive system as well as the difficulties experienced by those who manage to flee such inhumane conditions. This evaluates how the protagonists, Yeonmi Park, Hyeonseo Lee, and Shin Dong Hyuk depict the challenges and victories of their journeys. This research reveals the unheard voices and untold tales of the sufferings endured by the brave individuals in a brutal regime, who have crossed borders which serves as a limelight for other nations who are unaware of North Korea.

Will the US Survive the Frog? Time and History in the Pandemic and Decline

Abstract This essay examines two books, Jed Esty’s The Future of Decline: Anglo-American Culture at its Limits (2022) and an edited collection, The Long 2020 (2022), in terms of their respective geometries of history, or the ways in which they extrapolate possible futures for the US from contemporary material conditions. It considers the decline of US global hegemony and the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic insofar as they puncture the nationalist fantasies of US exceptionalism. It also makes a case for steering between the alternatives of apocalypse and redemption in favor of a historical materialist reckoning with US socioeconomic decline. Learning from crisis and decline, the essay argues, doesn’t have to mean surrendering radical political or utopian impulses. It can also mean recasting social hope as the collective reclaiming of freedom from exceptionalism. Finally, the essay makes a methodological proposal for bringing together existential and structural approaches to history (or new materialist and Marxist modes of analysis) in literary and cultural studies, as well as critical theory.

Food porn 2.0? Definitions, challenges, and potentials of an elusive concept

ABSTRACT Food porn emerged in the 1970s as an academic concept and has since become integrated into everyday social media use. The aim of this article is to analyse the concept of food porn through a critical discussion of the existing literature in cultural and media studies focusing on the definitions of food porn, its uses as an analytical and theoretical lens to explore food aesthetics, and its current relevance. The authors show that the definitions and interpretations vary a great deal and argue that three overarching themes dominate the literature: 1) formal aesthetics; 2) gender, body, and sexuality; 3) excess and transgression. Finally, it is argued that future uses of the concept should either focus on a) an empirically founded approach focusing on the actual use of the concept; or b) a theoretically founded approach with a formal typology focusing on hierarchies and power dynamics.

BEYOND LITERAL INTERPRETATIONS: EXPLORING THE CULTURAL AND COGNITIVE DIMENSIONS OF ENGLISH BODY PARTS IDIOMS

The present study aims at unraveling the deep cultural and cognitive dimensions embedded within English idioms that relate to body parts. Through a systematic analysis of a comprehensive corpus compiled from diverse sources such as dictionaries and websites, it scrutinizes not only the literal interpretations of these idioms but also their socio-cultural significance and cognitive underpinnings. The findings highlighted the solid interplay between language, culture, and cognition, shedding light on how these body parts idiomatic expressions reflect and shape socio-cultural norms and cognitive processes. These idioms are revealed to be more than mere linguistic quirks; they serve as conduits for conveying shared experiences and cultural heritage. The findings of the present study not only enrich our understanding of language and culture but also offer practical implications for English as a foreign language education and cross-cultural communication. The insights gained from this investigation contribute to various fields, such as linguistics, cultural studies, cognitive science, and language education.

Reflections on the commensal model and future directions in Polynesian interaction studies

ABSTRACTOne of the central themes of indigenous Polynesian historical narratives involves voyaging, navigation and patterns of inter‐island cultural connection. One of the ways archaeologists have long looked at these questions through the lens of material culture studies—distributions of artefact and assemblage traits in time and space. Here we examine patterns of historical interaction inferred from the application of the commensal model with those derived from more traditional archaeological approaches. We suggest that the most reliable and nuanced models of past cultural interaction in Eastern Polynesia will result from a creative synthesis of molecular zooarchaeology and traditional archaeological and zooarchaeological methods.

Techno-digital policing and speculative fictions: Towards a criminology of the future

Techno-digital policing and speculative fictions: Towards a criminology of the future

Developing a gel-col heterogeneous network hydrogel scaffold for tissue-engineered skin with enhanced basement membrane formation

Tissue-engineered skin is constructed utilizing biocompatible matrix materials as scaffolds, and incorporating human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs), dermal fibroblasts (HDFs), and bioactive molecules, addressing clinical issues such as skin graft rejection and donor scarcity. Conventional fabrication methods of tissue-engineered skin typically rely on homogeneous single-network scaffolds, which may not adequately address the distinct requirements of epidermal and dermal cells or the critical formation of the basement membrane, potentially impacting the development and functional integrity of the skin tissue. Cell culture studies employing GelMA hydrogels of varied concentrations have elucidated that epidermal cells exhibit increased viability on scaffolds with higher concentrations (15 %), whereas fibroblasts show increased proliferation within scaffolds of lower concentrations (5 %). Consequently, we have engineered a GelMA-collagen (Gel-Col) hydrogel scaffold with a heterogeneous network of dense and sparse matrices, conducive to the growth of both fibroblasts and epidermal cells. Culturing epidermal cells on this innovative scaffold, coupled with histological section staining, RT-PCR, and Western blot analyses, has demonstrated that the scaffold significantly enhances cellular adhesion and promotes the development of the epidermal basement membrane compared to single-network hydrogels. Mouse wound transplantation experiments have further confirmed the scaffold’s effectiveness in accelerating wound repair, supporting the development of the basement membrane, and enhancing epidermal regeneration. This research provides a reference for constructing tissue-engineered skin that more precisely emulates the intricate architecture and cellular dynamics of natural skin, propelling the advancement of tissue-engineered skin grafts in the clinical treatment of skin injuries.

INTERDISCIPLINARY DICTIONARY: MEETING OF HUMAN PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE WITH PSYCHOLOGY

Relevance. The authors present the encyclopedic edition of 2022 - an interdisciplinary dictionary that intersects research fields and methodological approaches of a number of humanities. In this case, such sciences are philosophical anthropology, philosophy of culture and cultural studies, as well as psychology. Methodology. The basic heuristics of the categorical analysis of the concepts and philosophical practices presented in the dictionary is the author's original metaanthropological approach, which involves a level interpretation of the phenomenology of existing and new terms and techniques of working with the client. Among the main ones, the dictionary includes such terms as "psyche", "psychoanalysis", "philosophical psychoanalysis", "androgynous analysis", "philosophical art therapy", "aphorism therapy", etc. Results. In the context of psychological understanding, the reader may be most interested in dictionary articles devoted to philosophical psychoanalysis and androgynous analysis. The term "philosophical psychoanalysis" describes the modern domestic direction of psychoanalysis, which developed thanks to the efforts of the authors based on the original methodology of philosophical anthropology as meta anthropology. Its essence consists in the specialist's organization during psychotherapeutic work of a special psycho developmental practice of a consistent transition of the client from the everyday worldview to the personal one and further - from the personal one to the philosophical one, which actualizes constructive material changes in a person. From the standpoint of metaanthropological vision, the text also presents the understanding of human immortality and beauty and the practice of androgynous analysis. Androgynous analysis (from the Greek Andros – man, gin – woman) is the theory and practice of research and deep correction of the existence of the individual and relationships between people through the use of the strategy of interaction of the existential dimensions of masculinity and femininity as spirituality and spirituality.

Localism and attitude, ‘it’s all good’: a surf tourist’s story analysis of simultaneous contradictory prosocial and anti-social interactions at an off-limits place

ABSTRACT Localism is framed as intimidatory anti-social behaviour designed to persuade tourists that a surf spot is off-limits. Hitherto, cultural studies have combined a top-down intersectionality lens with a priori Western-centric negativity to explain the consequences for those who ignore the warnings. Thus, there is a paucity of studies explaining why surfers experience nothing of consequence in these off-limits places. A critically balanced and complex analysis of localism is emerging in sport tourism literature. However, generalizations that entire places are off-limits for surf tourists prevail. Accordingly, in this innovative accidental ethnography of localism at a categorically off-limits surf spot on O‘ahu’s South Shore, I adopt a talk-story methodology to provide a micro-level grounded analysis of empirical observations explaining the prevalence and consequences of the constant contradictory choice between anti-social and prosocial behaviours that locals and tourists make in every interaction. Findings draw attention to the anti-social and prosocial behaviours performed simultaneously by locals and tourists, and the experiences of tourists with similar intersectionality identities, but distinctly different attitudes. The article concludes by asking the reader to consider the complexity of contradictory choices, before making a moral judgement on performances of localism and deciding whether and why places are off-limits.

A Typology and Lead Isotope and Cultural Exchange Study on Bronze Knives from Shuangyuan Cemetery, Chengdu City, Southwest China

Background: Bronze knives, which have been excavated in large quantities and acquired hierarchical significance, are essential artifacts in Shu State in Southwest China. Building upon previous typological analyses of bronze knives, it is hypothesized that Shu culture may have imported foreign-style bronze knives. However, further demonstration of the provenance of metal materials, the typology of knives, and the cultural exchange necessitates a comprehensive examination through the lens of scientific analysis. The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in the manufacturing processes and metal resources of Shu bronze knives with various cultural styles and whether bronze knives in the foreign styles were imported or locally imitated. Methods: In this study, the typology, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry were used to analyze twenty-four bronze knives unearthed from Shuangyuan cemetery, a cemetery of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, Southwest China. Results: The results of the study show that the knives of Shuangyuan Cemetery can be classified typologically into five types, encompassing both local and foreign styles. The predominant alloy composition of these knives is lead-tin bronze, characterized by a notably high tin content. Lead isotope ratios indicate that metal materials from the South China geochemical province and Yangtze geochemical province were mainly used to manufacture the bronze knives unearthed from the Shu state Conclusion: While the majority of foreign-style knives with ring-shaped heads were likely imported from neighboring regions like Chu state, distinctively styled type D and type E bronze knives appear to have been locally imitated by the Shu, showcasing a blend of external influences and indigenous innovation. The combination of typology and scientific analysis of the bronze knife may shed new light on the study of the Shu culture of the Eastern Zhou period.